@flamerunner Are you new to programming or just Petit Computer? The tutorial thread is a good place to start if you already know how to program, but if you've never programmed before, I don't know. The one main guy who did the tutorials closed his YouTube account, so there's kind of a void when it comes to tutorials. I think there's still this guy, but I don't know how helpful those are for learning how to program. Sorry!
So Village now has bugs that fly around, and I thought I'd share the algorithm for their movement. I know nobody asked for it (and probably nobody will use it), but here it is anyway.
Are you kidding? I love this kind of stuff! I'd rather have you post it on Tutorial thread, though.
Hey, since PetitProfessor is no longer there (anybody know what happened?) How about if we do Community Tutorial project and stuff? Begin with Hello World and keep going from there? We need somebody to provide an outline and have everybody fill in the details. What do you think?
@ramstrong I was actually going to suggest something like this too! Lol we should do it!
Also, thanks for liking my post!
Here's a quick outline (I mean this is just my opinion, so do whatever with it). Yes, all tutorials should have sample programs!
-Start with a few words about programming in general. What sort of mindset you should follow, what sort of general skills you'll develop, etc. I feel like a lot of people jump right in with the wrong mindset and then get deterred by the apparent difficulty.
-Hello World. Include printing in general, such as CLS and some things like printing multiple times.
-Wait command (yes, I think it's important). Perhaps in this part briefly touch on the idea of "frames". Have a sample program which prints stuff each second or something.
-Basic GOTO functionality (no loops yet). Just show how GOTO allows you to jump around in the program. The sample program could have stuff print out of order because we're jumping around (in a basic fashion).
-Use GOTO to form a loop. Have a program which prints something over and over (also include the WAIT command to drill it in and to let them see the repetition without it going too fast). Also explain how "select" lets you break out of a program (since this is the perfect time to do that)
-Variables, but start SLOW! Start with the idea of a variable (a place to hold a value) and expand from there. Start with a sample program which just stores a single value in a variable of our choice and then prints that variable to show that it held the value. Then change the value after printing and show it again. Then have another sample program which uses multiple variables and perform very simple math on them. Finally, combine the previous lesson and this one to show how you can use a variable as a counter in a loop. Make a loop (all loops at this point should be infinite with absolutely no conditions) which increments a variable and prints some message along with the value. Remind users to use select to break out.
-Conditions. Start with the basic structure of an IF-THEN statement using only printing. Then go into basic boolean operators (like <,> etc.) Show how an IF statement does the thing that follows the THEN only if the condition is non-zero. Start with simple examples that use constant numbers (like IF 2<3 THEN PRINT or IF 1==4 THEN PRINT etc.). Don't go into "OR" or "AND" just yet, save that for a separate tutorial. Finally, explain how IF-THEN can be used with GOTO (don't explain GOSUB yet). Combine the previous tutorial with this one to make a sample program which loops (using a counter) a certain number of times.
-For loops. Show how the previous example program can be rewritten using a FOR loop. Don't explain "STEP" just yet!
So, can I depend on you to start with, maybe, the first 15 tutorials? Perhaps you can begin by writing a weather program with, shall we say, 80% accuracy or better?
@ramstrong What sort of format should these be in? If they'll be written by different people, the least we can do is make them all formatted the same way and in the same place.
@ramstrong What sort of format should these be in? If they'll be written by different people, the least we can do is make them all formatted the same way and in the same place.
I don't know. That will depend on the outline. We should start with that. Any volunteer? Discostew comes to mind, but I don't want him to spend time away from his Megaman project
Two answers about the weather:
1. PRINT "TODAY IS SUNNY/CLOUDY"
2. PRINT "HANG A STONE IN THE YARD."
PRINT "IF IT'S DRY, IT'S SUNNY. IF IT'S WET, IT'S RAINY. IF IT'S WHITE, IT'S SNOWY" and so on...
'IQ TEST
?"ONE OF THE WAY TO MEASURE SMART IS VIA INTROSPECTION"
INPUT "ARE YOU SMART?";A$
IF LEFT$(A$,1)=="Y" THEN ?"YOU'RE WRONG!":END
INPUT "ARE YOU STUPID?";A$
IF LEFT$(A$,1)=="Y" THEN ?"YOU'RE RIGHT!":END
?"THAT'S VERY SMART INDEED!"
