Irrlicht Engine

I just realized tonight that I'm 20 years old and most of the projects that I made NOW should have been done when I was 15 - 17. Not only that, but my college major is "Failling Exams", having failed 8 exams (5 medical issues, 3 actual failures), I don't know DirectX or OpenGL further than making a model viewer without using the manual, I SUCK at math (any integral more complex than the product of a few terms KO's me), I'm cashless, and best of all clueless.

I'm 90% positive, I'll fail this year in college (and have to repeat it). I still have some health problems. Best of all, my actual "major" (ther's no such thing as a major, in the USA college sense, here) is Computer Science. I just failed to send in a C Kermit protocol implementation (didn't quite understand it), and my next homework is a socket protocol (which I understood even less).

Actually that's just the tip of a huge iceberg.

Any advice?

find a friend who knows more than you and beg them to teach you more; I've been lucky enough to be on both receiving and giving ends, and it really is a great way to learn

Just my two cents, however...and I realize that not everyone has close friends who know how to program.
-wyrmmage

Well maybe then Computer's aren't your thing.. What else interests you?

Just remember don't give up... also, what projects have you completed, care to share them?

Since when does making a kermit implementation say everything about you... or your skills. The computer oriented subjects, I can handle for the most part (I'll force-study if I have to).

What I really have problems with are math, physics, electronics, etc.

EDIT:
It sounds bad but all/most of my projects are dead and/or lost because of HDD failures, DVD/CD oxidation. So apart from a couple of accounting apps and 2 small games, I have no more actual projects to show.

Why not hire a tutor? Or just go to the library.. get out a couple books on Math, Physics, Electronics everything you need help with... Or even use google (My sig ) and search for [Whatever grade] Math/Physics/Computers tutorials

Yeah, I agree with everyone else.

If you are short on cash, and can't go to the library/buy a book from a store, then the internet is definitely your fried.

The best thing you can do is go out there and get some exposure with programming. Try out different languages, try different libraries like Irrlicht, SDL, etc. Read other developers code, read open-source projects, read papers, and try to implement what they discuss.

Mind you, it won't be a quick transformation if you don't dedicate yourself, but if you do it could take 1-2 years before you shed that feeling of cluelessness.

Your not alone, there are other people who feel like you. But seriously, start small. Don't try to learn OpenGL as your first project. Get SDL and make a cool like pong game or something.

A lot of people have a problem in which they sit there and believe that knowledge will come to them, they can make it on their own, and other programmers will come to help them.

You are most certainly deceiving yourself if that is what you believe, so go out there, and get proactive, not passive! Motivate yourself, and think of where you could be, not where you are!

If your math teachers are giving you a hard time with your exams try this:

If you don't have to learn OpenGL or DirectX for a subject, do not worry about it for the time being!

To actually do anything with DirectX or OpenGL requires a good solid understanding of matrix and vector math and how they work, and its a lot of work to actually get a result and something useable and because of that it isnt that fun, inless you really want to write your own engine and it is most definantly not new programmer friendly!

Pick up a friendly fluffy engine like Irrlicht (its where I learn't a lot of my skills) and make some simple things.

Like others have said, it won't be a quick transformation, it takes quite a lot of time before you get to a stage where when writing code you are not worrying about the semantics/syntax of a language and move onto solving just the problem and worrying about your implementation.

It takes about 10 years to truely master C++ (or there abouts) even if you did start all this back when you were 17 you would still only be 3 years into that 10. I myself am still no way near that 10, but I believe I am fairly competent but there is still plenty I could learn.

Try and find a good C++ book, they are very hard to find, try C++ Programming a Visual Quickstart by Larry Ullman and Andreas Signer its cheap and isnt like a lot of other C++ books where they are more like a reference for the language than actually teaching you C++.

Finding a good math books is also nearly impossible, they are mainly written by mathematicians who only know the math and think that just giving the algrebra explains it well enough. I have seen a good once recently I just need to find the title of it.

It sounds like your health issues seem to be a root of a problem, I don't know what they are but I hope they get resolved soon and leads onto a prosperous future, don't get too disheartened!

Speaking on the topic of mastering a language. I have always just found that the best thing to do is to not master the language, but instead master what you need from the language. It it just may so be a coincidence that you will master the whole language as a result of needing it.

But either way, don't look at the big picture, take out small time frames.

Sure, a friend can teach you some things, maybe you will learn more with a Maths or C++ book, but who cares about all that?

The Number 1 thing you need right now, is to cheer the hell up.

The Number 2 thing you need, is to find a goal and a direction, and a passion in life.

Cheers

BlindSide wrote:
The Number 2 thing you need, is to find a goal and a direction, and a passion in life.

Cheers

Wise man, wise man .
Totaly agree.

If math and programming aren't your thing, attack the problem from the art side.

Study technical drawing, painting and writing and become become a master of photoshop and Illustrator in your own time. Even if you know how to write a hello world program and understand it, you are an asset to a company as you can bridge art and code together.

A lot of game developers don't even recognize C code

If your inquiring about advice on what to do with your life, I'm pretty sure the internet isn't the right place to do it.

As a youngster, I got my career advice from a wise old guru who lived in the wilderness. Well, by wise old guru I mean tramp, and by wilderness I mean the public toilets in the park. And by career advice I mean, uh... a lifetime fear of public toilets.

rogerborg wrote:As a youngster, I got my career advice from a wise old guru who lived in the wilderness. Well, by wise old guru I mean tramp, and by wilderness I mean the public toilets in the park. And by career advice I mean, uh... a lifetime fear of public toilets.

I don't know why but I really liked the way you said that.

do advance reading on subjects you find difficult. e.g. on vacation breaks, study the courses you will take on the following semester.

try to read the textbook repeatedly until you get it. if you cant get it in 3 readings, then try finding simpler explanation using google.

if you suck in math, then go back to your previous math subjects that you dont understand very well. even if you already passed it. and try study them some more.

just work hard