New, Stuck and retarded
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/New, Stuck and retarded
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| Am I retarded? I ask that question seriously, sometimes I look in the mirror and seem to say "thick barstard.. concentrate!!". I bought Blitz Basic just before Xmas and along with the BOOK "Learn To Program 2D games in BLITZ BASIC". I tried learning for about a month yet I was still stuck on arrays, varibles... I could not get my head around thing the book explained. Sometimes it brought code up that I never seen and it did not even explain it, it just said "type this...." LOL. I read TUTS on blitzcoder and I read the newbie guide with blitzbasic yet I never know where to start... and I learn something like "Print warren" and then forget it 10 mins later. What I am basicly asking is where do I go now? The book seems to be hard and for intermidate users when it says NEWBIES.... and tutorails seem to explain nicely yet very hard stuff even in the NOOBIE section. Is it all very so easy but I my self am so dam thick I will never learn Blitz Basic? I am going back now to try learn more yet probley fail very badly.... Any thoughts would be greatful. Thanks Waz P.S whats this Blitz PLUS about? is it blitz basic just renamed? |
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| nil desperandum. it's easier than you think. in fact I bet you'll be coding lightmapping within the month... The best way to learn, I think, is from examples. have a look at any examples, like some in the blitz basic help. They may appear complicated to begin with, but change a few things, and take some things out. You'll soon see what things do and how to do things. I think a lot of people have trouble with types to begin with. leave these until you have the basics down. oh, blitz+ is a seperate product. it's much like blitzbasic2d, except it's faster and has built in window GUI commands. you can create game editors and the like. I think you're perfectly fine with blitz2d at the mo' but after a month or something you'll be wanting to get your teeth into 3d. Don't. master 2d. and don't hesistate in posting a message here. It's the friendliest community around. matt matt |
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| Indeed, what Rims said it's a good advice. Start small, think about a game you liked to play, and try to reproduce it. Build simple task each time, like 'how to display an image and make it bouncing against the screen borders'. If it is still too much, then start even smaller; what's about printing 'hello world' and moving all around the screen ? There's nothing wrong for being stuck sometime; perhaps, if it happens often, you should review the learning method you use. I am going back now to try learn more yet probley fail very badly.... And this is the worst way to begin..! If you prepare yourself for a failure, how can you expect to get a success ? Have fun, and feel free to ask here whatever you like, if you fancy. Sergio. |
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| I think this thread is more for the off topic section... |
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| Thanks for post... I think my problem is "when to move on". For example I am re-reading/re-learning Varibles.. obivosult these must take a big part in programming BB.... Anyway my problem is I like to stick to example varibles till its knocked in my head then move on but my problem is I never know when to move on lets say Arrays and read about them. I feel as if I not learnt everything about Varibles yet. I read the blitzcoder tutorail about them (gloabal and local too.. kinda understand them) and I read the book section on varibles and also the manaul with BB about em. Basicly I know that a varible is like a magic box, in this box I can contrain data or even more boxes. For example a varible would be like this: carspeed# = 10.5 carspeed# = carspeed# + 10 Print carspeed# That will print 20.5 right? So do I move on now to something else? or is there something else I should learn about varibles? Thats my problem I find I never know if thats enough of that and then move onto something else? Not only is that one of my problems but I think when to start a project is... Example say i learnt basics of varibles, arrays etc etc... I never know where to and how to start a project. urmm lets see first line AppTitle "My game" YAY :) EDIT: Should I just read through the whole of BB beginners section? should I follow my book from page to page or jump to things and try em out? I am a man of confusions Thanks for replys hope to see more. P.S sorry if this was wrong section getting stressed atm learning this and plus job seeking I am getting stressed. hehe |
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| carspeed# = 10.5 carspeed# = carspeed# + 10 Print carspeed# ____________________________ That's a good start, but you will be thinking "that's fine, but now what ?" You need to be thinking "what do i want to do" and then "how do i translate that into BB". Read the manuals, help text, tutorials etc but what you may find more useful is to look at some small simple example programs, see what they do and try to work out how they are doing it. Look at each line of code and work out what it's doing and look the commands up in the help (ie, highlight the command and then press F1) ... oh, and come back here if (when !) you need further help ! |
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| You have a good grasp of variables, for the following reasons: You have used # to indicate floating-point variables You have given it a recogniseable, simple name "carspeed#" You have the syntax correct. Of course, there is ALWAYS more to learn on a subject, but I think if you were to move on, move on to something like the following (and see if you follow what it is for) This will introduce FOR/NEXT Variables, random numbers and ARRAYS [Code] Dim Carspeed#(10) For F=1 To 10 Random#=Rnd(0,10) Carspeed#(F)=Random# Next For F=1 To 10 Print F+" - "+Carspeed#(F) Next [/code] (Just thought do Blitz Arrays start at (0) or (1)??? :) |
