Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development (2015)

Part II: Digital Prototyping

Chapter 17. Introducing Our Language: C#

This chapter introduces you to the key features of C# and describes some important reasons why it was chosen as the language for this book. It also examines the basic syntax of C#, explaining what is meant by the structure of some simple C# statements.

By the end of this chapter, you will better understand C# and be ready to tackle the more in-depth chapters that follow.

Understanding the Features of C#

As covered in Chapter 15, “Thinking in Digital Systems,” programming consists of giving the computer a series of simple commands, and C# is the language through which we do so. However, there are lots of different programming languages out there, each of which has benefits and drawbacks. Some of the features of C# are that it is

A compiled language

Managed code

Strongly typed

Function-based

Object-oriented

Each of these features is described further in the following sections, and each will help you in various ways.

C# Is a Compiled Language

When most people write computer programs, they are not actually writing in a language that the computer itself comprehends. In fact, each computer chip on the market has a slightly different set of very simple commands that it understands, known as machine language. This language is very, very fast for the chip to execute, but it is incredibly difficult for a person to read. For example, the machine language line 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 would certainly mean something to the right computer chip, but it means next to nothing to human readers. You might have noticed, however, that every character of that machine code is either a 0 or 1. That’s because all the more complex types of data—numbers, letters, and so on—have been converted down to individual bits of data (i.e., ones or zeros). If you’ve ever heard of people programming computers using punch cards, this is exactly what they were doing: For some formats of binary punch cards, physically punching a hole in card stock represented a one, while an unpunched hole represented a zero.

For people to be able to write code more easily, human-readable programming languages—sometimes called authoring languages—were created. You can think of an authoring language as an intermediate language meant to act as a go-between from you to the computer. Authoring languages like C# are logical and simple enough for a computer to interpret while also being close enough to written human languages to allow programmers to easily read and understand them.

There is also a major division in authoring languages between compiled languages such as BASIC, C++, C#, and Java and interpreted languages such as JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and Python (see Figure 17.1).

Figure 17.1 A simple taxonomy of programming languages

In an interpreted language, authoring and executing code is a two-step process: The programmer writes the code; and then, each time any player plays the game, the code is converted from the authoring language to machine language in real time on the player’s machine. The good thing about this is that it enables code portability, because the authoring code can be interpreted specifically for the type of computer on which it is running. For example, the JavaScript of a given web page will run on almost any modern computer regardless of whether the computer is running OS X, Windows, Linux, or even many mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and so on. However, this flexibility also causes the code to execute more slowly due to: the time it takes to interpret the code on the player’s computer, the authoring language not being well optimized for the device on which it will run, and a host of other reasons. Because the same interpreted code is run on all devices, it is impossible to optimize for the specific device on which it happens to be running. It is for this reason that the 3D games created in an interpreted language like JavaScript run so much more slowly than those created in a compiled language, even when running on the same computer.

When using a compiled language, such as C#, there are three separate steps to the programming process: authoring the code, compiling the code, and executing the compiled program. This added middle process of compilation converts the code from the authoring language into an executable (that is, an application or app) that can be run directly by a computer without the need for an interpreter. Because the compiler has both a complete understanding of the program and a complete understanding of the execution platform on which the program will run, it is possible to incorporate many optimizations into the process. In games, these optimizations translate directly into higher frame rates, more detailed graphics, and more responsive games. Most high-budget games are authored in a compiled language because of this optimization and speed advantage, but this means that a different executable must be compiled for each execution platform.

In many cases, compiled authoring languages are only suited for a single execution platform. For instance, Objective C is Apple Computer’s proprietary authoring language for making applications for both OS X and iOS. This language is based on C (a predecessor of C++), but it includes a number of features that are unique to OS X or iOS development. Similarly, XNA was a flavor of C# developed by Microsoft specifically to enable students to author games for both Windows-based personal computers and the Xbox 360.

As mentioned in Chapter 16, “Introducing Our Development Environment: Unity,” Unity enables C# (as well as Boo and a JavaScript flavor named UnityScript) to be used to create games. Any of these three languages are compiled into a Common Intermediate Language (CIL) in an additional compilation step, and that CIL is then compiled to target any number of platforms, from iOS to Android, Mac, Windows PC, game consoles such as the Wii and Xbox, and even interpreted languages such as WebGL. This additional CIL step ensures that Unity programs are able to be compiled even if they are written in UnityScript or Boo, but I still find C# to be vastly superior to the other two.

