Running Around In Circles

[tooltiperror]

Hello there, programming forum.

I feel like, for the past three years, I've been running around in circles. I started learning to program because I wanted to make games in the end, but I just went from place to place. I dabbled in making algorithms, I dabbled in array sorting and data structures, and I spent time in studying all different languages. But I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere.

I guess I just need some guidance.

1. For OS/X, what would be a good C++ 2D graphics library? Making something like Pong.
2. What languages will it be actually beneficial to know? I plan on trying to master C++ for general development, Python for scripts and quick jobs (not including web development)
3. Good OS X IDE? I've tried CodeBlocks, it crashes constantly on OS/X, and I'm sort of tired of using vim in terminal and gcc to compile.

Thanks, all. Even if you can't answer my questions, just some general pointers in programming would be helpful.

 

[Lyerae]

1. I'm not sure if it's a 2D context, but everything I've read about cross-platform game development points to OpenGL.
2. Lua definitely can't hurt, and a working knowledge of XML and / or JSON is definitely useful.
3. Could try looking into Xcode, or makefiles.

 

[s3rius]

Beneficial languages:
For game programming? C++ is the best you can go for. And I mean .. it's one of the harder imperative languages. If you get it straight you'll have an easy time learning everything else, if it is required of you.

A 2D library:
Two of the most popular choices are SDL and SFML.
I've tried both and I prefer SFML.
It's very convenient and more elegant to use than SDL.
Both are multi-platform.

Oh, and if you want some reading on professional game programming then I highly recommend "Game Coding Complete" by Mike McShaffry.
It's the most eye-opening book on the topic I have ever read. And you only need a solid understanding of C++ for it.
Way better than any tutorials that can't be applied on anything larger than a tiny project.

PS:
Algorithms and Data Structures are fun and useful, but tbh - I haven't had a case where the C++STL didn't solve my problems ;O