Beginner searching for his learning path

[Tirzos]

Hi there,

I'm a new "hobby programmer", who's looking to start out his programming journey with PureBasic. I've always fantasised of being good programmer, but never really invested enough time in learning it. I always found it to be extremely hard to understand. So I stumbled upon PureBasic a month ago, and have been looking into it every now and then. I'd love to learn programming by learning PureBasic, as it seems more approachable compared to the other languages that are available.

The only problem is.. where the start? So that's where you might be able to help me out! I know nothing about programming at the moment. So any fancy terms you throw at me are wizardry right know

The goal is to be able to build some simple games at some point, pong would be the ultimate first goal actually. I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

[jacdelad]

Ok, I have to say this now, and sorry, Tirzos, it's absolutely not against you personally.

So, every week there's a new thread with "I want to start and search for a guide" or "How to start with PureBasic" or such, this week already has two. Simply googling "beginning with PureBasic" gives me 3 good entry points within the first 4 results. Googling the forum also helps. I might be overreacting, but what people expecting as answers? Why not use Google first? We don't know about your skills and what you've already done, are you starting from scratch?
I'm maybe overreacting, but either PureBasic's presence is under average or people are too lazy to Google before asking.

Again, this is not against you personally and I hope you will enjoy your time here. I would also be happy to help you with specific problems, if I can. I just wanted to say that.

[Tranquil]

You better start with a small project to learn the syntax and commands of PB.

Maybe something like: Open a window, place a button on it an get a result if the user clicked the button.

The help file (hit F1 in the Editor of PB) provides examples for nearly all commands. Take a look at these examples, try to understand or even try to modify them.

There are also some (quiet old) tutorials on YouTube which are maybe worth a look.

PB is great for small tools and even small games. No question. Its maybe also a good starting point to get into coding.
If your projects get bigger and bigger PB becomes quiet complicated. (when it comes to the use of pointers etc.) The question is: for what purpose do you want to start coding?
And another thing in mind: Nearly all coding languages used today are object oriented (OOP). PB is not. If you are new to coding, it may be better to directly jump into OOP. For me, it was hard to understand the complete different design thinking between PB and an OOP.

I don't want to blame PB, its great. But you may also take a look to Python or Java (just for example) if you want to create applications. Java is a bit more harder to start with but it gives you much more possibilities later on. (example: you want to start coding apps for mobile devices or server backend components...)

[STARGÅTE]

The only problem is.. where the start? So that's where you might be able to help me out! I know nothing about programming at the moment. So any fancy terms you throw at me are wizardry right know

The goal is to be able to build some simple games at some point, pong would be the ultimate first goal actually. I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Hi Tirzos, welcome to our forum.

If you really "know nothing about programming" at the moment, you should definitely look into some YouTube video about programing itself (regardless of the language). What are constants?, what are variables?, how to control the program flow? etc. Such questions are very general and can be used in any language.

Then you should ask yourself, do you want to "design"/"create" a simple games or do you really want to "program" a simple game. There are a lot of sand box kits for game development, where you can focus more on the development and design of the game itself. With Pure Basic, you are more focused on the programming part.

[Quin]

Ok, I have to say this now, and sorry, Tirzos, it's absolutely not against you personally.

So, every week there's a new thread with "I want to start and search for a guide" or "How to start with PureBasic" or such, this week already has two. Simply googling "beginning with PureBasic" gives me 3 good entry points within the first 4 results. Googling the forum also helps. I might be overreacting, but what people expecting as answers? Why not use Google first? We don't know about your skills and what you've already done, are you starting from scratch?
I'm maybe overreacting, but either PureBasic's presence is under average or people are too lazy to Google before asking.

Again, this is not against you personally and I hope you will enjoy your time here. I would also be happy to help you with specific problems, if I can. I just wanted to say that.

I don't think them coming and asking is unreasonable. This is the coding questions room, it's a question, what's the issue? Could they have used the search, and saved maybe a few KB of disk/database space? Maybe, but do keep in mind that the only reason the search feature even works in the first place for topics like this is because people provide answers to them

OP, as jacdelad said, this forum is absolutely filled with resources. Here are a few:
https://www.ninelizards.com/purebasic/index.htm
http://www.bitblazer.de/
https://fantaisie-software.github.io/awesome-purebasic/

Here's another topic, with some more links. They basically asked the same question, but in a different room https://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?t=83956

[boddhi]

I'm a new "hobby programmer", who's looking to start out his programming journey with PureBasic.

First, you can familiarize yourself with a few general and PB-specific concepts.

If you are an English-speaking person, take a look to this playlist might be a good start.

Note that learning programming and a dedicated language is not a snap. Don't think you can make a game on the first try.
Start modestly and work your way up. It takes time, patience and perseverance.

It's like learning to write: First you learn to write letters, then words, then sentences, then paragraphs, and only after you can pretend to write a book!

[netmaestro]

Feel free to message me with any questions you might have and I'll usually answer pretty quick. I remember my own early days with programming PB and questions answered by seasoned users were the most helpful. I'd stay away from oop for now though, you have to walk before you can run.

[Tenaja]

Tranquil gave some good advice. Start small to learn how to code and how to PB. Then add complexity. For instance, just start with guessing a number from 1-10. Then let them guess until they get it, and count the number of guesses it takes. Then add the feature of telling the guesser if he is high or low, and count the guesses it takes. Breaking tasks and learning into bite-size bits will help you.

However...

PB is great for small tools and even small games. No question. Its maybe also a good starting point to get into coding.
If your projects get bigger and bigger PB becomes quiet complicated. (when it comes to the use of pointers etc.)

I do not agree with all of this. PB's pointers do not seem any more complicated than any other language, to me. And, it seems just fine with very large programs, once you learn the tricks.

Also, there are quite a few simple games on the forum; once you get the basics, you can use these as templates. Keep in mind, some are written by beginners like you.

Have fun!

[AZJIO]

It's hard for the first 5-10 years, and then you'll start talking in a programming language.

[Quin]

It's hard for the first 5-10 years, and then you'll start talking in a programming language.

Can confirm, I started speaking PB fluently in November of last year

[Bitblazer]

I added a simple page How can I get started with programming in PureBasic? to my website.

I tried to keep it as short as possible without being too short. Maybe something like that could be added to the official PureBasic FAQ.

[SMaag]

I wrote a Snake game for that purpose. The base was a quick and dirty code for a Snake game.
I changed it to a modern programming with full documentaition.
At the moment a Procedure for GameEnde is missing. But for learning this does not matter.

You will find there all the basic techniques for Sprites, 2D drawing with double buffering, the handling of images included into to .exe,
playing sounds ... !

Dowonload both codes and compare. Play a little bit with it.
In my program you can see how to do a professional style programming!

All Procedure and Structure names are in english,
all comments are in German, but google or Chat GPT are translating well.

Here it the Github link:
The further links you will find there.

https://github.com/Maagic7/Snakes

[Fred]

And there is always this very good book from Kale (free !) which should help you to get started: https://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?t=37059

[loulou2522]

Sorry Fred,
This link you provide dosen't work Error 404
http://www.kalekold.net/pb-beginners/Pu ... 0Guide.zip

[Fred]

I updated the links in the first post