The ability to write once and compile anywhere is not unique to Unity, but it is one of Unity Technologies’ core goals for Unity and is better integrated into Unity than any other game development software I have seen. However, as a game designer, you will still need to think seriously about the design differences between a game meant for a handheld phone controlled by touch and one meant to run on a personal computer controlled by mouse and keyboard, so you will usually have slightly different code for the different platforms.

C# Is Managed Code

More traditional compiled languages such as BASIC, C++, and Objective-C require programmers to directly manage memory, obliging a programmer to manually allocate and de-allocate memory any time she creates or destroys a variable.¹ If a programmer doesn’t manually de-allocate RAM in these languages, her programs will have a “memory leak” and eventually allocate all the computer’s RAM, causing it to crash.

¹ Memory allocation is the process of setting aside a certain amount of random-access memory (RAM) in the computer to enable it to hold a chunk of data. While computers now often have hundreds of gigabytes (GB) of hard drive space, they still usually have less than 20GB of RAM. RAM is much faster than hard drive memory, so all applications pull assets like images and sounds from the hard drive, allocate some space for them in RAM, and then store them in RAM for fast access.

Luckily for us, C# is managed code, which means that the allocation and de-allocation of memory is handled automatically. You can still cause memory leaks in managed code, but it is more difficult to do so accidentally.

C# Is Strongly Typed

Variables are covered much more in later chapters, but there are a couple things that you should know now. First, a variable is just a named container for a value. For instance, in algebra, you may have seen an expression like this:

x = 5

In this one line, we have created a variable, named it x, and assigned it the value 5. Later, if asked the value of x + 2, I’m sure you could tell me that the answer is 7 because you remember that x was holding the value 5. That is exactly what variables do for you in programming.

In most interpreted languages, like JavaScript, a single variable can hold any kind of data. The variable x could hold the number 5 one minute, an image the next, and a sound file thereafter. This capability to hold any kind of value is what is meant when we say that a programming language is weakly typed.

C#, in contrast, is strongly typed. This means that when we initially create a variable, we tell it at that moment what kind of value it can hold:

int x = 5;

In the preceding statement, we have created a variable, named it x, told it that it is exclusively allowed to hold integer values (that is, numbers without a decimal point), and assigned it the integer value 5. Although this might seem like it would make it more difficult to program, strong typing enables the compiler to make many optimizations and makes it possible for the authoring environment, MonoDevelop, to perform real-time syntax checking on the code you write (much like the grammar checking that is performed by Microsoft Word). This also enables and enhances code-completion, a technology in MonoDevelop that enables it to predict the words you’re typing and provide you valid completion options based on the other code that you’ve written. With code-completion, if you’re typing and see MonoDevelop suggest the correct completion of the word, you simply press Tab to accept the suggestion. Once you’re used to this, it can save you hundreds of keystrokes every minute.

C# Is Function Based

In the early days of programming, a program was composed of a single series of commands. These programs were run directly from beginning to end much like the directions you would give to a friend who was trying to drive to your house:

1. From school, head north on Vermont.

2. Head west on I-10 for about 7.5 miles.

3. At the intersection with I-405, take the 405 south for 2 miles.

4. Take the exit for Venice Blvd.

5. Turn right onto Sawtelle Blvd.

6. My place is just north of Venice on Sawtelle.

Later, repeatable sections were added to programming in the form of things like loops (a section of code that repeats itself) and subroutines (an otherwise inaccessible section of code that is jumped to, executed, and then returned from).

Functional languages allow programmers to name chunks of code and thereby encapsulate functionality (that is, group a series of actions under a single function name). For example, if in addition to giving someone detailed directions to your house as previously described, you also asked him to pick up some milk for you on the way, he would know that if he saw a grocery store on the way, he should stop the car, get out, walk to find milk, pay for it, return to his car, and continue on his way to your house. Because your friend already knows how to buy milk, you just need to request that he do so rather than giving him explicit instructions for every tiny step. This could look something like this:

“Hey man, if you see a store on the way, could you please BuySomeMilk()?”

