Beginner Programing

[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....

[melott]

Well... there are 3 of us interested in a group.
Its a good start..

Anyone else??

Its a good opportunity to get started.

PMail or EMail me

[Dalamar]

Yup.  I'm interested in C tutorials as well.  I was just thinking about this yesterday.  :-)

That's four.

[iamaboringperson]

Start with C (or C++ if you want to get a little bit advanced)


If you start with basic, you will learn some bad habbits and probably carry some of them to C or C++ when you eventually start with them.

Starting with C or C++ will help you learn structured (or in the case of C++ OO) programming.

These languages will be of much more use in the long run, and they're (well, C anyway) not that difficult to learn

[Castellen]

I'm just beginning to learn C as well.  So far written a few simple progs which compile and run :-)

BASIC is too limiting, and assembly is too processor specific, so I decided it was time to put them aside and finally learn C.  I intend to get into programming MUI interfaces eventually when I learn more, so any advice about beginning with MUI would be much appreciated.

If anyone wants a little info on Amiga C compilers, email me.  I picked up a copy of SAS/C with manuals, etc, 2nd hand and have used the patches from Aminet to upgrade it to the latest version.  Goes OK so far.


As for learning, there are a few excellent tutorials on the web, but personally I find it easier working from a book.  Picked up a couple of beginners C books cheaply as well which have been good so far.

[uncharted]

I tried to do something similar to this last year.

http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=431

I got a lot of interest from people wanting to learn programming in C, but I couldn't get any mentors.  I even had some discussions with some groups that might of been interested in helping, but it never got anywhere.  It just seemed that programmers didn't feel they could spare the time to help out.

I wish you guys good luck with this, and I hope you will have more success than I did.

Working with someone else on your first project is an excellent way to learn, you really do benefit from it.  I've learnt a hell of a lot working with someone, and have got much further than I ever would by myself (if not just from the extra encouragement).

My final words of experience are - Learn the basics and learn them well It's very easy to get carried away and start to run before you can walk, and skip stuff you don't think is necessary.

Good Luck guys, and happy coding :-D

[SlimJim]

I would be interested to participate. I have studied a wee little
C++, but no Amiga-specific programming whatsoever. A
Yahoo! Group on the subject sounds like a good idea.
.
SlimJim

[SlimJim]

@Sidewinder
 
Btw, I glanced through your tutorials, and they look great!
Very clear and precise. Certainly more of that caliber is
needed in the community to help kicking the hobby
programming scene into living again.
Here's hoping you find the time to continue creating further
tutorials.

Certainly a place I will start from when I've got AOS4 in my
hand!
.
SlimJim

[Minuous]

You must of course be modern and code for the AmigaOS 3.9 API, not 3.1! What is the point of an advanced operating system such as OS3.9 if nothing is written to take advantage of it!?

I have done some example programs to help beginners; they are dev/src/GadgetExample.lha (demonstrates OS1.x, OS2.x, and OS3.5+ buttons) and dev/src/TextEditorExample.lha (demonstrates ReAction text editor gadget). There are also other good resources on Aminet which will be of assistance to you, and of course the ADCD2.1 is a must. I have made a superior front end: docs/hyper/Companion.lha.

[Karlos]

There are a lot of sentiments expressed in this thread from people who (actually like myself) prefer one language over another.

I think we need to take a small step backwards and consider how languages appear to the absolute beginner.

I agree that BASIC is largely an unstructured language (that can teach bad habits), but if it helps an absolute beginner grasp concepts such as variables, constants, looping, decision making, subroutines, etc. it isn't a bad foundation.

My feelings are, if you know these from basic, go on and move to C. If you don't know, then BASIC is an easier language than C for learning these concepts. Then move to C.

It's all too easy for those of us who use languages like C/C++ to forget that at some distant point in the past we also used basic on our Spectrums, C64's and even amigas, so even if we did forget the bad habits of BASIC, it still gave us some advantage when we began with C.

[melott]

OK .. things are looking good....

Looks like there are 5 of us now.

Remember.. we are all beginners

Anyone else want to join ??

Send me a PMail or EMail

Mel

[DarrenOP]

Exactly, wise words worth heeding.

Pick a language, ideally a well supported and flexible language and learn it well.
C is C is C on any platform and the same applies to C++ and Java.

All these languages in their pure form are relatively simple to learn and use with lots of generic guides and tutorials which apply equally well to any platform.
The complexity comes from large scale projects but this will apply to any language....besides, as a rule, if it looks complex, it's probably wrong.

By the way, thanks for the information about the developer kits and resources, I'll look at getting hold of them.
I had a look at the AmigaOS API's last night, almost itching to experiment now :-)

[takemehomegrandma]

Some kind of infrastructure would be necessary for this, don't you agree?

[Argo]

E anyone?

[Argo]

Well, at least noone has suggested ASM yet! So, I think we're safe. :-D  

[Waccoon]

BASIC teaches you how to write algorythms without knowing anything about types.  Perl is decent for that, although it's a real pain to debug, and completely innappropriate for large programs, like the awful BBS I have to maintain.  I don't even know if Perl is available for Amiga.

I'd recommend starting off with plain ANSI C.  There's lots of books availabe, it compiles everywhere, and just about any ANSI C book starts you right off with how computers compile programs, treat datatypes properly, and produce modular code, which is nearly impossible in BASIC.  Also, ANSI C is a rock-bottom standard, so many books treat you like a beginner and don't bowl you over with technical information.  C also has tons of libraries that make jumping into graphics and sound very easy, like SDL and Allegro.  They're not very efficient or fast, but you can do cool stuff very quickly.  I really wish I hadn't relied so much on AMOS early on.

Most importantly of all, GET A DECENT IDE!!!  Notepad and Emacs drive me insane.  I need something that color-codes commands, checks syntax, and matches brackets.  I use TextPad or EditPlus.  Later on, you can move on to a real editor.  On the PC, High-end compilers like MS Visual C tend to put a lot of C++ stuff in their IDE, and are wicked expensive.  If you're talking about *only* producing code on the Amiga, I have no clue.

There's many reasons C hasn't changed much since it was introduced.  It's the language to learn.   ;-)