- Start writing a small game in Godot using GDScript (basically Python)
- Use the Godot docs to read about C# alternatives to GDScript as you go, compare them and see how they differ
- Translate bit by bit of your game to C# using the docs
- Congrats, you have written a game in C#
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The heck you're talking about? There's a ton of free resources to learn the basics.
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/csharp official Microsoft learning resources.
https://dotnettutorials.net/course/csharp-dot-net-tutorials/ for C# basics and .NET framework (which is backend standard).
For game engines you need specific tutorials in those engines.
Depends how you learn. Being mindful of what your goal is helps. C# can be used for console apps, it can also be used to make ASP.Net websites, further afield you can program the Unity games engine with C#. Each of these will have "absolute beginner most basic first steps" type tutorials out there. They'll all have some similarity as you'll need to just learn the C# syntax one way out another, but it miles easier doing this if you're vaguely interested in the types of apps you're heading towards.
If all else fails, message me, I was there once, about 20 years ago..
Check out this reference (not mine): https://gist.github.com/DanielKoehler/606b022ec522a67a0cf3
The first difference that I would point out is c# use of static typing, where python is dynamic. This author is using the var
keyword to avoid specifying a type for variables. The type is, instead infered by the code that follows the equals sign.
The next main difference is the use of whitespace. Python is very whitespace aware, it uses indentation and line breaks to organize code. C# is whitespace agnostic in most cases and separates blocks of code using curly braces {...}, statements must end with a semicolon;
In C# collections are organized by how the data is accessed and whether elements can be added or removed. Arrays are initialized with a set of items and can't be made longer, a List can be added to and can be removed. The key point is that all items in a collection are of the same type.
Complex objects (that have properties and methods) can be structs, classes, or records but they all basically do the same thing and interact in the samish way. You have to use the new
keyword to make a new instance.
Classes and records can inherit from another where as structs cannot. Properties must have a type, methods must return a type or void
. Method parameters must be typed, when calling a method the provided parameters must be of the proper type.
An interface describes requirements an implementing class, record or stuct must meet (i.e. properties and methods). You can't make a new
interface, it's more of a qualification.
I hope this helps some
Is it bad if i barely understand anything in this comment?
Most probably, yes. A lot of these are fundamental concepts of most modern object-oriented languages that I am familiar with. It may be worth refreshing your basic programming skills/concepts with a book you like. There are plenty available online for free in C#, Java, C++, Go, etc.
Tim Corey on YouTube has excellent beginner C# material. I would start there.
Why you need or want to learn C#? I think depending on the answer we can find a good starting point on how to approach your learning because is not just about the language, also about the ecosystem.
Because it is required in my school. And we barely have any classes, even then, the teacher is not really good at teaching it. He thinks we will learn by copy-pasting it from the board. This is literally what we have to do in class. And for some reason, he is the principal
Do the other students feel the same way? It might be worth starting a study group amongst your peers to help one another out.
Have you reached out to your teacher? they should be able to either help you catch up or steer you towards resources that better suit your pace/ learning style.
For bash, there is Linux, a shit ton of distros, even BSD, MacOS and Solaris uses it. For python, there are games and qtile window manager. For C, there is dwm. I don't know anything like these for C#, except Codingame
It seems like you find an environment that requires the language and then kinda sink-or-swim? If so then yes, your whole approach is wrong. You need a process with a lot more structure. Get a Udemy course or a book from the library.
My first projects were super janky gui stuff that was ported over from Java (very similar syntax, but connected with the visual studio built-in gui editor) and improved to a proper "c#" style using resharper (a jetbrains tool that boosts the capabilities of visual studio) Nowadays you can get a free version of Rider that will include those style tools, so I'd recommend that. But if you use Visual Studio, you can create a Winforms project which can let you drag components to make UI and easily assign code to events. If you are used to raw HTML webpage creation, you might be able to get away with using something like WPF or (cross platform) Avalonia to make a UI, but these are a bit more intense since they use something called the Model-View-Viewmodel framework. It needs you to know how to 'bind' variables to events using the observable class, which can be tricky the first few times you use it. I'd look into picking a simple project where you can learn how to use classes effectively (C# is based around Object Oriented Programming much more than bash and self-taught Python would cover). Also would recommend following some of the very simple Unity tutorials to get a handle on the syntax, such as the Unity-made Roll-a-Ball tutorials. These tutorials show the concepts for class-based design and overriding functions.
I found C# to pretty much be python just with strict types and semicolons. Jumped right into it really on my first job and it worked out pretty fine, granted I got to orient myself in the existing project where I started.
You are perhaps already familiar, but some things stand out like public/private annotations and other class related things like interfaces which work to create a more organized and controlled use compared to pythons "we are all consenting adults" approach were nothing ever really truly blocked from you. It depends a little on what you want to do/use it for, there's frameworks and different uses like WPF / .NET for the frontend.
