Coding For Dummies - WAS: Coding Competition...I Like It

[Kumaki]

I can't code my way out of a paper bag, I wish I could...but I like these competitions, we get some cool stuff out of it.

How about an IDEAS competition, where people could submit ideas for games and see if anyone wants to try taking them on?

Here's MY idea...for folks of my generation and slightly older...will understyand the humor:

Jerry Ford's Golf

The object:

You are Jerry Ford, on the driving range or golf course ( really a driving range works better for this)

Various important personages run across the playing field...some famous, some infamous...each worht different point values...the object, of course, is to hit them with your drive.

 

[ekianjo]

I can't code my way out of a paper bag, I wish I could...but I like these competitions, we get some cool stuff out of it.

How about an IDEAS competition, where people could submit ideas for games and see if anyone wants to try taking them on?

Here's MY idea...for folks of my generation and slightly older...will understyand the humor:

Jerry Ford's Golf

The object:

You are Jerry Ford, on the driving range or golf course ( really a driving range works better for this)

Various important personages run across the playing field...some famous, some infamous...each worht different point values...the object, of course, is to hit them with your drive.

Ideas are words. Words are wind

There's tons of ideas for ports and other stuff everywhere in the forums. And certainly a lack of developers. You have better chance learning how to code yourself.

 

[Kumaki]

Yeah, but how does one learn to code....when everything about how to code looks like it is written in Greek?

Isn't there a BEGINNERS GUIDE for TOTAL DUMMIES out there somewhere?

 

[F_Slim]

You could have a look at pygame and the tutorials for it. I think they start at a very low level.

http://www.pygame.org/

It is python-based, and also for python there are tons of easy tutorials that will allow you to start basically from scratch.

It will involve a lot of reading, testing, failing and so on though, like with everything you want to learn starting at zero

 

[erico]

You can code with GLBasic too, it is as easy as basic goes and can output professional stuff.

 

[Kumaki]

Ideally, I'd like to be able to program stuff that will work on Pandy.

 

[erico]

GLB works with pandy and also pc/mac/linux/Pi/canoo/android/iphone/pad/etc...

To work with pandora you need a license, I think it is around 100 dollars.

You can give a go on the free demo so see it is your cup of tea.

Hope it helps.

 

[iprice]

To work with pandora you need a license, I think it is around 100 dollars.

You don't need a license to work with Pandora - I think you mean Apple devices, which is indeed $100. There is also a one-off fee for Android apps. All other devices are free to develop for.

 

[pmprog]

To work with pandora you need a license, I think it is around 100 dollars.

You don't need a license to work with Pandora - I think you mean Apple devices, which is indeed $100. There is also a one-off fee for Android apps. All other devices are free to develop for.

According to this, I'm afraid, yes you do

http://www.glbasic.com/main.php?lang=en&site=features

 

[iprice]

Ah, I see what erico meant now. You need the full version of GLBasic to develop for Pandora. Reading the forum when you're knackered after a night-shift and no sleep during the day is not good thing.

 

[Kumaki]

Would be nice to see some samples of code in GLBasic, so I had some idea of how complicated it looks, before I go spending 100 bucks.

Used Mod Powers to change the topic to something more appropriate.

 

[moxie]

Links for you

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/48712-glbasic-code-examples/

http://www.peejays-remakes.co.uk/tutorials.htm

http://www.glbasic.com/main.php?lang=en&site=games

That last one is the main glbasic site, where you can download zipped projects. unzip and look at the code.

If I should give you a recommendation, it'd be to start up with something even simpler, like scratch: http://scratch.mit.edu/ This is a very visual language, both in what it does (it is geared towards making animations, interactive stories, and so on) and in how it is written - Instead of writing line after line of code, you program by connecting up graphical elements, which are designed to show off their function. For instance, the loop constructs visually surrounds all the code that it is repeating. Also, you can look at the shape of elements and see where they fit - A logical (true or false) expression is a diamond-shaped thing, and places  where you could use one is a diamond-shaped slot, so you can see that the logical expression "fits".

Does this sound a bit kiddie-ish? It is. But it is also the best thing I've see yet to actually visualise and understand what statements does and what their scope is, and so on. Highly recommended.