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| think its 1..... As I did a local varible and global. The global did a spacebarHits% with a function of Addto And a local of rand function of (1,5).... Think thats correct or something. hehe What i think I do is read on about End If and Thens.... Problem is I learn this but never know when to start for a project lol. Sorry its starts from 0.... just read up I think... lol |
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| Yes it's 0. Dim myArray(10) makes an array of 11 elements (yes 11!) : 0 to 10. That's quite a strange behaviour (most of the other languages would have maed an array with elements from 0 to 9 or at least from 1 to 10 which indeed makes 10 elements) but in Blitz it really works that way. So For F=1 To 10 Random#=Rnd(0,10) Carspeed#(F)=Random# Nextjust forgets the 0th element (the loop could have begun from 0 rether than 1). Hem, I hope I'm not screwing your mind? Tell me, I can be a better teacher I think when I take time :) EDIT: Then, my advice is to have two approaches in the same time: - when you discover something new, try to think immediately to some things usefull you can do with that (preferably something cool, and that you figured by yourself, it's easier to learn this way) - give yourself some limited bur rewarding tasks that you try to achieve, possibly enhancing the result along your learning. Small steps can lead you very far you know :) |
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| If anyones got MSn perhaps we can chat sometime. my msn is askwarren@... Thanks Waz |
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| >What I am basicly asking is where do I go now? In the samples directory you will find a game called solotennis.bb. -look at the code and find out what is going on -try to play around with the variables etc. -add a single player mode with an intelligent computer opponent. Andy |
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| You seem to be getting there. Variables are one of the key building blocks of all programming. The good news is, programming is really very simple. There are only a few really key concepts to grasp, which everything else is built from. That's not to say programming complex stuff is easy, but still, even the most complex programming is built around these few core concepts; I think you'll grasp the general gist of it sooner than you think. At the bottom of all programming, you have your variables, you have your logic (IF *this* THEN *that*) and you have the stuff that controls your program's "stream of conciousness" or whatever you would call it (your loops, your GOTOs, your functions), and you have your inputs and outputs - loading stuff, scanning the keyboard, drawing to the screen etc - have I missed anything? What I'm saying is that understanding variables is a HUGE part of understanding programming, probably the one biggest obstacle to understanding that the complete beginner programmer will face. Once you understand variables you already understand a large part of how computers fundamentally work. And arrays are just more variables. |
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| "You have used # to indicate floating-point variables" To put things in perspective, I'm a pretty good Blitz programmer if I do say so myself but I routinely forget to indicate floating-point with a pound sign (#.) "your program's "stream of conciousness" or whatever you would call it" The term you're looking for is "program flow." |
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| OK, you can't use For loops like that. You'll have to change it to: For loop1 = 0 to 2 For loop2 = 0 to 1 Print names$(loop1, loop2) Next Next |
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| About your question "Am I retarded?".... Donīt be so negative... Arrays and stuff can be pretty complicated if you never programmed before, and some people understand such things easier than others... So thatīs why we here to help.... And see... People from all over the world are willing to help.... |
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| Yup, what Robleong said. Dimensions the arrray 3 (0 to 3) elements with 2 other elements Each (0 to 2) Also worth mentioning, but not really worth worrying about... is this acutally dimensions the array with 4 (0,1,2,3) and 3 (0,1,2) - that one is a little non-intuitive I know. |
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| > For loops = 0,0 To 2,1 > Print names$(loops) > Next You can't do this, you have a 2 dimensioned arrays, you need 2 loops.
For loop=0 TO 3
For loopii=0 to 2
print names$(loop,loopii)
next
next
Or better still do this to see it all displayed properly
For loop=0 TO 3
For loopii=0 to 2
Text (loop*10),(loopii*50),names$(loop,loopii)
next
next
or
For loop=0 TO 3
For loopii=0 to 2
Text (loop*10),(loopii*50),names$(loopii,loop)
next
next
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| dont be so negative - read something once, then open up blitz and have a play around! if you have just read the variables section, add a load of variables together, or use rand() to generate them randomly. when you read the array section, play with arrays... infact, once you know how to use ifs, and you can use variables, you are ready to start your first game! try this: put your name on screen and increment a counter every time your name is clicked on *hint* MouseX() MouseY() RectsOverlap() Text now make your name move around and increment a counter when your name is clicked on *hint* You will need an X speed and a Y speed for your name, to know which way it should be moving try that and show us when you do it! if your making any silly mistakes we'll punish you severely for them! er... i mean... we'll help you sort them! ;) |
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| You're better than you think. I've added you to my MSN contacts list, so if you need any help with anything, I'll be happy to walk you through stuff. |
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