Programming On Pandora

[jocejrod]

i know you can program on Pandora, but what of those who don't know how? i would like know if there is any kind of program being made to teach programming on Pandora

 

[grasshoppir]

maybe we as a community can adap existing programming books for use on the pandora, cmon i know we can do it! (only for those who know how)

 

[Awakening]

Here are some links:
http://lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/
http://cprogramming.com/

 

[gruso]

Excuse me while I daydream out loud, but I think the idea of a tutor app written for Pandora would be quite cool.

 

[rabidpoobear]

Gruso, I agree that'd be really cool. But what language would it teach? Are you thinking something along the lines of Interplay's Learn to Program BASIC?

 

[gruso]

I hadn't seen that before, I just checked out some youtube vids. Cute.

Maybe something like an interactive version of the Lazy Foo tutorials. At the very least, a nice 800x480 slideshow packed into a .PND, but ideally something more. Perhaps Penjin could be tied in as well.

 

[rabidpoobear]

Gruso, I'm planning on writing a lot of Pandora-related tutorials anyway so I'll look into doing something like this. Maybe using BRUCE the presentation tool (it's basically like Powerpoint but controlled from Python and has embedded Python interpreters in-slide) or something like that, if it's Python-related tutorials. Penjin would be good to write about as well. I'm actually quite eloquent when I get in writing-mode, I know you wouldn't think it from my posts on here
BTW are you going to have a section for Pandora tutorials on Pandorapress? I'm planning on writing more tutorials than just how to program or something, I'd like to write some general ones (I'll have to write some good guides for setting up some of the apps I'm working on though, they're dependency hell.)

[edit] Learn to Program BASIC was my introduction to programming. You old fogies* got your TRS-80s with MS BASIC, and I have my horrible 90's Interplay UI

* ("You" in the general sense, not Gruso specifically.)

 

[gruso]

GW BASIC was my entry point. :blush: I did a good job of never progressing from there.

We definitely want tutorials on the blog! We've been talking about it for a while, but it hasn't happened yet. If you're keen to get involved then I'm keen too. I must get back to the Pandorapress changes thread now that the hacking drama is over, and respond to all the suggestions. Once the structural changes on the blog are finalised, the call will go out for tute writers and software reviewers.

 

[rabidpoobear]

Please please please add me to the list when you start contacting people. I'm absolutely willing to put in the time / effort to write great tutorials I'm not sure how much I can write without a Pandora but if you have any ideas I can start on, please let me know

Pandorapress is one of my favorite things about the openpandora project. I've never joined a community that was so committed to excellence in everything - from writing efficient software to designing the perfect D-Pad to providing a KPBL solder point for cryin' out loud - it's been a real joy being a part of this place for the past year and a half, and the way your team's been organizing all the information is really great. I'm actually, in a way, glad that I didn't get my Pandora back then - I don't think that I'd have involved myself so much in the community and I really feel like I am starting to get to know some of you guys I think it's important at every stage, from the tutorials / news to the user interfaces of the apps, that we make it as accessible to newcomers as possible. It really has the potential to be a great platform (no matter what I may say sometimes when I'm frustrated ) and I'm so excited to see it take off!

 

[hitbyambulance]

tutorials i'm interested in:

JAVA (J2EE/J2ME/whatever)
Python/Ruby
Fenix

 

[TrashyMG]

tutorials i'm interested in:

JAVA (J2EE/J2ME/whatever)
Python/Ruby
Fenix

After some looking up myself.. I'm a python guy (mostly web application development). I found pygames it allows game developent for python and uses SDL library also so it has a lot of potential..

Pygame Tutorials

There may be some good Ruby / Java stuff as well.. just personally not that interested.

 

[rabidpoobear]

tutorials i'm interested in:

JAVA (J2EE/J2ME/whatever)
Python/Ruby
Fenix

After some looking up myself.. I'm a python guy (mostly web application development). I found pygames has game related modules and uses SDL library also..

Pygame Tutorials

There may be some good Ruby / Java stuff as well.. just personally not that interested.

