"Project Based" learning for PB?

[TwoCatsYelling]

Hi all,

So, I'm going through the "Learn2ProgramPB" PDF book. I'm about 55 pages in, and got to Arrays.

It occurs to me that there haven't been any kinds of projects or "tests" or anything to apply/test what I've learned. It's all just pure front-loading of information, presented in a "type what I type and you'll get what I get" manner which, I guess, I'm expected to "just remember"?

I don't know why this kind of teaching is as common as it is. I have to think maybe it's intended to be used as part of a curriculum that includes tests/activities to complement the lessons and reinforce what's learned. Or maybe it's intended for people who learn through rote memorization. I'm not one of those people. In this case, it's just me following along with a bunch of chapters.

I understand what I'm typing as I'm typing it, and I can mess around with bits to change the outcome. But without a context, or some application, to really apply it to, it's being forgotten as soon as I move to the next topic. Further, nothing builds on anything else. It's all self-contained information.

I don't see this going anywhere for me, but a lot of wasted time.

So.. I'm wondering if there's any kind of project/activity based training available for PB? Where it'll actually say "Write code that will produce "x", that can do "y" and "z", based on recently introduced information/concepts?

This way I have to actually go back and figure out the correct process to use to reach that end. I think that's a much much better approach.. at least for me.

Anyone know of any such material? I haven't been able to find any.

Thanks

[Josh]

What you're looking for may have been possible in the past, where you could fit the entire instruction set of the programming language into a 200 line program.

You should roughly deal with the commands and have a rough overview of the available libraries. Then you know when programming at least approximately what is possible and where you can read up if necessary.

If you want to create an exercise program for every possible problem, in two years you will still be writing exercise programs of which you will probably never need 95% in your own programs.

Get an overview, start programming and look it up if you don't know something. The people on the forum will be willing to help you if you get stuck.

[TwoCatsYelling]

What you're looking for may have been possible in the past, where you could fit the entire instruction set of the programming language into a 200 line program.

You should roughly deal with the commands and have a rough overview of the available libraries. Then you know when programming at least approximately what is possible and where you can read up if necessary.

If you want to create an exercise program for every possible problem, in two years you will still be writing exercise programs of which you will probably never need 95% in your own programs.

Get an overview, start programming and look it up if you don't know something. The people on the forum will be willing to help you if you get stuck.

Oh, I'm not expecting all commands in a single program. That would be nuts lol.

I mean smaller projects/activities that utilize concepts learned, to reinforce what was learned. It exists even in current/modern courses. It's just not as common as what I describe above... Or doesn't seem to be.

With the way that book, and other training, is set up.. I'll likely have given up trying to learn altogether in 2 years, 'cause I won't have learned how/when/where to apply what I'm learning in terms of actual programs/tasks, because each topic is taught in a vacuum with no context or connection to anything else.

[Josh]

And what do you get out of learning an example in one context, but then your program is in a completely different context?

As mentioned in my first post, the system of 'learn all the commands and then start programming' will no longer work. That may have been true many decades ago, but not today.

Sit down, start programming, and when you have a problem, look up how to solve it.

[Bitblazer]

I don't know if any of the commercial purebasic learning courses at udemy are project based. They seem to be done in french anyway

You could just take a project of your interest from the announcement forum or the Code archive and whenever you don't know a command, use the help page

I would highly suggest hanging out among other people of similar interest, to listen, follow the chat, ask questions once in a while and maybe even socialise

Maybe give HexChat a look later and check out the purebasic irc channel? I don't know how active it is

Servername: irc.freenode.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #purebasic (Englisch)
Channel: #purebasic.de (Deutsch)

[TwoCatsYelling]

And what do you get out of learning an example in one context, but then your program is in a completely different context?

As mentioned in my first post, the system of 'learn all the commands and then start programming' will no longer work. That may have been true many decades ago, but not today.

Sit down, start programming, and when you have a problem, look up how to solve it.

I already said I'm not asking for a "learn all commands" solution, and clearly explained what I am looking for.

I asked if anyone is aware of training for PB that is project-based - where tasks/challenges are assigned in each section (aka not "the entire language at once") - rather than based on front-loaded info and rote memorization.