While it may be too basic for you, ZetCode was useful for me back when learning PyQt in python, so you might find some use with the C# intro: https://zetcode.com/all/#csharp
You propably don't know how bad i'm in C#. Basic console apps are giving me trouble. I think it is very different from python. Like nothing is the same, at all
I sure don't sound helpful saying this, but it's mostly about finding the equivalent to the python action/types, and typing them out when making functions and variables. Though 99% of the time, you are completely fine defining variables as var
to avoid excessive typing.
I assume you dealt a bit with classes in python, if not then you're doing double time with both changing language and learning object oriented classes at the same time.
If there is any specific I can try to give some clarity since I also came from Python to C#.
We only created simple functions and reading from file in python, with def
Jumping from loose-typed language to strict-typed language will be hard.
It's also a matter of your general programming experience. Once you write, like, ten thousand lines of meaningful code in Python, learning C# should take you a month or two at most, you'll know most programming concepts and algorithms intrinsically, and the rest is just learning syntax.
Microsoft produces a plethora of good learning materials if you're struggling with the basics or specific concepts. I recommend their C# for Beginners course to get a good overview of real C#.
Once you have a good handle on the basics, I would echo others' advice that having some kind of project or goal to work towards is the surest path to learning, because you have external motivation to use what you're learning and look up things as you need them. Is there some reason you chose C# specifically as your next language, maybe for game dev, web dev, or Windows apps?
I did not choose C#, and after Python, i'd have chosen Javascript, Lua, or Java if it was my choice. I learn it in school, for some reason. My teacher is not very good at explaining things and basically leverages everything on us without teaching how to do it. And also, we learn c# once a week, which is propably not the intended way to learn a programming language anyway, and even then, most lessons are about flowcharts, number systems. Anyone who can learn c# in this enviroment is an absolute genius. Of course the whole class struggles with it
Getting exposure to the language only once a week will definitely hinder you a lot. When learning a language, there's a bunch of stuff you'll memorize without even thinking about it if you spend time working on it every day, but it will be hard to remember if you spend a week between learning sessions.
I have a lot more things to learn and it is understandable that i want to unwind a bit or learn something that i actually enjoy, rather than suck with c# with absolutely no motivation. Like i don't know how i was supposed to learn multiple languages at once and understand both
I have a Python background and I'm learning C# right now. Unity development is done in C# if your interested in games or 3D applications. There's a ton of resources for that kind of think out there and I find its a fun context to learn in. I've also had decent results recreating tutorials written for other languages using LLMs. Just start with step 1 as a premise and state the overall goal, then ask for incremental changes at each step an ask questions and for alternate solutions. Just watch out for those hallucinations.
C# was the first language I learned in school, there's plenty of beginner resources for it on Youtube. You can also try some projects using Windows Form Applications (janky but fun) or the Unity game engine, which has tons of resources online.
It sounds like you'd benefit from having a project in mind. I always learned programming languages by building something I wanted, or by tinkering on someone else's project.
That could be good in the future but i struggle with the basics too. I look at source code and have absolutely no idea what it does
Code is overwhelming. Even experienced professionals hate diving in to somebody else's code. It's scary, poorly documented and we always think we could have done it better.
Don't let that put you off.
A lot of us are practical learners. So like you we stare at a wall of code but struggle to comprehend it. But if you dive in and start editing, experimenting etc you'll change the output and understand why it was written in a certain way.
Eventually once you've got it sussed you'll be able to adapt a script to do what you want it. That'll trigger the dopamine reward mechanism and you'll be hooked like the rest of us.
I just jumped in, start making some cool projects
With basically no knowledge? I could create a new project using chatgpt but i will not learn c# with that
With basically no knowledge?
Well yeah. You find yourself some simple project and try to build it. When you don't know how to do something, you look it up.
Like, make a command line clock, for example. Figure out how to get the current time, and then how to print it. And after that how to make it print the time once a second.
Edit: probably the most important skill in programming is breaking the problem into smaller pieces that you can then figure out. With experience, getting stuck like this becomes much less of a problem.
That's just basically looking up the answer. Even if i find it (which is unlikely without asking an llm), i will not learn anything from it. I tried creating a wimforms application with the same method, and eventually succeeded. But i don't know how i did it, and i couldn't recreate it by myself. This is the problem
That's just basically looking up the answer. ... i will not learn anything from it.
Looking up the answer is the way to do it. You're of course supposed to pay at some attention instead of copy-pasting without using your brains. As you keep doing things, you'll develop a rough idea of how things are done.
Even if i find it (which is unlikely without asking an llm)
But i don't know how i did it, and i couldn't recreate it by myself.
You mean building the thing without any reference? Except for the most basics, you're not supposed to memorize everything by the smallest details. Imagine asking a lawyer to know the details of every single law off the top of their head.
Seriously, go build that clock.