Author Topic: Hello everyone :) (Read 12350 times)

bikerboy · « **on:** November 28, 2008 »

hello everyone

here is a little story about me

the past:

ever since i bought my first amiga back at 1989 and after a while i saw an intro and later a demo i was stuck ! i used to buy games just to hope there's an intro in it so i could see a new creation.

i collected demo disks too, every time i got my hands on a demo i was like ->

so my dream was to find a way somehow to learn how to do intros and demos, back then my best effort was to create an intro with the RSI demomaker.

years passed and the amiga scene died here in Greece so i was left alone with my memories of demos and intros and later on i bought a pc.

the present:

a couple of days ago i woke up with a need to listen to some old and classic amiga tunes

, but nooo that wasn't enough, i had to see the workbench again so i set up UAE and installed OS3.9 on a hard drive, that wasn't enough either i started googling for amiga adf's of demos to install on that hard drive.

then i came across "retro remakes" on google, i was happy to find out that i could see my fav intros on pc

..... then i remembered the need i had for creation ... a need to create demos and intros but (here comes a big fat but) ... i am no coder

my best shot at creating an intro on pc is with "Old School Demomaker".

so if any of you guys is willing to point out some tips on where to start it would be appreciated

nice to be registered in a demo coding forum even if i'm no coder

Shockwave · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2008 »

Hi Bikerboy,

Welcome to the forums, and thanks for telling us a little bit about how you came here

There are more than a few people here including me that have played around with the RSI demo maker in the past.. In fact there is even one greek scener (Optimus) here.

You don't need to be a coder to join this forum, there are plenty of things for you to read and download. Some of them will no doubt be baffling, other more simple things will probably be a good basis for you to start.

I guess that you should hang around, let everyone say hello to you and I am sure that a learning path will appear to you.

Typically every new coder starts off with a "hello world" program.

What you need to choose at first is going to be the language you use.
This will depend on a lot of things.. Whether you want something that will get you up and running quickly, what sort of things you want to write etc.

In the first months you are going to need a lot of help, don't make the same mistake a lot of people do when they join here and get embarrased at asking questions because people will think you're dumb.

Leave your pride at the door for now and everything you can't figure out, please ask.

I can promise you that;

As long as you really want to code,
You can read, write and count to 10,
You are prepared to work past your problems,
You can listen to people's advice without anything getting in the way.

Then you will learn

What I can't say is how long it will take.

Firstly though you need to know what kind of things you want to write before you even think about selecting a programming language. Depending on that, we can talk you through installing it and writing your first programs.

benny! · « **Reply #2 on:** November 28, 2008 »

Hi,

welcome aboard. Cool that you joined us. Doesn't matter if you are
not a coder. Even though there are a lot of coding posts here - this
place is definately the right one for everyone who is interested in demos
and/or has a favor for the good old oldschool demoscene.

Hope you enjoy your stay here.

Greetz!

bikerboy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 28, 2008 »

thanx guys nice to be here

nope no pride in me, when it comes to creation i'm as modest as it gets, i'm never satisfied with what i create so i search for ways to improve my creation b/c no matter if others tell me what a nice graphic i rarely think high of any graphic i do.

um that was my main problem forever the language

i guess for now i will need an easy language for beginners and then move on.

my main goal since the age of 13-14 (now i'm 31) when i first saw an intro is to create intros and demos for the fun of it

Xalthorn · « **Reply #4 on:** November 28, 2008 »

Hi there and welcome

You will quickly find that people on here are more than willing to help and support you in your desire to create demos.

Modesty is good as it removes one of the barriers to listening to advice, however don't take it too far.

If people on here say that something you create is good, accept it as a fact. It may not be as good as you want it to be, but it will be good.

On the other hand, if something you create isn't good, we won't lie to you, that would be far more damaging.

However you won't simply be told 'that's no good, do better'. You will be shown where it doesn't quite work, or could do with improvements, and more often than not, you will be given help in correcting/improving it.

