Post by Centanoul on Feb 26, 2006 0:26:17 GMT -5
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to help people who wish to learn B4GL(Basic4GL). Mostly, this work is to show you places that are very helpful to people new to programming or to B4GL. This is meant to be used in conjunction with the "Getting Started.htm" document.
B4GL is a vastly useful hobby language for new programmers. You need virtually NO experience to learn. What you do need is time, patience, and a middle class computer. What I think of this computer it has these options:
640x480 Resolution or more.
Hardware Acceleration
286mhz Processor or higher
With these tools, you can learn to create projects on your own, but do not know where to start. A suprisingly high number of people just ask people to create medium to large projects.
Alot of you are asking:
But how do I do it?
There are some basic things you need to know about programming, basic concepts behind the elements of it, the lingo, and the application. The application is language specific, while the elements and lingo are universal! This is what allows programmers to learn several languages and remember them.
Some of you are programmers looking for a small hobby language, some have already learned the basic concepts, you can skip the next section, because everyone else is thinking:
What are the basics?
The basics that apply to every language (I am not master of all languages), are general logical concepts. There are a few that apply to the specific type of language, but alot are general.
burks.brighton.ac.uk/burks/pcinfo/progdocs/plbook/index.htm will give you a great start on learning the differences in the languages, and what alot of them are similar on.
The programming parts, are very readily explained here: www1.cs.columbia.edu/~evs/intro/handouts/prog-glossary.html
I find these two guides are extremelly helpful to answer questions you will not find in the documentation. After you understand those, you should be ready for:
Basic4GL Specifics
Another noteworthy place.
You can find alot of the information in the Language Guide (You can find this in the help menu of your B4GL compiler).
Programmers Guide: Specific language examples of functions and rules.
Sprite Library Guide: Specifics of sprites, graphics for 2d.
Opengl Guide: Specifics for OpenGL, a library(list of functions) that can do 2d and 3d graphics.
Creating Standalone Exes: This will help you make your program into an .exe file that you can show your friends!
Symbolic Debugger Guide: And this guide will help you debug(figure out what went wrong).
What do I do now?
Create programs, the sky is the limit. The best thing I can advise, is have fun.
In closing
I would like to see many more people contributing programs. Even if it has been done before, you can do it again differently.
Example:
I hope the information here helps you all, and I hope the more experienced members will reply with posts of advise, or places of more information. I would request that everyone try to post something, and that this gets stickied. I will continue updating it with the tips posted below, so that people can find what they are looking for easily, and I will give credit to those who help.
I really wish to see the community advance, we see alot of new people, who seem to start, but never show anything because its been done, or its not cool enough. Personally...I will take a look at anything posted, and comment constructively.
*tips his hat*
~Cent
The purpose of this document is to help people who wish to learn B4GL(Basic4GL). Mostly, this work is to show you places that are very helpful to people new to programming or to B4GL. This is meant to be used in conjunction with the "Getting Started.htm" document.
B4GL is a vastly useful hobby language for new programmers. You need virtually NO experience to learn. What you do need is time, patience, and a middle class computer. What I think of this computer it has these options:
640x480 Resolution or more.
Hardware Acceleration
286mhz Processor or higher
With these tools, you can learn to create projects on your own, but do not know where to start. A suprisingly high number of people just ask people to create medium to large projects.
Alot of you are asking:
But how do I do it?
There are some basic things you need to know about programming, basic concepts behind the elements of it, the lingo, and the application. The application is language specific, while the elements and lingo are universal! This is what allows programmers to learn several languages and remember them.
Some of you are programmers looking for a small hobby language, some have already learned the basic concepts, you can skip the next section, because everyone else is thinking:
What are the basics?
The basics that apply to every language (I am not master of all languages), are general logical concepts. There are a few that apply to the specific type of language, but alot are general.
burks.brighton.ac.uk/burks/pcinfo/progdocs/plbook/index.htm will give you a great start on learning the differences in the languages, and what alot of them are similar on.
The programming parts, are very readily explained here: www1.cs.columbia.edu/~evs/intro/handouts/prog-glossary.html
I find these two guides are extremelly helpful to answer questions you will not find in the documentation. After you understand those, you should be ready for:
Basic4GL Specifics
Another noteworthy place.
You can find alot of the information in the Language Guide (You can find this in the help menu of your B4GL compiler).
Programmers Guide: Specific language examples of functions and rules.
Sprite Library Guide: Specifics of sprites, graphics for 2d.
Opengl Guide: Specifics for OpenGL, a library(list of functions) that can do 2d and 3d graphics.
Creating Standalone Exes: This will help you make your program into an .exe file that you can show your friends!
Symbolic Debugger Guide: And this guide will help you debug(figure out what went wrong).
What do I do now?
Create programs, the sky is the limit. The best thing I can advise, is have fun.
In closing
I would like to see many more people contributing programs. Even if it has been done before, you can do it again differently.
Example:
Const _ThisText = 0
Const _ThatText = 1
Dim Storage$(1)
Storage$(_ThisText)="Hello"
Storage$(_ThatText)="World"
Dim a
For a=0 to 1
Locate a*6,0
Print Storage$(a)
Next
I hope the information here helps you all, and I hope the more experienced members will reply with posts of advise, or places of more information. I would request that everyone try to post something, and that this gets stickied. I will continue updating it with the tips posted below, so that people can find what they are looking for easily, and I will give credit to those who help.
I really wish to see the community advance, we see alot of new people, who seem to start, but never show anything because its been done, or its not cool enough. Personally...I will take a look at anything posted, and comment constructively.
*tips his hat*
~Cent