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Newcomers DBPro Corner / Looking for some good books.

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Spiritgod
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Posted: 17th Jan 2012 19:04
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I've been out of the programming game for several years now, and honestly don't remember a whole lot besides that I took a beginners course in BASIC and another beginners course in C+. I looked through the stickies and did a search but haven't found a single relevant piece of info concerning books that might help me in my journey. So I come here to seek guidance from the many that have far greater experience than I. Could anyone point me in the right direction of some literature that might help me? I'm basically just trying to get a firm grasp on the BASIC language and to learn the ins and outs of creating a video game.

Oh, and I'm using DarkBASIC pro. Thanks in advance!
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nonZero
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Posted: 17th Jan 2012 22:02 Edited at: 17th Jan 2012 22:04
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Dunno if there's much out there in actual print ??
Its easier to go with digital. If you want a book and you can afford to print a pdf, then there's a solution... Anyway, only resources I know of are:

"Hands on Dark Basic" (heard it mentioned. Dunno lots about it).

"TDK's Tutotials" (very good tuts for begginers but also intermediates as they explain things but without rabbiting on)

The help file (it's amazing what you can learn from this by gradually reading through it - whether you are studying "Hello World" or complex 3D commands).

TGC Forums. These are packed with stuff. Use the google search not the forum search as the forum search never works.

As for game-making concepts, thats something I honestly don't believe can be "taught". Sure you can parrot learn something but experience is a far greater ally. So for that I say train everyday (raw eggs optional but caffien essential).

Word of advice: polish up on your maths. i've run crying to wiki so many times for forgetting simple theorems.

Way more info than needed but my -v switch is always enabled. Anyway, hope you find something useful there. Good luck.

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BatVink
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Posted: 17th Jan 2012 23:20
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If you check out the newsletter back issues and more recent issues you'll find masses of tutorials. I wrote one a month from issue 27 to 59(ish) getting more complex up to issue 50, then back to real basics for a few months. Then VanB took over at 62(ish). Somewhere in between Scraggle wrote a handful, and now Baxslash is writing a new series called AppGameKit Bitesize, as of this month.

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MrValentine
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Posted: 18th Jan 2012 02:47
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Hands On Dark Basic Pro is on the main website...

Book one 2D

Book two 3D

Book two covers other thungs like DLL's and Networking

Hope this helped...

Ooo Vink I plan to read those back issues

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Bardolf
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Posted: 19th Jan 2012 00:12
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@ Spiritgod:
Welcome to the Club

I'm the same here, Programmer in the 80/90's and re-finding my feet with DBP too.

Checkout the DBP Help (F1) as most of the explainations are straight forward.

Browse through the Online Codebase as its always useful to see another's perspective on a problem (especially in a New Language).

Checkout Charles Foreman's Dark Principles on YouTube for Tutorials on DBP and other stuffs, including revamps of Classic Games in DBP. That's how I started off.

If at first you don't succeed - Hide the evidence
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Spiritgod
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Posted: 20th Jan 2012 04:43
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Thanks everyone! I was hoping for actually print since I do a lot of reading away from PCs, but printing out guides and what not is doable. I'll check out everything that was mentioned, and if anyone else has some advice I'd be happy to receive it. Thanks again everyone!
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Burning Feet Man
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Posted: 20th Jan 2012 06:04
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If you need, feel free to hit me up on google talk, burningfeetman@gmail.com

I'm always tinkering with DBpro, but yet to actually make a decent game!

I've also read the books too, so if you need a hand with anything give a yell.

Help build an online DarkBASIC Professional help archive.
DarkBasic Help Wikia
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Naphier
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Posted: 20th Jan 2012 17:10
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I'm pretty new too (just started being serious about learning DPpro a few months ago - work full time and have 4 other very time consuming hobbies).
I found Hands on DBPro to be excellent (a couple of issues with code due to updates since then, but not bad). Also a ton of tutorials online.
As for print... I read a lot of Hands on DBpro on my Kindle...
You might be able to find a used print copy on Amazon.

@Burning Feet Man
I'm going to add you to my google contacts (hope you don't mind).
I've added WLGfx too. I'm very interested in building a small support group of DBpro users that can kind of just buzz each other on google talk for quick questions, motivations, brainstormings, and such.

manns41078@gmail.com
if anyone is interested in adding me.
I'm frequently in google talk.

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Spiritgod
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 07:20
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@MrValentine

I can't believe I didn't see your post. Thanks a lot, I'm trying to find those two books for cheap...not going so well though. I would like to thank everyone again, and hopefully no one minds if I add them to my gmail contact list.
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MrValentine
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 10:38
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No issue with adding me to your contacts just be sure to remind us of your forum username so we can figure out who is who hehe...

Did you try the handson website? forgot the link address right now... if you cant find it I will look it up in the pdf... they sell cheap pdf editions... which I prefer...

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Spiritgod
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 14:05
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@MrValentine

I found both books as a pdf and physical versions but am still not sure, since the price is still kind of high for me. I'm sure both books are expensive due to currency conversion, as the American dollar isn't doing so well. Could I get the link to the website you suggested? I did a search but have been unable to find it. Thanks.
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Naphier
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 18:00
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http://www.digital-skills.co.uk/orderrow.html
Printed copies are expensive ($42.50 GBP / $68 USD)
vs. $14.95 GBP / $24 USD

Some neat downloads / additions to the book I wasn't previously aware of:
http://www.digital-skills.co.uk/darkbasicnewtext.html

This book is also very good:
http://www.amazon.com/DarkBASIC-Game-Programming-Jonathan-Harbour/dp/1598632876/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328374388&sr=8-3
and a bit cheaper if you want a printed copy and go used (starts at $18.50 USD used).