Back to your initial post where you asked where you should start, it would be nice to know where you would like your 'road of learning' to take you and what you currently know. That way we can point you in the right direction and also avoid throwing confusing code at you too early.

I'm currently using Freebasic to do my PC demo coding as it's nice and compact, easy to jump into and edit, and doesn't have big complicated code libraries that you need to understand.

If you choose to go down the Freebasic route, I'm more than happy to put some very simple (and hugely commented) programs together for you to look at.

I'm a big believer in the 'kerplunk' method of learning (kerplunk being the name of a marble and sticks game). Basically, you take a working program and make a small change to it. You see what broke (or went kerplunk!) and you then know that the bit you changed had something to do with it. You then undo the change and try some other changes. Before long, you'll find that you can make changes that do what you expect rather than break the program.

bikerboy · « **Reply #5 on:** November 28, 2008 »

thanx Xalthorn

if you think that freebasic is not too much frustrating to start for a beginner like me, then i'm more than happy to give it a try

EDIT: just downloaded and installed FreeBASIC-v0.20.0b-win32.exe

what do i do now?

Shockwave · « **Reply #6 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Nice one, I think the next thing to try is running some freebasic programs.
Do examples come with that version of freebasic?

bikerboy · « **Reply #7 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Quote from: Shockwave on November 29, 2008

Nice one, I think the next thing to try is running some freebasic programs.
Do examples come with that version of freebasic?

yup it has a folder named examples that has other folders in it named : (classes,deprecated,dll,events,export,gfx,libraries,manual,misc,namespace,pre-include,
real10,unicode,windows).. and when i run the thingie it opens up a window like command prompt but dunno what to write or do with it

Hezad · « **Reply #8 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Welcome aboard bikerboy

'glad to see a new member

Concerning the language, if you're looking for something simple and powerful, freebasic is -I guess- the right choice

Now you installed the compiler, you can install an IDE (i'm using FBide but there are some others) to help when coding. (If you don't know what an IDE is, in our case you can see it as a text editor with keywords highlight feature. Please someone correct me if i'm wrong

).

FBide can be found here :
http://fbide.freebasic.net/

You want to install it in the freebasic compiler's folder.

Now, concerning the famous "hello world" program !!

Type in the text area :

Quote

Print "Hello World !"
Sleep

Do you see what's going on ?

As shockwave said, you can also see the freebasic examples (there are a lot !! look in the FB_install_dir/examples/ folder

)

edit : You can open the examples with FBide, you'll see the code

edit2 : To compile quickly in FBide, you can use the "F5" key to run the compiled program

bikerboy · « **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2008 »

re downloaded and installed FreeBASIC 0.15b + FBIde bundle - Installer.

run the FBIde proggie and typed this -->

Code: [Select]

print "hello world !"
print "special thanx to the guys from DBF for teaching me coding thingies"
print "this is my first attempt to create something in freebasic :D"
sleep

then i saved it as a .bas file then it compiled it and then i ran it and it came up showed what i have typed

this reminds me of startup-sequence lol

echo: thanx guys for all the help you're giving me !
wait3
echo: i'll go open an example now ....
wait3
loadwb
endcli

----
EDIT: lol i opened up an example called timer.bas and when i ran it to see what it does it came up with this:

Code: [Select]

Command executed:
"C:\Program Files\FreeBASIC\FreeBasic\fbc.exe" "C:\Program Files\FreeBASIC\examples\events\timer\FBIDETEMP.bas"

Compiler output:
timer.bi(14) : error 18: Syntax error, found: 'constructor'
	declare constructor _
	        ^

Results:
Compilation failed

System:
FBIde: 0.4.6
fbc:   FreeBASIC Compiler - Version 0.15 for win32 (target:win32)
OS:    Windows XP (build 2600, Service Pack 3)

EDIT3: ok most examples gave an error, but two were working, one was a flower vortex thing (i liked it ) and the other was some magnifying blobs or something (i liked that one too ).

so my guess is that you write the code you want save it as .bas files and then somehow make it an .exe and voila a demo?

but how will i learn all those commands and what each command does?

