Do you think learning UE4 will help with C++/Object Oriented Skills?

Community Community & Industry Discussion
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So I’ve decided to dive into UE4 to just…get better as a programmer. I have a C.S. degree but didn’t feel ‘up to snuff’ when I left college and got pidgeonholed a bit into QA. I do automation engineering now though which is mostly Ruby w/ Some JavaScript.

I can code ok, I’ve made basic games in JS/etc… (Pong/Tic Tac Toe/ those sorta things) with your basic web animations and such. However my Object Oriented knowledge is lacking I think.

I did the CS50 harvard course, which was FANTASTIC and really helped me get back some skills that had clearly gotten rusty. However I want to further my game, in a fun and interesting way.

Do you think learning UE4 will help with C++ knowledge at all? or coding in general? Or is it mostly scripting? I really want to up my Object Oriented game and this just seemed like something that would be fun for me to do OUTSIDE of work.

Thanks for your help!

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Full disclosure - I havent coded anything in UE4 using C++ (just Blueprints for now), but from what I’ve read, Unreal’s C++ is very similar to Unity’s C#. You dont have to worry about many things (like memory management) so its simpler than coding raw C++. You still have all other concepts like Pointers and inheritance, but many aspects are handled via Macros and pre-made classes.

I would suggest posting this in the C++ section of the forums for a more accurate response. But IMO, you would probably learn quite a bit, but just know that is an “easier” version of C++ :slight_smile:

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It can help immensely.

Writing your own c++ either as plugin or game module will definitely improve your skills.

Reading the existing engine code is an outstanding learning tool, but it does take a little more effort to get comfortable.