MedVision ad

Best course for programming? (2 Viewers)

gdt

New Member
Joined
May 3, 2004
Messages
11
Location
Adelaide
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
You want to do a Bachelor of Computer Science. Don't do an Information Technology degree, these are about the business applications of computing, and are not what you want for games.

Now that you know your course, look at the universities which offer it and see what later-year units they offer. You are looking for game software electives such as computer graphics, game software architecture, haptics and the like. Then make an appointment with the course coordinator and go and chat with them (or ring them if interstate). Get some idea if these electives have the support of the department or if they are offered merely because one staff member is sharing their expertise. Ask them about the courses run by other universities in the state. Have a look at the honours seminar topics (these are usually on the web). Are some of them about gaming?

As for you other electives, you need enough math to be able to do matrix transforms, discrete math, and algorithm run time. Some computer architecture subjects would be good, as programming graphics cards is very much like assembler. You need to know about databases and networking. An embedded computer architectures subject would be good. Don't ignore the software design, software engineering practices, configuration control, testing, quality assurance and project management topics -- games take years to deliver and getting these wrong can doom a project before the software is out the door.

You also need to think about employment. The history of games development in Australia is a sad story. It's not much better overseas. So who do you see yourself working for, and how do you plan to get there? You might need to consider winning a scholarship to a overseas university to place yourself in the same country as likely employers. Can you really get the marks for that, or is games development an idle fantasy? Is a visa even possible, or do you need to create your own business here in Australia. Have you done any games development, just to learn by doing --- some influential games are open source.
 

betanumerical

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Messages
14
Gender
Male
HSC
2007
Id recommend a straight Computer Science degree and learn the game API stuff (DX/OGL/etc) on the side on your own. Be sure too do a lot of maths such as linear algebra, and also to make plenty of demos / projects. Also be sure to learn C++/C and if you want to program consoles it wouldn't hurt to learn computer architecture and x86 ASM.
 

jonzm

New Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2011
Messages
4
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
If you just want to do specific programming course, I would recommend considering MGIT.

http://www.misglobaltech.com.au/

This is their corporate website, they have specific programming course. Usually this course is offered to their corporate clients but if you have a talk with them about your interests I'm sure they can work something out.
 

nutting

Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
148
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
Best degree for software development ( Programming / coding ) is Bachelor of Computer Science. If you plan to work in Network or Tech Support / Winodows or UNIX System Administration ...a Bachelor of Information Systems is nice to have...but in most cases certification or TAFE diploma is all that's required by employers....
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)

Top