Hi there JordanBrookes. Welcome to the forum!
Starting out coding can certainly be daunting and I'm pretty sure everyone here remembers how it feels to start out. If you have no experience and are willing to throw a little money at the problems, I would suggest you look in to buying
these books. The are excellent and extremely clear. You may experience a few issues because they use a slightly over version of DBP but they really excel because they don't just teach you DarkBASIC Pro; they start from the beginning and teach you to code. Much of what is covered in the first book will, in fact, be applicable to most programming you do, regardless of language. I say this having started with them myself.
There are as many ways to learn to program as there are programmers so I'm sure you'll find the way that suites you. The way I approached it and still approach learning new languages is to read through an explanation so that I understand the concepts, not making any effort to learn any specifics. For example, it is important that you know that variables are used to store values in a program but it is not important that you know that variables can be declared like so:
Once you have the concepts, I find the best way to learn is to simply start coding. If you know what you need to do (for example declare a variable) it's a breeze to open your big old coding book and look up how it's done - or just type the question in to Google or this forum's search bar. Through writing your own programs, you will use these structures so frequently that you'll eventually not need to look them up but in the mean time, you can still write great programs. As I say, the key is knowing what you're looking for.
Another way that a lot of people learn is through the tutorials available here on the forum. Personally I've not used them but I've heard that they're very good. Just have a look in the tutorials sticky thread.
Quote: "Or even what code to start with and how I could possibly learn that code..."
By this, do you mean what programming language? Or what program to start work on?
If you mean what language, then I would say that DarkBASIC Pro is a really great place to start. It is simple and yet powerful and so is an excellent place for newcomers to programming to start. Well, in my opinion anyway. I know that my uni's Computing Science department disagrees and starts freshmen on assembly language and works up but I know that had I started that way, I would simply have given up. DBP is accessible and that is what matters at this stage. One thing I would add to this is that a lot of people I know worry about what language they learn when they start on the principle that it will take a long time to learn so the decision is important. I disagree. Learning to program takes a lot of effort; learning a new language does not. Once you understand the principles of programming, you'll be able to quickly pick up other languages as and when you need them. I would therefore really not let the decision bother you. Just run with what takes your fancy and if that's games, then DBP should be for you.
If you mean what program to start on, I'd say that you should probably start with the examples in the books or the tutorials; whichever you decide to go with. Then just work on a game that you fancy making; preferably not an MMORPG although I know that's always the temptation
. Truth be told, even if it turns out the project you pick is too big or you don't code it right and you end up abandoning the 3000 lines of code you've hammered out, it's not the end of the world. In fact, by working on that project, you've written 3000 lines of code that you probably wouldn't otherwise have written and you will have learnt a hell of a lot in the process.
OK I'll stop rambling now. Hope some of that helped and please do keep posting here as you learn. When you start working through tutorials and the like and run in to problems, just post over on the
Newcomers to DBPro Corner board and lots of people will be on hand to help. I wish you all the best in your programming journey. And if you can persevere through the first learning process, I can assure you that everything from there on will be easier and it will be well worth the effort.
OK I'll really stop rambling now
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