Want to buy Pure basic...But no documentation or tutorials

[luke101]

I am really excited about buying this software buy there seems to be no way I can learn the language without going to the forums..Does Pure basic have any books I can buy or any online documentation online that shows the basic and advance topics on pure basic?

[LarsG]

There are lots of examples (and also help files) that comes with the PureBasic... You can learn lots from these examples..

But of course, there are more examples, code snippets and support to get from the forums and websites...

-Lars

[Dreglor]

the help file it self is very helpful when it comes to telling you about the sytanx and funtions
they give very good documentaion for refrence

all i needed was teh help file
and like larsG said there is alot of examples

[Kale]

I am really excited about buying this software buy there seems to be no way I can learn the language without going to the forums

Welcome to the 21st Century!

Theres no need to kill anymore trees, all the help you'll ever need is right here, online! I must admit PureBasic does seem to be aimed at people that are not complete beginners, but saying that theres no reason that a person could not start with PureBasic as their first language. Just remember read all the examples you can and try to learn from them and also remember the search function is your friend. Just ask away!

[oldefoxx]

Looking at the samples, snippits, and example code as a suitable replacement for a good textbook or manual isn't really valid. For one thing, there is the question of whether all this code is complete, or whether it represents a significant part of the coding possibilities. Another is that there is good coding style and bad, and learning to distinguish between what is merely adequate and what works best can take a lot of trial and error.

A manual does not have to be printed out in order to be a manual. It merely has to be a progression from basic concepts in a uniform manner to more complex ones. With more complete examples, a Help file can
serve in both respects. But without showing how statements can be brought together to handle a given task, a Help file does little more than just name fields and state their order and type.

Examples, on the other hand, are a loose-knit federation of code that may or may not really eximplify now do do some significant task. Nor are they organized in any particular manner, so there is no progression from easy to hard, nor from one topic to the next. However, they do often show the range of possibilities that a development environment provides.

I think it takes a manual and more to make sence out of any language, but I realize that it is a major undertaking to create one. I have it in mind that there could be a forum, organized into chapeters with titles, that individuals could be invited to write articles on and submit code snippits to eximplify and illustrate key points. The articles, after some editing and review, could then be transitioned into a more formal structure that could be printed out and used as a manual.

For example, this might be a preliminary order to consider:

Code: Select all

Chapter 1:  What is PureBASIC?
         1.a  Programming language
            1.a.1  A descriptionf of the meaning of Programming
            1.a.2  Characteristics of PureBASIC
            1.a.3  Complementary Languages
            1.a.4  Complementary Platforms and Operating Systems
         1.b  Development Platform
            1.b.1  Minimum System Requirements
            1.b.2  Recommended folder and file structure
            1.b.3  Organization by project
            1.b.4  Description of included files and programs
         1.c  DAY ONE: First Learning Project
            1.c.1  Using the IDE and Program Editor
            1.c.1.a  Using a Text Editor
            1.c.1.b  Using a Visual Fprms Editor
            1.c.1.c  Alternate Editors
            1.c.2  Beginning the first program for input and output
            1.c.2.a  Printing to the Console
            1.c.2.b  Printing to the Printer
            1.c.2.c  Printing to a file
            1.c.3.a  Getting Console Input
            1.c.3.b  Saving the program
            1.c.3.c  Relloading a previously saved program
         1.d  DAY TWO:  Second Learning Project
            1.d.1  Doing simple numbers
            1.d.2  Doing fractions
            1.d.3  Performing complex operations
            1.d.3.a  Operators
            1.d.3.b  Precidence of Operators
            1.d.3.c  Algebretic Notation
            1.d.3.d  Assigning and comparing values
            1.d.3.e  Numeric data types
            1.d.3.f  Algabra
            1.d.3.g  Trig
            1.d.3.h  Logical Operators
            1.d.3.h.1  Logical precepts and tables
            1.d.d.h.2  Bitwise logic and operators       

This is just to illistrate how thorough and structured a good manual could be, because it follows a logical progression, and advances by stages as it covers each topic. But it is probably more than anyone individual would want to attempt, especially since his or her chances of a financial award would be minimal. Still, if someone set up the outline first, and we all had a crack at what we thing should be covered, then each of us to consider whether we felt we could make a worthwhile contribution, and once we create an article for inclusion, it could be chopped by othere with the intent of making it even better. In fact. if several versions of each ariticle could be supported at once, it might be possible to rewrite a version, and submit it for consideration as a replacement for the original. Whichever version gets the most support becomes the defacto version, but subject to further review, until contributions to it cease.

