Great, that's exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!

It always takes a long time to learn.  But it is worth it.  Start off simple.  Really simple.  Don't try to do anything to fancy, espcially something as massive as halo.  Just start off easy.  Use the tutorials here on the site.

I've recently come across Microsoft's new "starting" language, called Small Basic. It's arguably simpler than QBASIC, but you can get some neat things working very quickly, and Intellisense does all it can to help you.

I have been learning for about a year now, but that is very off and on.  I might have a total of 20 hours learning.  Point is I have an good understanding of the setup but still have a hard time making some ideas come to life.  Meaning defining some things like pause, or gamestate processes.

I really recomend Stephen C. Perry's book "C# and .Net" to learn how to code in C#.
Also this link is very usefull http://www.csharp-station.com/Default.aspx

There are lots of easy tutorials about XNA in the web.
My favourites are:
http://xnadevelopment.com/tutorials.shtml
http://www.riemers.net/
http://www.virtualrealm.com.au/blogs/tutorial-01-xna-your-first-windows-game/

i taght myself

Azix:

Ok, I have spent the past three hours watching tutorials and trying to understand programming C#. For some reason none of it is sinking through.

Does it take months to understand the basics of programming or am I just slow?

You can grasp the very basics in a few minutes, but you have to start at the right place. Go grab a book, and follow along properly. Your first program should be a simple one that does nothing more than output the words "Hello World" in a console window.

If you tried to take on more than that, than you have bitten off more than you can chew.

Any idea how far you think a year's worth of community college courses in C will get me? It was primarily sorting algorithms and pointers, but I never did anything involving graphics and games, and I don't start object-oriented stuff until next semester (I don't actually know what that concept means, really :-/ ). Will I have to learn considerably more programming before starting, or can I start following the 2D game making tutorials now and learn the necessary programming principles as I go along?

Despite the fact that I'm asking where I should start, I've started the "Beginner's Guide to 2D" games, and am currently at Chapter 5, Step 2, and I think I've got a decent grasp on everything so far, except perhaps for how the program progresses through the different steps (like Initilization, LoadContent, Update, etc) and how some of the data types work.

Emperor Z:

Any idea how far you think a year's worth of community college courses in C will get me? It was primarily sorting algorithms and pointers, but I never did anything involving graphics and games, and I don't start object-oriented stuff until next semester (I don't actually know what that concept means, really :-/ ). Will I have to learn considerably more programming before starting, or can I start following the 2D game making tutorials now and learn the necessary programming principles as I go along?

C is not C#, but it will take you far. The syntax is very similar, and most of the language works in the same way, C# is just much nicer. You don't need to wait until next semester. Go to the library and grab a C# book and start reading.

C# is an OOP language, and XNA is an OOP framework. You are going to have to understand that concept to get the most out of this. OOP is a not complex thing, it just builds off of stuff you learned about structs in C, and then gets more advanced if you want it to.

You can learn about OOP by looking up a free e-book that is floating around the net called Thinking in C++. It's all about OOP programming. Then after that, there is another book called Dot Net Book Zero which will translate those concepts over their C# equivalents.

Even if you read those, you should still go read through a C# book.

Start out simple. I would suggest Adobe Flash for beginners there's many tutorials on http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Flash/Games/1 for flash. If you're in high school or college sign up for a computer science class. You'll be a pro in no time as long as you're into it.

I am actually going to try and address this in my blog. I have just started the thread, but if you keep your eye on it I will start regular posts on the subject soon.

I taught myself with tutorials on the internet. Learned VB6->VB.NET->Java->C#... I've come a long way lolz.

Omnion:

I'd say the internet is your best friend. You don't need expensive books and stuff like that..

Internet tutorials and books are night and day.

A good book will explain something a lot more, making you fully understand it. By the time you get to the end of the book, you will have a strong grasp of the language or API. You'll be able to think and solve problems on your own.

Internet tutorials are short and to the point, and they just barely scratch the surface of any topic. You won't really have a great understanding of the language, and you will just be a guy who needs to go find a tutorial to copy code from for everything you want to do.

Books don't have to cost anything. Just go to the library and grab a beginner C# book.

I'd second Daaark on books.  You can pick them up and read them anywhere.  Often when you read them away from the computer, you must think, practice, and rehearse what is being taught in your head which facilitates understanding.  Seeing code expand and unfold in your mind's eye, rather than on your computer screen, is a skill any programmer needs.

Best,
Byron

Byron Nelson:

Often when you read them away from the computer, you must think, practice, and rehearse what is being taught in your head which facilitates understanding.  Seeing code expand and unfold in your mind's eye, rather than on your computer screen, is a skill any programmer needs.

Nice description. You need to be able to know enough about programming to be able to code without constantly referring to and copying and pasting from tutorials. My high school teacher would regularly make us write up code without a computer to learn how to do basic programming. Its really useful to have a person to ask questions to when you get stuck too. (Forums much?)

Knowing how a computer actually works is the best foundation you can have

This is great environment for learning assembly

http://www.emu8086.com/

Understanding the basics of bits, bytes, registers and addressing will make higher level concepts easier to grasp

You can also use AMD RenderMonkey to learn basic HLSL and ASM

Every hour spent learning the fundamentals will save hundreds of hours later on - never build on a foundation of ignorance

Never be in a rush to finish a program - everytime something new turns up take the time to stop and understand it fully

and make a note of anything that takes time to figure out - these notes will be invaluable later

Pick up a 2008 C# programming for Dummies book. It explains things slow and teaches you the basics.