#146186 - beamer30 - Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:26 am
Ok im just getting started in programming for the ds lite, and im wondering if someone i willing to point me in the right direction
like:
*what software to get
*what will help me in the long run even if its harder to learn now
*tips and tricks for ds programming
*to just be there for my realy noobish and simple questions lol
If anybody is willing to help it would be GREATLY appreciated thx :)
#146206 - tepples - Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:51 pm
Software: devkitARM with libnds (from devkitpro.org), NO$GBA freeware version (from nocash.emubase.de)
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#146237 - beamer30 - Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:33 pm
should I i learn how to use PAlib or no?
_________________
Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation:
?If it was hard to write?, says the Real Programmer,
?it should be hard to understand.?
#146269 - jester - Sat Dec 01, 2007 7:52 pm
Try DSLua at www.dslua.com I found it good as after I learned it I went into PALib!
_________________
If anyone needs a dragonball online email me @ aaronthejester@hotmail.com
#146270 - pas - Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:00 pm
Just out of curiosity, jester, did you ever release something ?
Anyway, I saw a guide on Drunkencoders months back, you may start looking there, further I heard that Pataters Guides should be pretty good.
#146272 - 0xtob - Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:55 pm
#146273 - Dan2552 - Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:04 pm
| Quote: |
| what will help me in the long run even if its harder to learn now |
No PAlib and no LUA, jump straight into the hard(?) stuff.
#146290 - beamer30 - Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:29 am
So no palib or lua for long run? why? Is there some better way to do it thats harder to learn or what i think i might do lua and palib, unless its limited in the long run...
thanks for the help so far its realing helping me go in the right direction
_________________
Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation:
?If it was hard to write?, says the Real Programmer,
?it should be hard to understand.?
#146302 - keldon - Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:45 pm
For the long run learn "algorithms", and the like first and begin to have "sport" with the areas that are required for the creation of a game. Some people learn better in different orders, which is why many people struggle with programming despite having the potential to learn.
For a starting point, I think an IDE that manages projects and compilations are good for learning "programming". Makefiles are a "related" topic, and learning them is good for general practice.
Again, people prefer to learn in different orders; some people are motivated by instant viewable results, so learning algorithms does not give them the practical results required to keep them interested.
So what type of person are you? Can you take in the theory of a topic without having to do the practice? Do you require viewable results to learn? Can you only learn by practice?
Until then I think the tonc tutorials are good for getting you intimate with the GBA, and embedded systems in general. cprogramming.com has tutorials on C++. On another note I have compiled a list of programming tutorials.
#146362 - beamer30 - Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:53 am
| Quote: |
| So what type of person are you? Can you take in the theory of a topic without having to do the practice? Do you require viewable results to learn? Can you only learn by practice? |
Ok well I'm pretty sure I need viewable results to learn, and I DEFINITELY learn by practise, but it possible for me to take in the theory of a topic depending on the topic and theory. I guess this mean algorithms will be harder for me to learn, but if it helps in the long run ill force myself to learn them lol. Thanks for the list keldon im sure ill end up using it, adn what direction should i take?
also answering the questions as i did would it be easier for me to get into ds homebrew if i start with making basic c++ programs, went on do gba advance development, and then go into ds development?
_________________
Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation:
?If it was hard to write?, says the Real Programmer,
?it should be hard to understand.?
#146478 - josath - Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:45 pm
| beamer30 wrote: |
So no palib or lua for long run? why? Is there some better way to do it thats harder to learn or what i think i might do lua and palib, unless its limited in the long run...
thanks for the help so far its realing helping me go in the right direction |
LUA is definately limited, it's a simple scripting langauge thus much worse performance than C / C++ on the DS.
PAlib is good if your goal is to get out a few quick demos, nothing too complex, and don't plan to spend that much time on the DS in the long run. The downsides of PAlib are that it's poorly coded, limits what you can do with the hardware, and breaks everytime there's a change in the underlying devkitarm or libnds (due to the way they integrate their stuff).
It's definately a good idea to have some basic understanding of programming in C / C++ before starting on the NDS, since it's a lot easier to test & debug programs on the PC. I'd suggest learning by making a couple medium complexity apps on the PC first. You don't have to go through GBA, though it may help, since GBA development is much more mature than DS.
This is arguably the best primer on C++ on the market today:
http://sc.tri-bit.com/Moo
Here is a good tutorial on starting with GBA (assumes some knowledge of programming):
http://www.coranac.com/tonc/text/toc.htm
And here are two decent tutorials on starting with NDS:
http://patatersoft.info/manual.php
http://dev-scene.com/NDS/Tutorials
#146500 - beamer30 - Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:39 pm
Ok i wont learn palib instead ill take on algorithmns... thanks for the basic help guys!
_________________
Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation:
?If it was hard to write?, says the Real Programmer,
?it should be hard to understand.?
#146555 - bean_xp - Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:52 pm
| beamer30 wrote: |
| Ok i wont learn palib instead ill take on algorithmns |
By learning how to code this way you'll become a better all round coder, which should let you transfer your skills to most platforms/languages. However the learning curve is a lot steeper. Whereas you could get some basics learning simpler things first. However it depends completely on your style. I personally just jump into the harder stuff. If you get stuck you can always take backwards steps!
#146556 - NeX - Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:51 pm
I've personally never been able to grasp c coding in Windows. It's at least two screenfuls to make a console window containing the words "Hello World" in a naff old font. Why? Heaven knows.
_________________
Strummer or Drummer?.
Or maybe you would rather play with sand? Sandscape is for you in that case.
#146557 - Lazy1 - Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:53 pm
| NeX wrote: |
| I've personally never been able to grasp c coding in Windows. It's at least two screenfuls to make a console window containing the words "Hello World" in a naff old font. Why? Heaven knows. |
Say hello world in a console window under win32:
| Code: |
int main( int Argc, char** Argv ) {
printf( "Hello, World!\n" );
return 0;
}
|
#146558 - bean_xp - Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:54 pm
I was about to post that!
#146559 - tepples - Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:00 pm
And if a terminal window isn't enough, here's graphical hello world under windows, linux, and any other environment that the Allegro library supports:
| Code: |
#include <allegro.h>
int main(void) {
allegro_init();
install_timer();
set_gfx_mode(GFX_SAFE, 640, 480, 0, 0);
install_keyboard();
clear_to_color(screen, gui_bg_color);
textout_ex(screen, font, "hello gbadev", 100, 50, gui_fg_color, -1);
readkey();
return 0;
} END_OF_MAIN();
|
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.
#146629 - beamer30 - Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:04 am
thanks for all the help guys
_________________
Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation:
?If it was hard to write?, says the Real Programmer,
?it should be hard to understand.?