Jim · « **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2008 »

0.15b is an ancient version of Freebasic. You probably want to go to freebasic.net and get something a bit newer.

Welcome to the forum!

Jim

Hezad · « **Reply #11 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Bikerboy : You got the thing ^^

As Jim said, you can't run a major part of the examples because you downloaded a bundle on the fbide website. You first downloaded FreeBasic 0.20.xx (the compiler). It was the good version

But when you downloaded the FBide pack, you downloaded FBide + Freebasic 0.15.xx (0.15 is an ooold version ^^).

For everything to work, you should reinstall Freebasic 0.20.xx (if you suppressed it) and then install FBide from this link :
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/fbide/FBIde_0.4.6.exe?download
When the installer asks you for the directory you wanna install FBide in, choose the folder where you installed the last version of Freebasic

Voilà, I hope everything will work fine.

A little code again for you to play a bit with freebasic :

Code: [Select]

' This is a comment. Everything written after ' won't be compiled

' This example is a bit more complex than the hello world but it'll show you the basis
' with graphics stuff.

Screenres 640,480,32,2  ' This will open the graphic window with a 640*480 resolution.
                        ' Don't be bothered by the "32,2" part for now.



Line(50,50)-(100,100),rgb(255,50,50)  '' a line 

Line(150,150)-(200,200),rgb(255,50,50),B   '' how to make a Box with line keyword

Line(150,50)-(200,100),rgb(255,50,50),BF   '' how to make a Filled Box with line keyword




For i as integer = 0 to 50 '' use an "i" variable to loop from 0 to 50
    
    Pset(rnd*640,rnd*480),rgb(250,250,50)   '' Draws a point :  [ Pset(x,y),color ]
                                            '' here, x and y are replaced with rnd 
                                            '' rnd permits to generate a random number between 0(included) and 1(excluded)
next


sleep

There are a lot of stuff, but if you read well and help yourself with the freebasic help file, you should easily understand what's going on in this code.

And if you wanna use a tutorial to start with freebasic, please see this post on the freebasic forums :
http://www.freebasic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10830

There are a lot of awesome stuff for freebasic beginners

Have a good day !

edit : The example I written just here, is just an example to show you how simple Freebasic can be. If you really wanna learn to code with it, I guess there are other stuff to see first before using graphic stuff

Check the tutorials page I linked, and don't hesitate to ask if you have questions

I'm pretty sure everybody here will be glad to help.

bikerboy · « **Reply #12 on:** November 29, 2008 »

thanx guys for the infos and the welcome

@Hezad

okies i reinstalled the latest versions but i still get errors, i even got an error with the code you gave me.

Code: [Select]

Compiler output:
C:\Documents and Settings\bikerboy\Desktop\FBIDETEMP.bas(20) : error 10: Expected '=', found: 'as'
For i as integer = 0 to 50 '' use an "i" variable to loop from 0 to 50
      ^

Results:
Compilation failed

System:
FBIde: 0.4.6
fbc:   FreeBASIC Compiler - Version 0.15 for win32 (target:win32)
OS:    Windows XP (build 2600, Service Pack 3)

tried to change 'as' to '=' but it saw it as '-'

yup i really do want to learn freebasic and i won't quit no matter it it gives me 126723682736 errors

i'll go take a look at the link you gave me

EDIT: exactly what i needed a n00b tutorial about freebasic

just did the first example, it's a calculator and it works
so i couldn't help myself and i modified the calc a bit
here is the result.

and the code i used is

for the calc

Code: [Select]

 Dim As Integer num1, num2, result

Print "Type two numbers, one after the other.  Press Enter after each one."
Input num1
Input num2

result = num1 * num2

Print result

Sleep

for the modified calc

Code: [Select]

Dim As Integer num1, num2, result

Print "The Forum Coder Multiplier Calculator"
Print "Please Type 2 Numbers To Multiply Them"
Input num1
Input num2

result = num1 * num2

Print "DBF ! :P"

Sleep

ok i'll go read some more

EDIT2: can't help it i have to post this
i managed to make the calc an .exe file
i know some people will look at me funny but i don't care i'm happy i made it it's my first .exe file written in freebasic and i'm happy

file attached.

