Why did I start coding

I love PC games, and I holp I can develop my own wonderful game someday. This is the reason I learn programming. I didn’t like programming at all before studying at UHM. I still remember my first programming course in other university when I majored Mechanical Engineering. It was a nightmare to me since I didn’t know how to start a program. What I could do was to memorize some sample codes before the exams. Later, I majored Electrical Engineering at UHM where I had to learn C again. At the beginning, it was still hard for me, so I needed spending a lot of time to do homeworks and watch tutorials. The thing got me into programming was one assignment that we were required to write our first game, Snake, in C. It was very hard to a beginner of C. I spent most of my time to do searches and ask questions. Finally, my first game could run although it was buggy and not fancy. It was a milestone that I found programming was interesting and amazing.

So far, I have learned many programming courses in CENG such as cyber security and operating system, but I think game design is the most interested one. Of course, I don't use C to write games anymore. Object-oriented programming language and Unity make game design much easier and faster. However, I think I still need to learn more until I can really design a fancy game. The skills and experiences I want to develop in future are Unity and C#. There are many useful features can simplify our codes. For example, delegate in C# is a great way to encapsulate multiple methods in a button click event. The other thing I need to improve is math. When I write a game, the most difficult part is to implement the move methods of game objects. For example, when implementing the movement of an enemy for a 2D flying game, I need to use sine or cosine function to make the movement complicated and unpredictable, and this requires good math skill.

Software engineering is always difficult, and it used to be a field that I didn't want to touch. However, once I overcame my fear, I found software engineering is an amazing thing that can create another world.