Learn to code through a series of challenges?

[elmer]

I forget, but didn't VB.NET take away the instant code rewrite AND continue ability you had in VB 6 during debugging/tracing ? That's the thing I loved about it!

I never actually used VB6 or VB.NET, just VBScript, so I don't really know.

They abandoned the old tried-and-trusted VB architecture and dived head-first into .NET, so the darned thing was fully-compiled and object-oriented in VB.NET ... and so is now a lousy learning tool, requiring too much higher-level event-based methodology.

At that point, it's no longer pickup-and-play, and you might as well learn VC++ or VC#.

VB6 would be an alternative ... but you can't get hold of it freely.

Jeez ... why is it so difficult to find a simple environment with a decent debugger!

Ahhhh ... Microsoft may have abandoned it, but your local friendly "abandonware" site should have a copy, complete with serial number.

Then you'd just have to apply the Visual Studio Service Pack 6 (that you can still download from Microsoft).

I just grabbed a copy for my own use since I only have VC++ 6, and not the full Visual Studio 6. 

<EDIT>

Here's an interesting article on simple graphics programming in VB6 ...

http://www.tannerhelland.com/39/vb-graphics-programming-0/

My feeling is that technozombie (or any new programmer) should just keep things as-simple-as-possible for his first programming, and just draw points, and maybe lines, because that avoids introducing too many new concepts at once.

[NightWolve]

Ahhhh ... Microsoft may have abandoned it, but your local friendly "abandonware" site should have a copy, complete with serial number.

Then you'd just have to apply the Visual Studio Service Pack 6 (that you can still download from Microsoft).

I just grabbed a copy for my own use since I only have VC++ 6, and not the full Visual Studio 6. 

If one went this route, you'll need 98/ME/2K/XP/Vista as I could not get it installed on Windows 7 and I assume above that... The installer completely fails, and no compatibility mode settings will help. So on Windows 7 and forward, you'd need to make use of "Windows Virtual PC" AKA emulation and install Windows XP or something, to get max compatibility with legacy apps and a little more modern feel, plus it can succeed at being installed. If not, for sure it'll install on a Win98/ME virtual instance.

[technozombie]

I found this compiler called PlayBASIC, does it seem like the right choice to use for what is being suggested?

http://www.playbasic.com/features.php

[ginoscope]

I develop in Java and C# but I don't work in the game industry.   The thing with coding is that it's more about thinking how to solve the problem than it is typing.  I would agree that something like basic would be a good place to start learning.

[NightWolve]

To get specific, I remember something called Game Maker from BITD. It'll let you export a game to all sorts of OS platforms too. Since is it a sort of RAD (Rapid Application Development) type builder, just around games versus general-use applications, I suspect it greatly helps people get started as quickly as possible, certainly easier than something like C++ which is more for advanced coders! It'll naturally include samples of simple games to get you started and learn from.

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/features

EDIT: Here ya go, jump right in from here with video tutorials:

"MAKE YOUR FIRST GAME!
Difficulty: Beginner/Intermediate

A GameMaker: Studio tutorial for absolute beginners to go from nothing to a completed game using GML scripting, no experience necessary!"

http://www.yoyogames.com/learn

[elmer]

The thing with coding is that it's more about thinking how to solve the problem than it is typing.  I would agree that something like basic would be a good place to start learning.

Yep, I absolutely agree. It's all about starting to think logically and break down problems.

The language doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't get in the way of that.

Some kind of structured-BASIC (i.e. no line-numbers) is perfect for that.

Then the beginner can transition to something more powerful later on (if they want to).

To get specific, I remember something called Game Maker from BITD.

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/features

In my mind, that's just too big and full-featured a package to be the best starting point for learning.

It just throws too much capability at you, and provides too much of a library that will avoid the beginner from learning the basics.

I found this compiler called PlayBASIC, does it seem like the right choice to use for what is being suggested?

http://www.playbasic.com/features.php

Yep, that looks OK from the feature-list. I don't know how stable or good it is to work with, but at least you can try things with the free edition before forking out your (very nicely priced) $15 for the full thing.

Just stick to drawing simple points and lines to start with for Pong, and then you can think about 2D sprites later on if you want to continue on to do Breakout/Arkanoid.

Ahhhh ... Microsoft may have abandoned it, but your local friendly "abandonware" site should have a copy, complete with serial number.

If one went this route, you'll need 98/ME/2K/XP/Vista as I could not get it installed on Windows 7 and I assume above that... The installer completely fails, and no compatibility mode settings will help.

Here's a method that's supposed to work for installing VB6 on later versions of Windows ...

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10495680/installation-of-vb6-on-windows-7-or-windows-8-or-windows-10

[NightWolve]

If one went this route, you'll need 98/ME/2K/XP/Vista as I could not get it installed on Windows 7 and I assume above that... The installer completely fails, and no compatibility mode settings will help.

Here's a method that's supposed to work for installing VB6 on later versions of Windows ...

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10495680/installation-of-vb6-on-windows-7-or-windows-8-or-windows-10

Ah, thanks very much man, I'll give it a shot... I still like having VB6 around and working... Call it nostalgia.

[elmer]

Ah, thanks very much man, I'll give it a shot... I still like having VB6 around and working... Call it nostalgia.

You're welcome! 

I just installed it on my Win7 x64 laptop using one of my VC++ 6 product codes, and it's working fine.

The only thing that I needed to do differently was to put the zero-byte msjava.dll file in \Windows\SysWOW64\ instead of \Windows\.

So now I can run VB6 with SP6!

[technozombie]

I installed that PlayBasic and I'm working through a tutorial. We'll see what happens.

[Trenton_net]

This is just personal preference, but I found FreeBasic to be a good alternative for people looking to learn programming. It has most of the major features you'd want in a learning language, and it also cross-compiles easily in DOS, Windows, and Linux. It's nice being able to write your code once and have it work all over. But that's just me!

[technozombie]

The Playbasic is ok so far, ive started on my pong game and have both "paddles" on screen and controllable. I just need to implement a ball and I guess edge/ boundary detection. I'm working for the next 7 days so I won't ger much done.

[elmer]

The Playbasic is ok so far, ive started on my pong game and have both "paddles" on screen and controllable. I just need to implement a ball and I guess edge/ boundary detection. I'm working for the next 7 days so I won't ger much done.

Congratulations! 

Keep on plugging away at it when you have the time.

This is just personal preference, but I found FreeBasic to be a good alternative for people looking to learn programming. It has most of the major features you'd want in a learning language, and it also cross-compiles easily in DOS, Windows, and Linux.

I just took a look at the webpage for it, and it does seem quite nice. 

There are all the simple graphics modes and point/line draw that I'd recommend for the 1st project or two while learning.

It's got a debugger, too, although I would call raw GDB very user-friendly.

[technozombie]

I recently rediscovered my inspiration for coding. 

[technozombie]

I made my pong game, its very simple of course, but it works. I couldn't find a way to produce an executable file in the free version of PlayBASIC. If anyone wants to see it I'll try to post it tomorrow.

[technozombie]

Here is the source code for my pong game if anyone wants to critique it. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzgVE6j9OyMTQWJlMkVvUmdIbDQ