In this statement, you have encapsulated all of the instructions to buy milk into the single function named BuySomeMilk(). The same thing can be done in any functional language. When the computer is processing C# and encounters a function name followed by parentheses, it will callthat function (that is, it will execute all of the actions encapsulated in the function). You will learn much more about functions in Chapter 23, “Functions and Parameters.”

The other fantastic thing about functions is that when you have written the code for the function BuySomeMilk() once, you shouldn’t have to write it again. Even if you’re working on a completely different program, you can often copy and paste functions like BuySomeMilk() and reuse them without having to write the whole thing again from scratch. Throughout the tutorial chapters of this book, you will be writing a C# script named Utils.cs that includes several reusable functions.

C# Is Object-Oriented

Many years after functions were invented, the idea of object-oriented code (OOC) was created. In OOC, not only functionality but also data are encapsulated together into something called an object, or more correctly a class. This is covered extensively in Chapter 25, “Classes,” but here’s a metaphor for now.

Consider some various animals. Each animal has specific information that it knows about itself. Some examples of this data could be its species, age, size, emotional state, level of hunger, current location, and so on. Each animal also has certain things that it can do: eat, move, breath, etc. The data about the animal are analogous to variables in code, while the actions that can be performed by the animal are analogous to functions.

Before OOC, an animal represented in code could hold information (i.e., variables) but could not perform any actions. Those actions were performed by functions that were not directly connected to the animal. A programmer could write a function named Move() that could move any kind of animal, but she would have to write several lines of code in that function that determined what kind of animal it was and what type of movement was appropriate for it. For example, dogs walk, fish swim, and birds fly. Any time a new animal was added to the program, Move() would need to be changed to accommodate the new type of locomotion, and Move() would consistently grow larger and more complex.

Object orientation changed all of this by introducing the ideas of classes and class inheritance. A class combines both variables and functions into one whole object. In OOC, instead of having a huge Move() function that can handle any animal, there is instead a much smaller, more specificMove() function attached to each species of animal. This eliminates the need for you to rewrite Move() every time a new species is added, and it eliminates the need for all of the species checking in the non-OOC version of Move(). Instead, each new animal species class is given its own small Move() function when it is created.

Object orientation also includes the concept of class inheritance. This enables classes to have subclasses that are more specific, and it allows the subclasses to either inherit or override functions in their superclasses. Through inheritance, a single Animal class could be created that included declarations of the data types that are shared by all animals. This class would also have a Move() function, but it would be nonspecific. In subclasses of Animal, like Dog or Fish, the function Move() could be overridden to cause specific behavior like walking or swimming. This is a key element of modern game programming, and it will serve you well when you want to create something like a basic Enemy class that is then further specified into various subclasses for each individual enemy type that you want to create.

Reading and Understanding C# Syntax

Just like any other language, C# has a specific syntax that you must follow. Take a look at these example statements in English:

The dog barked at the squirrel.

At the squirrel the dog barked.

The dog at the squirrel. barked

barked The dog at the squirrel.

Each of these English statements has the same words and punctuation, but they are in a different order, and the punctuation and capitalization is changed. Because you are familiar with the English language, it is easy for you to tell that the first is correct and the others are just wrong. Another way of examining this is to look at it more abstractly as just the parts of speech:

[Subject] [verb] [object].

[Object] [subject] [verb].

[Subject] [object]. [verb]

[verb] [Subject] [object].

When parts of speech are rearranged like this, doing so alters the syntax of the sentence, and the latter three sentences are incorrect because they have syntax errors.

Just like any language, C# has specific syntax rules for how statements must be written. Let’s examine this simple statement in detail:

int x = 5;

As explained earlier, this statement does several things:

Declares a variable named x of the type int

Any time a statement starts with a variable type, the second word of the statement becomes the name of a new variable of that type (see Chapter 19, “Variables and Components”). This is called declaring a variable.

Defines the value of x to be 5

The = symbol is used to assign values to variables, which is also called defining the variable. When doing so, the variable name is on the left, and the value assigned is on the right.

Ends with a semicolon ( ; )

Every simple statement in C# must end with a semicolon ( ; ). This is similar in use to the period at the end of sentences in the English language.