The pygame tutorials kinda suck - they were written like 6 years ago and I don't think anyone's changed them. Also the approach they follow is not that conducive to learning - it's easier to teach people when you present them with the motivations behind why you're going to do something a certain way and then show them how you actually do it that way, than it is to show them how you did it and explain what exactly your code does line-by-line (which is the style of tutorial they chose to write.) That's okay, their tutorials are okay for getting an experienced programmer up to speed with the library, but it's not so great for beginners. My tutorials would mostly focus on beginners to programming who want to start by making stuff on the Pandora - cause let's face it, showing people apps you wrote on a portable device is just soooo much cooler than showing them some Java Swing window with misaligned buttons that you threw together on a PC. And when you're starting out programming (or in anything for that matter) it's important to quickly get to points where you validate why you're doing the activity, and to continue getting that reassurance until you get to the point where you can feel confident in yourself and your work.

 

[gruso]

Please please please add me to the list when you start contacting people. I'm absolutely willing to put in the time / effort to write great tutorials I'm not sure how much I can write without a Pandora but if you have any ideas I can start on, please let me know

Pandorapress is one of my favorite things about the openpandora project. I've never joined a community that was so committed to excellence in everything - from writing efficient software to designing the perfect D-Pad to providing a KPBL solder point for cryin' out loud - it's been a real joy being a part of this place for the past year and a half, and the way your team's been organizing all the information is really great. I'm actually, in a way, glad that I didn't get my Pandora back then - I don't think that I'd have involved myself so much in the community and I really feel like I am starting to get to know some of you guys I think it's important at every stage, from the tutorials / news to the user interfaces of the apps, that we make it as accessible to newcomers as possible. It really has the potential to be a great platform (no matter what I may say sometimes when I'm frustrated ) and I'm so excited to see it take off!

Consider yourself on the list!

 

[Dannyxzero]

Hey Guys, Do you think that RPG maker could be done on the Pandora that would be a dream ^_____^ well anyways i have found RPG maker type program for linx but i forget the name >>>

 

[Sphinxter]

There is only one way to learn programming, by writing lots and lots of little programs. The pandora may do well for that.

 

[WizardStan]

Hey Guys, Do you think that RPG maker could be done on the Pandora that would be a dream ^_____^ well anyways i have found RPG maker type program for linx but i forget the name >>>

The real RPG Maker is Windows only (or Linux with Wine, but still x86 only), so it won't run on Pandora.
There are some open source RPG engines that are pretty good, but their hasn't been as many games written for them as for RPG Maker.
There was an open source RPG Maker player, someone attempting to reverse engineer the data files so they could be played in Linux, but I don't think it's been updated in a while, unfortunately.

 

[grasshoppir]

dang! >>>>>

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

tutorials i'm interested in:

JAVA (J2EE/J2ME/whatever)
Python/Ruby
Fenix

After some looking up myself.. I'm a python guy (mostly web application development). I found pygames has game related modules and uses SDL library also..

Pygame Tutorials

There may be some good Ruby / Java stuff as well.. just personally not that interested.

The pygame tutorials kinda suck - they were written like 6 years ago and I don't think anyone's changed them. Also the approach they follow is not that conducive to learning - it's easier to teach people when you present them with the motivations behind why you're going to do something a certain way and then show them how you actually do it that way, than it is to show them how you did it and explain what exactly your code does line-by-line (which is the style of tutorial they chose to write.) That's okay, their tutorials are okay for getting an experienced programmer up to speed with the library, but it's not so great for beginners. My tutorials would mostly focus on beginners to programming who want to start by making stuff on the Pandora - cause let's face it, showing people apps you wrote on a portable device is just soooo much cooler than showing them some Java Swing window with misaligned buttons that you threw together on a PC. And when you're starting out programming (or in anything for that matter) it's important to quickly get to points where you validate why you're doing the activity, and to continue getting that reassurance until you get to the point where you can feel confident in yourself and your work.

This sounds like a good way to do a tutorial.Stuff for absolute beginners,like me, would be cool.I would be interested in using this

 

[dflemstr]

Learning to program, eh? Try Alice or Processing; the first is a learning platform that just teaches you to think like a programmer (it's like a drag-and-drop immensely huge tutorial thing and interactive learning tool), and the second is a complete but small programming language based on Java (which means that the applications you create will run *anywhere*, even on web pages) that lets you write small applications quickly that are graphics-related or game-related. You can do really cool things with it, see e.g. http://benhem.com/games/wayfarer/ or http://projects.zumkuckuck.com/realtime/ (results of random Googles). Both will run on the Pandora I think; Processing for sure, and Alice with a few tweaks, maybe.

 

[renwils]

Interplay's Learn to Program BASIC

Oh wow. I used that when I was 10. I don't think I have any better understanding of basic than I did then(unless using my ti-83 plus counts), but it was a fun experience.