Also, regarding the "I want it to run on the pandora": Do download the demo (of gl-basic) first. It won't let you develop for the pandora, but it will let you develop on your regular computer, and the tutorial linked above claims to only use things available in the demo, so you can use it for running through the tutorial. In this way, you'll be able to figure out if it is for you. If you find out it is, get the full version and start targeting the panda.

 

[ExquisiteCorpse]

http://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/faq#toc_1

 

[erico]

...

Also, regarding the "I want it to run on the pandora": Do download the demo (of gl-basic) first. It won't let you develop for the pandora, but it will let you develop on your regular computer, and the tutorial linked above claims to only use things available in the demo, so you can use it for running through the tutorial. In this way, you'll be able to figure out if it is for you. If you find out it is, get the full version and start targeting the panda.

The demo has everything you need but 3d and net commands I guess. It will only compile to linux/mac/pc.

You can use the demo to try your pandora stuff, keep the resolution at the pandora spec while trying out on pc.

Since a panda has a keyboard and joy (and mouse as touch screen), it won´t be much of a difference.

You do have to account that a desktop is usually more powerfull than a pandora, but I have been doing stuff on the caanoo and it can hold up really great.

Here is simple code to use the touch screen features (code by Iprice)


LOCAL mx,my,b1,b2

WHILE TRUE

MOUSESTATE mx,my,b1,b2

IF b1 THEN DRAWRECT mx,my,16,16,RGB(255,255,255)

SHOWSCREEN

WEND

It is as simple as reading in english.

Of course you have more complex stuff like types and functions, but me, I only use standard commands close to the equivalent on the old 8-bit basics (lots of if/then ^_^  ).

So my code may not be the most advanced one, but gets the job done. That is what I like about GLB.

EDIT: ops, forgot to say what does the code do. It plots/drags a little square where you touch the screen. If I compile those 6 lines of code to the caano, the appended jpg is what I get, should be the same for pandora.

 

[anntao]

For "Dummies" or "Former Dummies", has anyone tried codeacademy? I've heard some pretty good things about it and was thinking of signing up...

sorry... corrected the link!

 

[erico]

Anntao, I have no permission to access that link?

Is it because I´m a bit beyond dummy on coding?  

 

[_wb_]

Are people still recommending some BASIC dialect to learn how to code? And now it's not even some BASIC you get for free with your machine, like Commodore's BASIC, Spectrum's BASIC, or MSDOS's QBasic, but a BASIC you actually have to pay for?

In my opinion, programming languages that don't have a Free (with a capital, indicating that it's not just gratis) compiler are not real programming languages...

If you want to learn how to code: I would start with regular C, it's a much simpler language than BASIC (e.g. in terms of the number of keywords you need to learn), and you'll learn much more about coding. If you want to start with something more high level, try Python first instead. Optionally try some assembly. Then learn LISP or Haskell or some other functional language, and then learn Prolog or Mercury. Then learn some object-oriented language like C++ or Java. And then you'll know how to code.

You can safely skip BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN or anything like that, the only reason to learn those languages today is if you're a historian or if for some reason you need to maintain real old legacy code.

 

[moxie]

_wb_, although I agree with you in principle, I wouldn't recommend C as the way to start for someome who hasn't got any background in programming and who wants to get stuff running in order to get something on the pandora I do agree on not recommending Basic, though - I'd say Python. It is easier to get small stuff going in an interpreted language.

It does depend on the goal, though - GLBasic has the advantage of presenting a complete make-a-game environment. Python with pygame would be preferable in terms of language power, but it does entail a bit more work to get a newbie-friendly environment.

But yes, paying $100 for a glorified Basic looks painful to me, both in the monetary sense and the freedom sense. If someone can recommend a good PyGame tutorial, including a good environment setup guide, I'd think tha vastly superior, both in terms of value for money and general skills learned.

 

[erico]

_WB_, Yes I´m recommending basic, that is my own personal experience I´m sharing.

It also didn´t come free on the 8bits as you had to pay for the hardware and the price was included.

If you want to code anything today you still have to buy the hardware, or is there any free?

I will stride from the world ´code´ as what I meant in my post was to get your idea going on your hardware on an easy fashion, that is where glb suits me.

Sure low level free tools are better but just way too much for me and my time.

I can´t bother discussing ´free´ flag as my life dosen´t come free in any way, so I see no sense into it.

 

[Binky]

I'm going to recommend python or C(ish)

Python is quite friendly but sometimes tries to be overly clever.

Spending money to use BASIC is daft.