is writing pseudocode necessary? Thread

I really hate writing pseudocode. I'm not very good at it and I seem to do much better if I just sit down and start working on code. However, I haven't worked on any seriously large projects. My friend is pretty adamant that I really need to get better at it because it is really important. I would like some opinions from some people, preferably who work in the game industry or at least have a lot of experience, as to whether not writing pseudocode is going to really hinder me in the future, or is it something that is helpful for some people, but not necessarily for everyone? And if it is something I really need to learn, can anyone give me some times to help me out with it? I just can't seem to sit down and write it out very clearly.

Consider pseudocode simply a "plan".
Concept arts make modelling easier, having a design makes level making easier and having pseudocode makes coding easier.

Obviously, you won't really see much benefit from pseudocode for your more simple programs, but in my own experience, it has been quite helpful to help me come up with ideas for solving a few problems. I think it's best to write it on paper, but that's just my preference.

Also, as one of my old computer science professors told us, use drawings to help visualize things. That helped me especially when I was trying to figure out some algorithm for working with directional graphs or pathfinding.

Edited by: ExtraMedicated

Well I guess its something I need to work on...

You make it sound like there's some standard rules you need to follow.
But really it's nothing more than a plan. If you're writing it for your own sake (and again, it's not necessary if you already know exactly what to write), then you can be as vague as you want.

It's not really something you should do because other people tell you to, but it's a way to describe how to code something without needing to worry about whether or not the syntax is correct.

I will say though, that being able to read someone else's pseudocode is more important. That's a skill that will allow you to apply examples like this one on Wikipedia to your own project, even if it doesn't look like a programming language you've seen before. This will get easier as you get more used to coding, so don't get discouraged.

Personally, I see pseudocode as shortcuts I keep on the side for whenever the occasion will arise where it might be useful.

For example, I build many pseudocodes for mini-tech-demo when I was traveling in a city on my laptop. I couldn't do much 3d on said laptop because it's wasn't really a good laptop for such a thing. So, instead, I made a fighting game which became a brawler game. I made a simple 1st person shooter and a 3rd person shoot with primary models (cylinders, cubes, planes, etc.) and puzzles and stuff.

Then I kept those codes while simply deleting the games because they were literally crappy or incomplete on many parts. At some point, later when I was back at my place, I decided to work on a new project and many of the pseudocodes I made were really useful and helped me at starting things up.

Don't see pseudocode as either "skill trainer" or "waste of time". See them as some kind of past experience for a project that didn't exist.
It makes you more aware of lines of codes you, otherwise, might not have though about.

I don´t really write strict psuedo-code as much as I just comment the heck out of my code until I have time to go back and really code all of it. For instance if I call four different methods that all need to be written later, I will do each method and make it nothing except comments.

I write and doodle a lot when coding and for that pseudo code is great for visualizing my thinking.
I think it's great for designing algorithms and code flow as it has no rules for the syntax.

Edited by: Nightshade

I've been a programmer for 10 years (albeit not in games). Pseudocode is just a technique for planning code, or communicating algorithms/techniques to others. I don't use it much. I think really it's just what helps you personally to develop and plan your projects. You won't be laughed out of an interview because you don't use it.

What is important, though, is that you're able to think about the "big picture": that you can plan ahead and structure code sensibly, rather than just hacking everything out until it does more or less what you want.

As mentioned above, you don't *have* to use pseudocode. If your coding gets done without it, that's great. I usually gets suspicious if someone tells me that you must use a certain technique to be a "real" programmer.

Having said that, sometimes I find myself writing code that I know isn't syntactically correct code, especially when working with nested loops, just so I can get an idea of how it is going to work, and then go back and turn it into proper working code.

Like Nightshade, I find drawing on paper is helpful, particularly when I am not sure how to solve a problem, and it involves things like arrays or grids.