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Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

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Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#31

Post by anta40 »

ungzd wrote: post #17

I'm not sure if such games can help to learn programming. For example, Robocode is very dynamics-based and requires knowledge of control theory (which involves partial differential equations) and decision making under uncertainty. I'm doing software development for almost 10 years and yet such games are too hard for me. These games can help you to learn "AI" but not programming. It's simpler to create your own Roboco…

Robocode is very interesting if you want to learn AI programming in Java.

But for learning the Java programming language itself? Hmm definitely not.

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#32

Post by michelpereira »

ungzd wrote: post #17

I'm not sure if such games can help to learn programming. For example, Robocode is very dynamics-based and requires knowledge of control theory (which involves partial differential equations) and decision making under uncertainty. I'm doing software development for almost 10 years and yet such games are too hard for me. These games can help you to learn "AI" but not programming. It's simpler to create your own Roboco…

I wasn't sure either, so I was looking for learning a new programming language when I found Robocode and General IO. I'll look forward to get the right name for the list.

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#33

Post by michelpereira »

anta40 wrote: post #31
ungzd wrote: post #17

I'm not sure if such games can help to learn programming. For example, Robocode is very dynamics-based and requires knowledge of control theory (which involves partial differential equations) and decision making under uncertainty. I'm doing software development for almost 10 years and yet such games are too hard for me. These games can help you to learn "AI" but not programming. It's simpler to create your own Roboco…

Robocode is very interesting if you want to learn AI programming in Java. But for learning the Java programming language itself? Hmm definitely not.

Agree with you, will put a more appropriated name on the list.

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#36

Post by RKoutnik »

While it isn't technically a game about programming, I'd add an honorable mention for Factorio - a game that, at its core, is about software engineering. In it, you build an ever-growing and ever-more-complex factory. You can choose to throw something together quickly because you need steel NOW (and pay for the technical debt later) or take your time to orchestrate the perfect layout only to discover that's not what you wanted in the first place.

https://www.factorio.com/

Great game, highly recommended for anyone in software.

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#37

Post by astrobe_ »

jhgjklj wrote: post #25

The problem with games to teach coding is coding is not a game. Almost 95% of the time its exactly opposite to games. Uninteresting, boring and a test for grit.

I find that writing mods for games is much more interesting. It's more like "real" programming in the sense that you solve real problems with real constrains and you get a rewarding result. I feel like OP should include games with mod systems, such as Oolite (Javascript) or Battle for Wesnoth (Lua).

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#38

Post by hesdeadjim »

jhgjklj wrote: post #25

The problem with games to teach coding is coding is not a game. Almost 95% of the time its exactly opposite to games. Uninteresting, boring and a test for grit.

I think the lesson you learn from games teaching you programming within the game is that the entire point of coding is to create something interesting. Even if a project can turn into a slog halfway through you still know that at the end you will have something that hopefully you are proud of creating.

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#39

Post by david-given »

What, no Else Heart.Break()?

It's a game set in a world where you can hack pretty much any object and fiddle with its source code. Yes, just as weird as it sounds. Want to get into a locked room? You can either hack a key to try all possible combinations at once, so it'll open any door. Or it might be easier to just hack a door somewhere else to point at the locked room...

http://elseheartbreak.com/

Also, it has a great soundtrack.

Re: Games of Coding – A curated list of games that teach you a programming language

#40

Post by ungzd »

CGamesPlay wrote: post #28
ungzd wrote: post #17

I'm not sure if such games can help to learn programming. For example, Robocode is very dynamics-based and requires knowledge of control theory (which involves partial differential equations) and decision making under uncertainty. I'm doing software development for almost 10 years and yet such games are too hard for me. These games can help you to learn "AI" but not programming. It's simpler to create your own Roboco…

I don't know about that one but I've recently become pretty active the in the Screeps community ( https://screeps.com/ ) and many of the players are first-time JavaScript programmers. In fact, one of the players in the top 20 for the game told me he had only been programming for ~40 hours before starting the game. Control systems are very important in the game (the high-level is almost as much a logistics game as it…

Looks interesting. At least it's not competition-based and more sandbox-like. In global competition you are required to use state of the art techniques, and there's no other ways to just having fun.
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