i want to learn to code, where should i start?

[darksun9210]

Hi all, i've kinda come to the idea that i want to learn to code properly. where should i start?
i did some pascal back in school, and i can read C, VB, other macro scripting to kinda follow it to see what it does, or coherency check, but sit me infront of a blank screen and ask me to put something together and i'm completely lost.

i've kinda wanna knock out some 68k demos and stuff, maybe get into game engines in a year or two.
i'm mulling over 68k assembly, but that just looks a little frightening, so maybe later on when i've got an idea how to get stuff going first.
then there is C, in all its forms. but again, where to start?
what about blitz basic? whats that about?

 :-?

[NovaCoder]

This might help coding

You might also want to grab yourself a copy of Storm C V4 if you want to get serious with some Classic Coding  :-D

[motorollin]

Pick a language which does what you want and has syntax you like. You say you can already read C, and C can do pretty much anything. So that's a good start. Then think about what you actually want to do and then Google for examples. In my experience that's a really good way to learn the functions of the language, and since you already know the syntax you should be writing your own code before you know it once you have learned the functions you need by looking at examples.

Edit - Make sure you are using a decent IDE. An environment which offers code completion makes things *much* easier. When you can see the possible functions you can use as you are typing, and then see the arguments for that function, you can blag it. For example, I was recently writing some VB (which I have never used before). I needed to use some socket functions. I started typing, and the IDE completed the name of the function for me and popped up the arguments. So I could use the functions without ever using them before or having to look it up.

--
moto

[darksun9210]

cool thanks :-)

classic is where i'm at! :-D

[countzero]

I would also recommend Coder's Heaven at EAB. Lots of good amiga specific 68k talk going on there and there are a few threads for beginners/useful links.

[darksun9210]

sweet. right. thats my evenings sorted ;-)

[Atheist]

Excellent!

NatAmi60 needs SW!!

Amiga is on the move again!!!

[DBAlex]

This is also a good guide too.

It's more about Amiga specific programming though, you need a general C or C++ Tutorial for the basics, these can easily be found via a quick google search. Once you've learn't the basics you can move on to more amiga specific stuff.

 :-)

[ChuckT]

In the old days, we would learn how to count in Hexadecimal and how to count in binary.  

In my old computer classes, the professor said that Machine language is chip specific or specific to the 68XXX of that machine.

You really have to learn how the chips work.

[darksun9210]

yup, we did that in my CS classes, to the point where we were taking exam questions in floating point binary. how many bits was the mantissa? is it BCD or pure? happy days. not!  :lol:

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Make sure you get a powerfull IDE. Makes it a lot easier to code when you use lots of libraries.

[darksun9210]

i think i am going to go with Storm C, and get that nailed before exploring 68k asm :-)

thanks for all the links on tutorial code, this should get me going :-)

[skurk]

WinUAE and AmiDevCpp will get you far.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

ChuckT wrote:
In the old days, we would learn how to count in Hexadecimal and how to count in binary.  

In my old computer classes, the professor said that Machine language is chip specific or specific to the 68XXX of that machine.

You really have to learn how the chips work.

Well, you have to learn 2 things really:
How the hardware works, and how you set up a big program (with design patterns and documentation).
So, I'd recommend beginning with Pascal, then C and assembly, and then C++.

[AeroMan]

I've used High Speed Pascal on the Amiga. It is a nice tool.
I believe C will be more up to date, as it is a standard for programming today