Learning a new language

The last programming language I learnt was Matlab, back circa 1994. Eek, that is twenty years ago now! It seems a shame that today there are all these amazing electronic devices, but coding is so much less accessible than when I was a wee lass learning to program my ZX Spectrum in BASIC. So I have been trying to “get with the program” a bit by learning some Android. I followed a couple of the tutorials on http://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html, but found it hard going, although I did successfully code up a 2D dynamic random dot pattern. Then Brad Pearce pointed me to Game Maker Studio, which offers a very simple drag-and-drop interface for building games, supported by code as necessary. So I’ve spent an entertaining few hours trying to get to grips with that. It has a good set of tutorials but I was too impatient to follow them for long and have now dived off-piste trying to code up my own game. It’s hard going learning something new isn’t it! I bet all the students who I’ve sternly instructed to “learn Matlab” over the years can relate to that :).

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