You're answering a question I didn't ask, are derailing the thread, and it's really obnoxious.

Please stop.

[BarryG]

You're answering a question I didn't ask, are derailing the thread, and it's really obnoxious.

Don't let people get to you, and don't give up here. We're able to help but it sounds like you're an absolute beginner? I don't know if there's any courses for PureBasic like you describe.

There's a guy on YouTube that has some PureBasic tutorials but I wonder if they're too advanced for you? Anyway, take a look -> https://www.youtube.com/c/PureProgramming/videos

Maybe start with this video from him (he teaches very well) -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXXVNmn0Nlk

[Bitblazer]

So PureBasic would need something like this for Python. Personally i would add 1 final project as some kind of goal and for the dedicated learners a more complicated extra goal to achieve even a higher grade*.

The simple common goal would be a desktop portable picture viewer, basically a primitive version of irfanview and the profi goal would be a clone of VirtualDub and the course should also include some kind of web scraping tool as goal. Something based on using the HTML agility pack with PureBasic.

Minor course goals would be a window splash screen with a graphic plus a button and if you click the button, the window closes. Thats both simple plus something you usually need for real projects later over and over again, plus it teaches the essential event loop structure of a GUI based OS.

* i just noticed that their python course actually has those kind of projects as final chapters

[TI-994A]

...if there's any kind of project/activity based training available for PB? Where it'll actually say "Write code that will produce "x", that can do "y" and "z", based on recently introduced information/concepts?

This way I have to actually go back and figure out the correct process to use to reach that end. I think that's a much much better approach.. at least for me.

Anyone know of any such material?

Not specifically for PureBasic, but there are many on the web. Here are two sites that serve up such challenge-based exercises for the application of programming concepts. Although there are no solutions provided, they are simple enough to attempt, and this forum would be the best place to obtain multi-pronged approaches to solving them.

> Simple Programming Problems (GitHub User)

> Programming Practice Problems (California Polytechnic)

[blueb]

.... I mean smaller projects/activities that utilize concepts learned, to reinforce what was learned. It exists even in current/modern courses. It's just not as common as what I describe above... Or doesn't seem to be.

A good place for this might be the Rosetta Code Website that shows how various languages handle situations, etc.

see: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Category:PureBasic

PS - A while back I created a ZIP file with all the PureBasic Code, and placed it in my DropBox account: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bnj0uhcsxr49t ... e.zip?dl=0

If the link doesn't work in the future, you can always 'Personal Message' me.
HTH
Blueb

[JaxMusic]

Pretty much what I do, after reviewing the commands, is come up with some little project and then work it out with the materials. This form is also good when you get stuck. You must have some end game in mind for learning Pure Basic, right? Start with something small, like something that logs the title, author, and date of completion of books you read. Something like that will cover most of the common features as well as help you work on code organization. In my experience, 99% of programming is entering, storing, and retrieving data. Another option would be a game. Start with something relatively simple such as a word game or a simple math tutorial. Lots of possibilities!

[Bitblazer]

Pretty much what I do, after reviewing the commands, is come up with some little project and then work it out with the materials. This form is also good when you get stuck. You must have some end game in mind for learning Pure Basic, right? Start with something small, like something that logs the title, author, and date of completion of books you read. Something like that will cover most of the common features as well as help you work on code organization. In my experience, 99% of programming is entering, storing, and retrieving data. Another option would be a game. Start with something relatively simple such as a word game or a simple math tutorial. Lots of possibilities!

Reminds me on the "classic task" develop a software to administer your audio records in a database. Add a little GUI front-end, write a manual and an installer and after it is done, give it to a good friend and ask him to test it. You gain a lot experience but also might lose a friend during the process

Instead of audio records, you can make it about contacts, birthday dates or cookie recipes - whatever you need.

[vmars316]

Hey TwoCatsYelling ,
As you can see there is plenty Help available here .
How I learned was to pick an example program from \Examples , like a simple *edit*.pb .
There are lots of them . Try EditorGadget.pb .
Study it , then keep adding things to it :
read txt file
then
write txt file
then
add another window
then
search for file
etc.
Have fun