Beginner Programing

[melott]

I'm a beginner programmer (a wanna be
programmer).

I'd like to find a few other beginners to form
a group. Work on a project togather, would all
learn more and faster that way.
I don't have any project in mind, let the group
decide.
I lean toward Blitz or AmiBlitz. I think its
probably the most advanced since its still
supported but can be flexable on which language.

Anyone else interested??  

[Speelgoedmannetje]

You mean, Blitz Basic?
From what I've heard of beginning with Basic, it messes you up as programmer. Pascal is the best programming language for beginners for as far as I know

[MagicSN]

Many people say so, but as you - if you do programming seriously - will have to go into C/C++ later, I personally would recommend going into C instead (not C++, too complicated for beginners). And probably not using all features of the language yet as this would be confusing for a beginner... instead of a - in the meanwhile - "exote" like Pascal...

My opinion at least

Steffen

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Delphi ("successor of Pascal") is far from uncommon as far as I know

[melott]

The reason I mention Blitz (AmiBlitz) is I'm
on the BlitzMail list. It is well supported
and answers to problems are easy to get. Just
post to the Blitz list and have an answer very
fast. (good knowledgeable answers from experts)

I'm not tring to start a major debate on which
is the best language, just tring to get a group
togather for learning programing.
Whatever language is choosen will be best for
all.
 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

I'm willing to help you, but I do not have any experience with Blitz (Basic?). You can come up with problems wich are specific for that language and then I do not have an answer for you.

But you can always ask me for non-specific issues.

[tokai]

@melott:

yes, blitz is good for learning to code. I also started with BlitzBasic2 (today: AmiBlitz). The advantage is that you will get fast results in short time which is more fun for beginners. :-)

But when you want to code bigger projects you'll have to learn C. Period. :-)

regards,
tokai

[DarrenOP]

I feel I must speak up and voice my humble opinion here.
If you want to learn to program, you should start as you mean to go on and make the effort to learn a language such as C++ or Java.

Yes you could learn Blitz Basic for quick results but you'll then be restricted to a single platform and stuck in a procedural mind set.
In practice, programming is easy, it's design thats hard which is why I feel it's vital to learn good OO design practices and a OO language such as C++ or Java.
Another benefit of these languages is the vast amount of resources freely available online from training sites to source code.

I think you will find that C, C++ and Java isn't really that difficult to learn.
All of these languages use a small command set with a small number of rules and constructs which can be combined in a unlimited number of ways, hence the power and flexibility.

To be honest, I'm a bit out of touch on the Amiga programming side, working as a software engineer and architect on the Windows platform so I can't really voice a opinion on the best software development toolkits to use but I'd have to agree with many of the posts above and say the only way is the C, C++ and Java way to get some really useful programming and design experience.

Incidentally, having not used a Amiga for about 10 years and having just picked up a new A4000 (yes, new and still boxed...I can't believe my luck :-), I would be very interested in knowing the state of play in the Amiga community for good development IDE's, compilers and toolkits.
What C, C++ and Java development systems are people using? Specialised development systems or GCC? Any guides listing the Amiga API set and guidelines?

[chris]

@DarrenOP

Any guides listing the Amiga API set and guidelines?

Get the DevCD 2.1, it contains everything you need to program AmigaOS up to 3.5, including the RKRMs (for 2.04) and Includes and AutoDocs and examples.  You also get a version of StormC included for non-commercial use.

Failing that, wait for OS4 as the APIs etc will be updated, and there will be a new NDK.  I have also heard that they are planning to update the RKRMs to cover OS4.0, which will be well worth getting hold of.

There won't be any major differences between coding for 3.x and 4.0 though.

Chris

[melott]

This is getting into a debate I hadn't intended.

Anyone interested .. please EMail or PMail me.

[crystall]

If you want to learn C on AmigaOS I strongly suggest to join the amiga-c mailing list on yahoo. There is quite a bit of skilled people there, I've seen a lot of people (including me) learning a lot on that list.

[takemehomegrandma]

melott wrote:
I'm a beginner programmer (a wanna be
programmer).

I'd like to find a few other beginners to form
a group. Work on a project togather, would all
learn more and faster that way.
I don't have any project in mind, let the group
decide.
I lean toward Blitz or AmiBlitz. I think its
probably the most advanced since its still
supported but can be flexable on which language.

Anyone else interested??  

I am very interested in learning C programming (I have made some brief tries a couple of times, but stalled). I already know Basic!

Your thought of forming a "beginners group" is a good idea! :-) Perhaps someone with experience could volunteer as a mentor for such a sorry bunch? ;-) That would be great!

I agree with MagicSN that one should start in small scale, with the easy ways. The focus should (at least in the beginning) be on C programming techniques, compiler usage, and such, rather than advanced OS features and functions. Therefore, the "learning projects" should IMHO be quite simple, bare bone, nothing fancy, and in an "Open Amiga spirit". By that I mean a focus on the AmigaOS 3.1 API, which at least in theory should make it possible to use all 4 flavours of the platform (at least in theory); the Amiga, the A1/OS4, the Pegasos/MorphOS and AROS. Right?

Anyone else interested in a C beginners group? Any volunteer mentors? :-)

[Wain]

EDIT - removed by myself for being really off-topic.

[Sidewinder]

I'd be happy to mentor an Amiga C programming group.  I have a few tutorials  that I created which some may find useful.  These tutorials are works in progress.  I'd certainly be willing to help anyone who is interested in learning Amiga programming.   Feel free to e-mail me with any ideas or questions.  Perhaps a seperate Yahoo group is in order?

[Cyberus]

I'd be up for following some C tutorials. I did some C programming during my Physics degree, all but forgot it, then had to do a C++ module for my masters. Came top off my class but I fear its all forgotten again.

I have Borland for Windoze but don't have an AmigaDOS C package....