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Newcomers DBPro Corner / Starting to learn DBPro, with no prior knowledge of programming, at all.

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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 27th Jan 2008 22:53
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Since I started using computers back in 1998, I've always wanted to make my own games, but I have never understood the languages I have tried.

I decided I would check out DBPro the other day, even though I have been in the community for 2 years now (I think). I have been reading some of the commands at random and seeing what they do, but I'm not getting anywhere fast, or even at a steady pace.

What should I do to learn DBPro successfully, besides reading the commands from the help files?

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Sixty Squares
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Posted: 27th Jan 2008 23:48 Edited at: 28th Jan 2008 00:03
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Try the Tutorials Thread (Located at the top of this board if you missed it). There's tons of tutorials to both get you started and to help you along the way. TDK's Tutorials are a great resource as well (They can be found in that thread).

The following may or may not be helpful to you at all...

I like to think of programming like this:
The computer is a blindfolded man in a forest and you his director. He can't navigate the forest without your help.

Basically what you're doing is issuing the computer a series of commands (hence why the commands are called commands) that it will perform. The commands are executed in a specific order, so you can't just write them anywhere-- they must be written in the order that they will be executed in. Going back to the example of the blindfolded man, say he's standing on one side of a river and facing the other side. The bridge across it is to his right, and he needs to cross it somehow. You, as the director, must tell him to first turn to his right, walk in that direction, stop, turn left so he is facing his original direction (for he is now facing the opposite end of the river again, and the bridge is right in front of him), and NOW you can tell him to go straight over the bridge.

If that metaphor was confusing, then feel free to ignore it

Good luck

Metal Runner
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Gil Galvanti
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Posted: 28th Jan 2008 06:07 Edited at: 28th Jan 2008 06:07
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The metaphor I use is you are given all the tools and materials you need to build it, but it's up to you to decide what to build and how to build. Even when you are told how to build something there are many ways to accomplish it, but some ways may be better than other. Also, the larger the task, the more ways to accomplish it, the same way that there are more ways to build a building than a wall. It will also take a lot longer depending on the task.


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tha_rami
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Posted: 28th Jan 2008 07:06
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The correct word would be analogy, wouldn't it?

But indeed, the analogy is correct. It's usually just starting small and learning the tricks from there.


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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 28th Jan 2008 11:32
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I'm going to try and code pong or some other simple 2d game, then advance. First thing to do, is read some of those tutorials I missed :\

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sinisterstuf
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Posted: 28th Jan 2008 14:25
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I, personally, found tutorials, mainly because I think the tutorial assumes to much. I think the best way to learn is to make programs for yourself. You need to start simple, like really simple. Then you go bigger from there, cos it's not just the commands that you have to learn but the skills or as tha said, the tricks. Tutorials can be very useful though, once you have an idea what they're going on about. What I also find really helpful now are the examples and help that come with DBpro and the help I get from people here on the forum.

Happy, always happy!
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TDK
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Posted: 29th Jan 2008 05:51
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Quote: "I, personally, found tutorials, mainly because I think the tutorial assumes to much."


Guess the missing word eh? I love that game...

Wonderful?
Useful?
Amazing?

OK - I give up!

As a writer of many tutorials, I'm interested to know what the missing word is - and which of my tutorials for absolute beginners "assume too much":

(Tutorials 1 to 4 here).

I'm hoping that you've never actually read any of them and that you yourself were 'assuming too much'!

If you have, then feedback and suggestions on making them better are always welcome...

TDK_Man

* TDK's Game Programming Forums - Open To All - DB & Team Request Boards *

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sinisterstuf
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Posted: 29th Jan 2008 09:20
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Quote: "OK - I give up!"


lol, actually the missing word was more like:

useless
frustrating
not-very-helpful-in-general

But after having a quick look at your tutorials I see that I made a huge generalisation and I apologise. If only I had found tutorials like yours I might not have grown to dislike them so much.

Happy, always happy!
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SpyDaniel
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Posted: 29th Jan 2008 10:05
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@TDK

It's thanks to your first tutorial I can do this (with some commands you did not cover added in):

DO
PRINT "What side will the die land on?"
INPUT Num
IF Num=RND(6)
PRINT "Weldone, it was ";Num
ELSE
PRINT "Sorry you lost"
ENDIF
LOOP



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sinisterstuf
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Posted: 29th Jan 2008 14:54
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Quote: "PRINT "What side will the die land on?"
INPUT Num"

You could also just say



It's shorter, probably quicker too

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Roses In Dreams
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Posted: 3rd Feb 2008 16:10 Edited at: 6th Feb 2008 09:42
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[edited] forum posting etiquettes has been learned by roses in dreams.
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Xsnip3rX
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Posted: 4th Feb 2008 07:48
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Personally, experience taught me best in dbp.

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SimSmall
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Posted: 6th Feb 2008 10:19
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Just thought I should point out that this example assume a 7-sided die (with the faces 0 - 6).

I don't think a normal person using that example would think that the die might land on 0


Quick to fix though, change the range to be 0 - 5 and add 1 to the result.
Lowest value: 0 + 1 = 1
Highest value: 5 + 1 = 6

IF Num = rnd(5) + 1

and just to actually show you, run this app

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