I saw somewhere that someone had pictures that had the Petit Computer console text and looked the console, but were obviously not actual pictures of petit computer (I don't remember where, darn). They looked really good, and if we can figure out how those were made, I think we should make the sample programs on that.
Edit: Haha, that's terribly mean! It would also require too much explanation (you'd have to explain how strings work (which, by itself could fill a tutorial), how LEFT works, how INPUT works, etc. It's still funny though.
I saw somewhere that someone had pictures that had the Petit Computer console text and looked the console, but were obviously not actual pictures of petit computer (I don't remember where, darn). They looked really good, and if we can figure out how those were made, I think we should make the sample programs on that.
Edit: Haha, that's terribly mean! It would also require too much explanation (you'd have to explain how strings work (which, by itself could fill a tutorial), how LEFT works, how INPUT works, etc. It's still funny though.
Hmmm. Most programs are long, and if we mimic the PTC screen, we may not have enough space for clear code presentation. My way of teaching string is by writing a Hangman program. See Petit Computer Journal #7 : Character and String.
No, I mean they were actually able to just produce a screen as long as they wish, and it was all "console-like" with the font and everything. I'll try to find it. If not, I guess I could just make one (it'll just be a textbox with a "generate" button below).
Edit: Bah, I can't find it. Anyone object to me making a program that just changes text into something that looks like the Petit Computer console?
@ramstrong That would definitely be easier. I guess I was just so excited about using C# again that I went a little crazy haha. There are plenty of places to dump HTML files and display them, so maybe the tutorials should be HTML.
Ha ha. I know what you mean. I just got Raspberry Pi in the mail today. I'm currently looking for good instructions on how to program the thing. I prefer plain old C myself, but all programming tutorials are in Python!
@randomouscrap98@ramstrong Im lov'in it. I don't like Mcdonald's. Go figure...
Anyways, I seriously do like the idea and have considered making tutorials on my youtube account (Ahem. youtube.com/bluerobin20 hint, hint). But, I do not understand the form you would like to present this difficult-to-find topic. We could start a website that offers tutorials and help in multiple ways and that allows users to submit questions we can answer in a sort of blog format...
The closest I ever got to making a "Tutorial" Is a handy little 2-page PDF that contains a library of things you really don't want to open the help menu for (Sounds, Sprites, Color palettes, etc) Very helpful to use a handbook (Or in this case handpage ) Can we host it somehow? Its somewhere at the top of my blogsite (bluerobin2.blogspot.com).
@ramstrong this is for you: Ever tried an Arduino? It works off of C-related programming but is for physical projects (Robots, Doomsday devices, Hardware, electronic hacks (Like RC cars), etc).
randomous: That looks like a good beginner friendly tutorial. Very easy to do and learn. The only problem I have with it is that people will be spending a long time learning things, and get bored by not moving quickly enough. I tend to learn in clumps, as you can see from my journal. So maybe the outline should have different levels. A quick fast-paced walkthrough with optional details added as necessary:
1. LOOP
1.1 Infinite Loop with GOTO @LABEL
1.1.1 What is GOTO?
1.1.2 What is @LABEL?
1.2 FOR LOOP
1.2.1 Why is a variable necessary?
1.2.2 How do I loop 'backwards'?
Where a quick, comprehensive explanation is at the top, with subsequent deeper levels repeat the same information with slower tempo, all the way down to complete beginner levels.
bluerobin:
I don't have time to do Arduino right now. I did check it out from my work on Processing.
If you do a youtube video, please hold the ds still. Maybe Ken William's (Maker of Sierra Online) Talkspot could be a good and maybe free web developer. I tend to write everything in notepad. Hard coded html, css,javascript, php. We should explain how to read a qr code and add that to each tutorial. Then they can scan it and review the code on their ds.
That's interesting. I thought he retired, bought a boat, and sailed the world. I guess I was wrong. The problem is that we'll need FTP due to non-standard file format, and that's $10/month. I also think that we should stay away from fancy templates and just do hand code html. That way, we can simply zip all the files and have people download and extract all the materials all at once to their computer at home and learn at their leisure. We can either set a blog/virtual meetup place, but hopefully one with chat.
@ramstrong Or we could make it even more accessible and just host it directly on Google Drive and people can view the html like any other webpage. There are so many sites that offer this capability, but Google is nice, so I went with them.
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