New lappy for uni!
- Thread starter Wozza63
- Start date
Accomodation at my uni has insurance included in the price for up to £10k, I may consider insurance when I'm renting privately
tom_gr7
Life Serving
oh good mate, that's pretty good of your uni, just make sure it covers your "custom laptop"
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
What Uni are you planning on going to out of interest?
Uni of Derby (Games Programming)
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
Nice, I'm hoping to go the Uni of Kent to do Computer science. Got my laptop for the same reason as you
Nice, I'm hoping to go the Uni of Kent to do Computer science. Got my laptop for the same reason as you
Is that the one in Canterbury? If it is that's not far from me (Essex). Derby has a good games programming course and one of the few top ones that looks at previous experience (which I have a good amount of) more than grades/UCAS points (which I don't have so much of)
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
Yeah, in Canterbury, to get in I need ABB (but they're a little flexible there as they take people through clearing), so I'm hoping I can get in. I'll also be doing the year in industry with them because it boosts the chances of getting a job by loads, goes from around 70% without it to 100% with it. And you also get a little bit of money
Yeah, in Canterbury, to get in I need ABB (but they're a little flexible there as they take people through clearing), so I'm hoping I can get in. I'll also be doing the year in industry with them because it boosts the chances of getting a job by loads, goes from around 70% without it to 100% with it. And you also get a little bit of money
Yep Derby have got the same thing and its one of the reason Derby has a very high employment rate because its mandatory for the majority of their courses. Hopefully I will get a decent one at a cool game studio, from what I here the studio you work with is very likely to give you a permanent job upon leaving.
What area of Computer science do you want to go into specifically, any particular programming interests?
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
At the moment I'm not 100% sure what I want to go into, hence why I just chose the straight computer science course. I'd like to try out a bit of games programming and AI. After A-levels I plan on doing a bit of game programming in the summer holidays using java, since that's the main language they use and I tried to teach myself it before but was too busy with college :/
The area I know I don't want to go into is networking, find it too close to IT for my liking (I actually said that in my interview and the guy started questioning me on it :L I was like crap, shouldn't have said that cause he could've specialised in networking
).Java is definitely not the best way to go if you want to do games programming. I've found C# to be really easy to use. I used XNA which is libraries for C# although that has been retired and is now MONO. You may want to check that out. Of course if you want to do professional development then you will need to learn C++ for sure!
Other than games programming I've always loved the idea of optimizing software, so that a bulky system can run on a lightweight machine. I guess that's why I'm interested in the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino boards.
Python is also pretty decent for games programming, there was a really good set of libraries for it but I can't remember the name and the code is almost identical to what is written in C# and Java doesn't differ much more than that. Best thing about using C# is full support of Visual Studio which I've found to work wonders once you have got some experience
Other than games programming I've always loved the idea of optimizing software, so that a bulky system can run on a lightweight machine. I guess that's why I'm interested in the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino boards.
Python is also pretty decent for games programming, there was a really good set of libraries for it but I can't remember the name and the code is almost identical to what is written in C# and Java doesn't differ much more than that. Best thing about using C# is full support of Visual Studio which I've found to work wonders once you have got some experience
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
Yeah, I know java isn't best for games programming (minecraft is a shining example of it), but I thought it will help me have a headstart at uni. I was gonna try some simple apps/games for android since I have an S4. It wouldn't be anything serious though, just a hobby for the holidays, was thinking of making a Harvest Moon kind of game (I used to love that game when I was younger and thought It'd be great to play on my mobile
) although I probably won't get far since I've done no games programming before, but I can still dream!!!Yeah, I know java isn't best for games programming (minecraft is a shining example of it), but I thought it will help me have a headstart at uni. I was gonna try some simple apps/games for android since I have an S4. It wouldn't be anything serious though, just a hobby for the holidays, was thinking of making a Harvest Moon kind of game (I used to love that game when I was younger and thought It'd be great to play on my mobile
I can send you one of the games I made for Extended Project for college, its in C# XNA. But bear in mind that I used and engine that runs on top of XNA which runs on top of C# XD. But I can try and help you out as well if you use C#. I will also be doing plenty of games programming over the summer. Possibly a new game as well as plenty additions for one of my game that has some potential
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
I did an epq as well, made a little robot that followed a line and picked stuff up with an electromagnet
My project over the summer is going to be done with a friend of mine who programs a lot more than me, mostly in objective C for iphone (yuck, burn it), so we're teaming up to burn some time and get a bit more experience
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
Yeah, got an A in it
Used a Picaxe board for it. Originally wanted to use a Raspberry Pi but it weighed too much so switched it over. Wasn't loads of coding though, mostly just loved making my code interact with the hardware Yeah, got an A in it
I used a picaxe chip briefly in Electronics. They are programmed in basic if I remember correctly. Which is exactly what it says on the tin.
GeorgeHillier
Prolific Poster
Yeah, I did it for making software interact with electronics, not for the programming challenge (it was only about 50-100 lines long). The hardest part was just researching it and building the circuit to stop the electromagnet frying the whole circuit.