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On Wed, 25 Oct 2006, Liam Erven wrote: > Quintin: > > Autoit is an excelent language to get your feet web. However, if you are > serious about doing anything serious, your best bet is to learn a language > like c sharp or vb. I'm a very big vb fan, and I know me and Tom will > disagree. But, it's what works for me, and it's what I can teach people on > the best. Grnated, my dot net stuff is rusty, but I'm still learning, and > I've found all I need to know to get dx to work fairly well. However, Tom > is right in that there is not a lot out there for beginner programmers. I > really really do not like autoit though. There is much better out there. I > won't write a whole list of the things I don't like, just know that I > dislike it greatly. Hahaha. > > Liam > > -----Original Message----- > From: Quinten Pendle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 5:28 AM > To: 'Gamers Discussion list' > Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic > > Hi Thomas > Where can one find the agdev-newbies list to subscribe to it? > Also, what do you think of AutoIT as a programming language? > The little that I saw of it, looked quite good. > Best regards > Quinten Pendle > PENDLE PRO > Klerksdorp, South Africa > > Tel: +27 (0) 83 395 4593 > Email: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > MSN: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Skype: > ahakimbo > Website: > www.pendlepro.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Thomas Ward > Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 10:51 AM > To: Gamers Discussion list > Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic > > > Hi Robin, > In the future posts like this should probably go over to the agdev-newbies > list where we discuss such issues like this more in depth. > However, since I am writing this email anyway. I will answer as many > questions as I can, and I have a few questions of my own. > > /Snip >> I'd like to learn how to write programs and games in VB. > End Snip > > Is there any special reason you decided to go for Visual Basic rather than > say C#, called C-Sharp. > I highly recommend going with C-Sharp over VB for the primary reason many > things are better documented and supported. One of these important areas in > particular to you will be DirectX. While you can use MS DirectX in VB games > Microsoft does not officially support it, and do not > > provide code samples, instructions, etc on writing games in VB .NET 2005. > > Snip >> 1. Is it possible to write good games in VB? > End Snip > > Yes, but you will find that good and reliable documentation for newbies is > extremely lacking. Visual Basic became famous among amature and rapid > > application developers during the 90's but it's popularity is on the > decline. Most of the VB croud have switched to C-Sharp. > Just some historical background when DirectX 7 and 8 came out Microsoft > unvailed it with VB 6.0 examples etc and offered newbies a simple basic > language with a good set of multimedia libraries for developing games and > other amature home wrote applications. > In 2001 Microsoft converted all there Visual Studio languages to the .NET > Framework furthering increasing the power of the languages as well as a > universal development platform, and unvailed a new rapid development > language C#, called C-Sharp, which had many improvements over VB, used C++ > style coding conventions, reused allot of concepts from Java, and became a > very new and innovative language. Now, it is rising in popularity, and in > some areas has passed up VB in popularity among amature programmers. > In 2003 when Microsoft DirectX 9.0 was unvailed to the world the > documentation was for C++ and C-Sharp users, and VB devs were left in the > cold documentation and support wise. > Since I know both C-Sharp and VB as well as DirectX I know I could get > DirectX up and running in no time in VB, but for a newby I don't see that > happening without good samples and training. > > Snip >> 2. Where can I find the toolbox? > End Snip > > Press control+w then press the letter x. Your screen reader should land you > on the toolbox area of the screen. Keep in mind there is two columns > > in the toolbox window. There is one side which sets the type of tools you > wish to view, and the other side is the actual tools themselves. For > > your first experience with this I would say arrow up to have it show all > > tools, and then you can tab in to the tools and view the entire list. > Obviously, later on you may want to customise your view as there are only > certain types of tools you need for certain projects. > > Snip >> 3. Is it a good idea to create a webbrowser at first? > End Snip > > No. Any seasoned developer will tell you that you need to start out > extremely basic. For example my very very first program I wrote as a student > was a text program which did nothing more than display my name on the > screen. Some use hello world, your name, or whatever but the idea > > is to get you use to structures of programming, understanding functions, > > variables, data types, etc. Unless you know the basic termonology and use > for things in a program you can not begin to write one. > So first advice keep it simple stupid. Your first batch of programs are > going to be lame, boring, throw away, projects, but worth the practice. > > Snip >> 3. Where can I find a good VB tutorial that explains all or at least >> most of all the features and how to use them? > End Snip > > Well, I am very fond of recommending > http://safari.oreilly.com > which has books on just about any programming topic you can research for > > $20.00 US monthly. > if you are going to do VB I suggest reading something like VB .NET In a > > Nutshell by O'reilly and Associates. > > Snip >> 4. Is there someone here who can program in VB and who could give me >> some lessons? Thanks for > End Snip > > I know enough of VB .NET to get you started in designing games, but > unfortunately I have a rather tight schedule aready and can't take on a > student at this point in my life other than ocational pointers such as this > email from time to time. > Smile. > > > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] To unsubscribe send E-mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any > subscription changes via the web. > > > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] To unsubscribe send E-mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any > subscription changes via the web. > > > > __________ NOD32 1.1659 (20060713) Information __________ > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > http://www.eset.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] > To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make > any subscription changes via the web. > _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. 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