Shockwave · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Lol, but hey it's a good start

you will be able to enter the TMDC at this rate

Have some good karma.

bikerboy · « **Reply #14 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Quote from: Shockwave on November 29, 2008

Lol, but hey it's a good start

you will be able to enter the TMDC at this rate

Have some good karma.

thanx man i'm trying my best

the tut has an example code of a calc that you can choose to multiply or divide and everything but it gives me an error and i don't know what's wrong with it

the code

Code: [Select]

Dim mychar   As   String * 1
    Dim   As   Single num1, num2, result

    Print "Enter m, d, a, or s to multiply, divide, add, or subtract."
    Input mychar

    Print "Type two numbers, one after the other.  Press Enter after each one."
    Input num1
    Input num2

    Select Case mychar
      Case "m"
      result = num1 * num2
        Exit Select
      Case "d"
      result = num1 / num2
        Exit Select
      Case "a"
      result = num1 + num2
        Exit Select
      Case "s"
      result = num1 - num2
        Exit Select
      Case Else
        Print "You gave an invalid command."
        Sleep
        End
    End Select

  Print result

  Sleep

the error

Code: [Select]

Compiler output:
C:\Program Files\FreeBASIC\FreeBasic\FBIDETEMP.bas(14) : error 25: Illegal outside of FOR, DO, SUB or FUNCTION, found: 'Select'
        Exit Select
             ^

Results:
Compilation failed

System:
FBIde: 0.4.6
fbc:   FreeBASIC Compiler - Version 0.15 for win32 (target:win32)
OS:    Windows XP (build 2600, Service Pack 3)

EDIT: forgot to ask, what is TMDC ?

Hezad · « **Reply #15 on:** November 29, 2008 »

That's a good start Bikerboy

I think the errors you get are caused by your version of freebasic. Look in the compiler output you posted :

Quote

fbc: FreeBASIC Compiler - Version 0.15 for win32 (target:win32)

0.15 is totally deprecated today

You should uninstall it and reinstall the v0.20

bikerboy · « **Reply #16 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Quote from: Hezad on November 29, 2008

That's a good start Bikerboy

I think the errors you get are caused by your version of freebasic. Look in the compiler output you posted :
Quote
fbc: FreeBASIC Compiler - Version 0.15 for win32 (target:win32)

0.15 is totally deprecated today You should uninstall it and reinstall the v0.20

yup you're right but lol? i mean i installed FreeBASIC-v0.20.0b-win32.exe

uninstalling the thingie and re-installing it again lol

Hezad · « **Reply #17 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Just ensure you suppressed your v0.15 before installing v0.20

'hope it'll work fine

bikerboy · « **Reply #18 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Quote from: Hezad on November 29, 2008

Just ensure you suppressed your v0.15 before installing v0.20 'hope it'll work fine

yup everything is fine now

made an .exe with a complete functional calc

Ps. showed the calc to my mother and g/f lol

lol i know i know i'm behaving like a child but i'm still happy

benny! · « **Reply #19 on:** November 29, 2008 »

Congratz bikerboy.

These are the cool moments in every coder's life. After hours
of frustration and error debugging - there is a moment of satis-
faction - that you solve the problem you worked on.

Doesnt matter if you see your first pixel moving across the
screen or you simply successfully compiled your first hello world
program.

Keep it up!