I think it would be a good way to turn the matter of writing a manual into a group project, and allow all of us to contribute some of our knowledge and increased understanding to help others, as well as ourselves. After all, the gaps in the manual structure will gradually be filled in, which is not something that we would otherwise expect with just sample code.

[Paul]

I thought... that is what this was suppose to be??

http://www.reelmediaproductions.com/pb/ ... guide.html

[oldefoxx]

I have visited that forum before, but had not noted the UserGuide during those visits. I am sure that others will appreciate this information and link as well. I do note that the UserGuide seems to be a complete project, not actually a project in progress. At lease I did not see any method exposed for adding input to the project. However, it did look to be fairly thorough in its coverage or the subjects mentioned. So I think that answers the initial question about a manual for those that want to learn PureBASIC.

Nice job.

[Paul]

Hehe... guess your 'old' eyes are failing you cause if you look close it is still a work in progress. Only the first 6 chapters have links to read.

And if you look at the top of the page you will see that it is from the PureBasic CVS, which allows CVS members to add to it. The dates in the CVS show that this manual has not been touched for about 5 months.

[oldefoxx]

Old eyes is right. I have surgery to replace a cataract in my worse eye on the 8th. I really have to focus to read anything, and it is easy to oversight something. I'm not sure who or what the PureBasic CVS group is (or was), but it isn't very flattering to their efforts that they stopped midway through the project. Perhaps they ought to consider casting a wider net and see if other contributors would be interested in helping out.

Note that in my experience, the newest newbie can make a solid contribution by either giving a fresh interpretation to something they finally understand (at the risk that someone will make changes), or they also can help by indicating where more experienced contgributors have made too many assumptions and lost beginners by not clarifying the underlying concepts well enough.

[bcgreen]

That online user guide is nice, but stops at chapter 6? I'd love a complete version of this!

Bryan

[blueznl]

well... let's be honest, pb simply lacks proper documentation, but (in my opinion) it would be a waste of time to write up one now (at this very moment) as there is still a lot that the language need

if you need docs, however, i can imagine you feel lost... not everybody has adsl and 24/7 access to the net

so, carefully read the documentation that is there, no matter how much or little it is, download the code archiv (link somewhere on the forum) and play a little

and yes, the forum appears to be an essential, at least at this moment, until pb reaches a state where documentation becomes a feature instead of an option

[tinman]

Perhaps they ought to consider casting a wider net and see if other contributors would be interested in helping out.

Fred has asked here a good few times for help for the documentation. You know how many people offered? 5. And I no longer have the time or inclination to work on the user guide.

By all means, anyone willing to help is welcome and just needs to say on the forums or send a mail to Fred,

[Fred]

I'm a great fan of 'Learning by modifing a working example' method and I think the built-in examples (almost one example per library) are a good start for that (correct me if I'm wrong). Of course, if you think it's not complete enough and you have a much better example, feel free to send it to me to be included in the next version

Tinman has offered help during a long time and it ended up with a very good start of the User Guide. Many thanks to him, as it's really time consuming and not an easy task (you have to explain from a beginner point of view, that's the main difficulty).

[Behnood]

what i think is PureBasic is a product cause we paid for it. sure it is a very good product with a very good price. but a product must has good documentation and mauals too. yes we bought purebasic by it's conditions and all of us knows about it's lack in documentations. but what i think is a product must has enough power to improve itself without help!
i mean , you say that tinman helped you to write user guide, this is so good and we all must thank him. but what if no one want to HELP?
help is just for free products, if purebasic was a opensource free software so all peoples who can help are welcome and they will complete it. but when it isn't a opensource free product you must go to find help and BUY help if it's needed.
purebasic is the best all around (by my experience on blitz , dark basic, ibasic, ...) it is full featured and so fast, and it is unblivable for me that how you still didn't do anything to improve its documentation that can increase your selling very much.
regards
Reza Behnood

[Fred]

I fully understand your point and I guess you're right. Actually the help is improving more and more at each version, so it just need a little more time.