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Beginners > Starting Equipment

#161616 - Rinalti - Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:40 pm

Hello, everyone. I'm new here.

What are the best tools to use when you have no prior experience with programming/developing with the GBA - or anything for that matter? What should I move onto after that?

I apologize if this question might be a little vague, and I'll be glad to elaborate on any questions anyone might have for me about it's vagueness, but I'd like to know.

#161622 - gauauu - Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:02 pm

It depends on whether you have experience writing C. If you know C and can program, get:

-Toolchain from devkitPro
-VisualBoyAdvance or no$gba for most testing
-A cheap flash chart. There's a 128 mbit one for around $10 with cable from here: http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=14429. Those two GBA emulators are accurate enough that you can do without one of these for a little while if necessary.
-TONC -- the resource for learning gba.

If you don't have much C development experience, get a book about learning C, and download a C compiler for your PC (Dev-cpp or one of the visual studio express editions are decent, easy-to-setup IDEs with a compiler for windows), and learn C on your PC first.

#161624 - Rinalti - Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:09 am

I actually do not know C. I recently got a book on learning C++, though I don't really know the difference between the two.

Any particular book you recommend?

#161625 - tepples - Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:21 am

Rinalti wrote:
I actually do not know C. I recently got a book on learning C++, though I don't really know the difference between the two.

C++ is a superset of the vast majority of C. C++ is a bigger language that gives you more ways to shoot your problem, but it also gives you more ways to shoot yourself in the foot.

Quote:
Any particular book you recommend?

I've read Effective C++ and More Effective C++ by Scott Meyers on a tip from StoneCypher, and I recommend them. You can get them together on one CD. I've also read good things about Effective STL by Meyers, Efficient C++ by Bulka and Mayhew, and possibly even some C++ In-Depth books if you can afford them. Just avoid anything with Herb Schildt in the byline; his books are so full of inaccuracies and bullschildt that you'll likely be more confused after you read them.
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#161626 - gauauu - Fri Aug 08, 2008 3:54 am

I'm not going to say it's a bad idea to learn C++ before C, but unless you've already got a strong Object-Oriented background, it might be easier to learn C first. Although I don't know of any particular books to recommend.

Like Tepples said, C is a subset (for the most part) of C++, so learning C would help if you want to learn C++ down the road. But with C++, it's quite easy to get in over your head if you aren't careful.

#161627 - sgeos - Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:45 am

gauauu wrote:
I'm not going to say it's a bad idea to learn C++ before C, but unless you've already got a strong Object-Oriented background, it might be easier to learn C first. Although I don't know of any particular books to recommend.

Depending on how much time you have, you might want to pick up Java before C++. It forces you to do things in a more or less proper object-oriented fashion and the syntax is a little cleaner depending on what you want to do. The grammar is also much the same.

-Brendan

#161630 - silent_code - Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:11 am

You can download Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel for free.
He has also written Thinking in Patterns (with Java), which can be downloaded for free as well.

Have a nice time learning! :^)
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