The prices for Hands On DarkBASIC on ebay and amazon are ridiculously high, not sure why digital skills isn't selling through Amazon at their own rate...

Anyway if these prices are still too much then pretty much all you can do is use the online tutorials, which are great. There's a comprehensive Pacman tutorial in the forums somewhere that looks promising, though I've yet to have the time to get through it. Also the video tutorials are great too. Soo many resources online. Print's dead.

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MrValentine
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 18:07
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Thanks Naphier... I am without dedicated beoadband for the weekend as the snow just kicked in...

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Spiritgod
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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 18:49
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Thanks Naphier! For some reason I added both the volume 1 and 2 as one book...meaning in my messed up little mind I thought one digital book was 48 USD. I'll end up going the route of getting both Hands on books and just reading on my PC. Maybe this will get me to grab a Kindle Fire, since I've always wanted a Kindle but never had a reason to get one.
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Naphier
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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 19:42
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I read a bit on my Kindle Fire. However, The Hands On books are filled with a lot with examples and exercises you'll want to work through. And eventually you may get tired of typing the text from the book to the IDE and you might want to copy and paste from the PDF so you can spend more time experimenting vs. re-typing code.

On the side track... I love my Kindle Fire, but beware that you can only download apps from the Amazon Market which is really limited compared to the Android market. You can root the device and sideload Android market (I have it was a breeze). I wasn't overly fond of the lack of features of many of the Amazon apps. I've found the best PDF reader to be Perfect Viewer. Oh and the Fire plays and renders SNES games quite well (though many are awkward to play without an actual controller). I plan to use the device for testing and development as it was the most inexpensive and powerful Android tablet available (others small manufacturers like LePan failed miserably).

Hope this info helps
Feel free to look me up when working through the chapters, I just worked through the book a couple of months ago and I've got notes about the errors in the book that will keep you from seeking out the answers across the web (though many of them I have posted about in these forums).
Cheers!

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Spiritgod
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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 10:36
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@Naphier

Thanks for the heads up! I work on a two monitor PC, and was simply going to view each volumes on the second monitor while I work on the first. The Kindle would be a means for me to read the books on the go, since I sometimes find myself away from a PC, and don't care to read on my netbook. I've researched the Kindle Fire enough to realize that it seems too limited, though I could do a little tinkering on my own but I don't believe I should have to. I may wait for the next iteration, hopefully by then we'll see an SD card reader on the device.

Small question, my reasoning behind getting the Kindle Fire was that it would benefit me more to read the books in question in color. Do I necessarily need a color e-reader to view Hands On DarkBASIC pro volumes 1&2? Basically would it render reading more difficult on say a Kindle Touch?

Is there a place to download or view the notes you speak of? And do you mind if I add you to my gmail contact list?
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MrValentine
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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 11:31
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There is colour in the PDF editions unlike the printed books

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Naphier
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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 16:38
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Also for those who stumble upon this thread. The Kindle Fire renders PDFs much like a PC would and much better than the original Kindle (not sure if the touch is better though). The original kindle would misplace tables and pictures, often text would be too small and zooming results in the need to pan across the page which is impractical for reading. The Fire is a bit better, but in my opinion it is not A+ rendering until you have Perfect Viewer (which may require rooting or at the very least sideloading the app - both really easy).

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MrValentine
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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 17:03 Edited at: 6th Feb 2012 17:03
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not to sound funny... but why not just get a proper tablet lol theyre cheap as chips these days if all you need it for is pdf viewing XD that way you can just install the brilliant ADOBE READER.... job done... no pointless kindle pyre and no fidgeting XD

EDIT

bolded

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Naphier
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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 17:13
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Adobe reader for tablets isn't very good and far from brilliant. It doesn't even remember where you left off reading and its so much fun to scroll find your place again everytime you exit the app. Also it doesn't invert colors... but I see they now have text reflow, which is a nice addition. Also the rendering is very slow in comparison to other PDF readers.

Also I've tried tablets that are in the $200 price range and they're such horrible junk in comparison to the Fire. And your next best choice is twice the price.

What proper tablet are you referring to that is "cheap as chips"?
Do you have one that cost less than $200 and have tested out its functionality?

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MrValentine
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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 17:44
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meh busted... I use my Samsung Galaxy SII - ignore what I said about the cheap as chips lol I refuse to buy cheap products... my motto is...
Quote: "if you can not afford the good one... dont get the crap one until you can get the good one..."
[yes the last bit is to make you kick the floor ]

I use the Adobe Reader and it DOES remember where you left off at... my guess is you didnt bother trying it after it was updated...

but yeah updates are critical to any app on mobile devices...

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Spiritgod
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Posted: 9th Feb 2012 17:41
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Thanks everyone! I'm going to stick with just reading on the PC, and printing out chapters when I know I'll be away. If anything I have a few friends that will let me checkout their Kindles and see how well .pdf files work on them.
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