starting Programming

[Willmaniam]

Hey
Im new to this forum and new to programming. Basically im taking Maths and Physics A levels next year and probably want to look into a career in programming games or something along those lines. Either way before I start I was hoping you guys would be able to give me some advice on where to start and with what. From what ive found out C++ seems highly sought after, would this be a good place? Any other help on thinsg to download/buy to help me get started would be appreciated.
Cheers

[icepack]

i'm going to try not to sound like a ****

but 80% of the kids i meet in my major(comp sci.) want to go into game programming.

roughly 80% of them drop out of the major.

i don't see the big thing about game programming. it's probably not going to be as fun as you think it is. you'll probably be stuck doing some crappy math programming, and never once see an actual character.
liking to play games != liking to program games

graphic design, animation and the sort, i think those would be a better place for people wanting to be game programmers. there at least, you'll use software to make characters run around(which seems to be a major turn on for the field).

C++ is a great starting place for any programming language.

[v0id]

I agree with you, icepack, in the first part, but...

For an absolutely beginner I wouldn't suggest C++. It's to big too start with, and so much you've to worry about, if we can say it in that way.
I would suggest to use Python as a beginner language, and yes it isn't very fast, it's type-weak and so on, but it's a good language to see what programming really is. Then you can always later switch to some other language, like C or C++.

[Willmaniam]

Thanks for the advice guys. Ill look into learning some python i guess then. And also thanks for the advice on game programming icepack, ill take that into account. Had thought of it as a good idea because i really enjoy solving problems and stuff i wasnt too botherd about the graphical side of things more the satisfaction when you complete like a really hard maths problem or something like that. Now i sound cool lol .

[WingedPanther]

As a mathematician, I can say that if you get a strong math background, you can be valuable to almost any programming company, for games or otherwise. It's amazing how much math is involved in business software, etc. A math minor can do wonders for your ability to problem solve and tackle math related work.