Why Learning C Is My First Step Toward Becoming a Game Engine Programmer

Conclusion Hi there! Happy new year 🥳🎉🎊 My name is Victor Rosario. I’m originally a Web Developer, and I usually work with technologies like Next.js, FastAPI, Express.js, and Nest.js. Recently, while browsing YouTube, I discovered a channel called The Cherno. I started watching his Game Engine (Hazel) playlist, and that’s when everything changed. I felt a huge wave of excitement — finally seeing how game engines like Unity, Unreal, or Godot work under the hood. At the same time, I was completely lost. I was looking at real engine code, and honestly… I couldn’t understand anything. That confusion made me realize something important: I was missing the fundamentals. After doing a lot of research and talking with friends who work closer to low-level systems, I reached a clear conclusion: My first real step must be learning the C language. My reasoning is simple: if I deeply understand C, then learning C++ — with all its extra features — will become much easier and more natural. To reinforce this path, I started reading the book “Build Your Own Lisp”, which I honestly think is fantastic. It doesn’t just teach syntax; it forces you to think about memory, data structures, and low-level concepts. At the moment of writing this post, I’m on Chapter 9: “Reading Expressions”, and this blog series is my way of documenting this learning adventure. Right now, my main goal is to strengthen my C knowledge by building small projects that help me truly understand: This is just the beginning, but it feels like the right foundation for my long-term goal: becoming a Game Engine Programmer. Thanks for reading 😁 Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse - How memory works - How to allocate and deallocate memory - How to properly use and master pointers