Learning curve for C programmers : C++ vs Java

All other things being equal ... actually, all other things are hardly ever equal, so it would be good to know more about your goals. (In particular, what performance goals do you have? Are you doing hard real time systems? Games? Web development? More rapid development is always better than less rapid development, but how much development speed might you willing to trade off for software execution speed? Put another way: If you got your software working, but slowly, what forces would be at play with new features vs. better performance? I'm not saying Java performance is bad, I'm just trying to characterize your goals.)

The Java language is easier to learn than the C++ language. The Java runtime libraries are much bigger (and provide a lot more functionality) than the C++ standard library; and thus, take more time to learn.

Software written in Java is not inherently slow; software written in C++ is not inherently fast.

Tool support is better for Java than C++. Yes, you can use Eclipse for either; but I think Eclipse's Java support is far more mature than its C++ support. I've used Visual Studio and C++, and I've used Eclipse and Java, and I'm far more impressed with the latter. Java compiles much faster than C++. Also, FindBugs is awesome.

The link below shows programming language book sales. Java is the big spike. Make of this what you want.

Link:
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/programming_lan.html

Videogame Programing

Here are some sites that might help you with SDL and OGL coding.

Most of them have tutorials with detailed walkthroughs and sample code .. all you need

NeHe

Cone3D Programming - SDL, OpenGL and C++ Tutorials

Lazy Foo' Productions

GLUT Tutorial

Anyways if you want really easy tools, go here:
YoyoGames

3d game maker studio is a little more technical. You can download it from any major torrent site. It takes a little getting used to though.

Other than that, I would suggest just doing your own research. I've had teachers who think they know what the game industry is like, only to have another teacher completely contradict them. Independent research is the best way to go. I suggest looking at the sites everyone has already mentioned, gamedev.net is great, and branching out from there.

C ++ - Avoid video tutorials

Don't use videos to learn how to program. Unless there's a strong visual component to the programming (e.g. ActionScript, CSS) it will be a waste of your time. The best way to learn C++, or any other multi-purpose language, is with a good book and a good compiler side-by-side.

If you *really* want to learn C++, and already know some other multi-purpose language, then there is no book better than Koenig and Moo's "Accelerated C++". Period. They teach C++ the way it was meant to be programmed. Most books (Deitel included) teach from a bottom up perspective, which robs C++ of it object orientedness until you reach the later chapters. Additionally, they tend to be 300 page mammoths which you'll never ever finish, no matter how determined you are in the outset.

Accelerated C++ starts you out with the STL: you're face-to-face with OO from page one. They write in a very simplistic, casual, and informal way that is easy to understand and friendly. The book is short. You can really get through it. The whole thing. Cover to cover. And they teach C++ the way it was meant to be written. I can't praise the book highly enough. There is no other book like it.

Once you're done, you'll be ready to tackle the Scott Meyer books (who has a very similar friendly informal style of writing).