While I was viewing a tutorial I came across an interesting question: "How did the old BYOND-ers ever learn the language when their were no tutorials or guide? How did they learn find all those functions?"
Just a quick question that came across my mine.
ID:181300
 Dec 29 2010, 12:22 pm
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Agreed with EG: I'm sure the reference was definitely around, and I'd like to at least assume the guide was.
Also, keep in mind, the first 2 members were Dan and Tom - who created the system. I remember reading someone (was it Nadrew?) saying they were actually helped by Dan, and I'm sure some of the other guru's had quite a bit of practice in programming beforehand (Deadron and the likes). Though, if you really consider it, it isn't all that hard: I learned what I know via the Guide and a lot of trial and error: mostly error for several years. Of course, I'm not at the tier of any of those guru's and won't be for several years, but I'm also just exiting high school. And I have a passion for programming and game development - it's something I like to do, and I know eventually I'll be alright because of that. I feel the same way when I enter a new language - how am I going to do this without tutorials? But if you really look at it, play around, and ask a lot of questions, you'll be fine. Anyone really will as long as they aren't lazy (a point I think Garthor has been trying to make for quite a while). | |
I'm also in High School, and just like everyone else have failed so many times. I made quite a couple noob-errors in my early time learning. I mean, I failed at least 12 projects. But after each project I got better(thanks to the reference guide.) Thanks for clearing up the history for me, I would have never guessed the Guru's actually received help from the "Big Two" :p
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DM Guide, DM Reference, Demos/Libraries, and the developer forums if something curious was spotted.
Most of the learning was via self-exploration, like opening up a clock and tinkering with its parts. I never read one of the tutorials when I got started in 2002. I saved and transferred the BYOND suite, DM Guide, Dantom.YourFirstWorld, and Deadron.StepBYOND to my computer at home, which had no Internet access. Every weekend or two I would have Internet access for a couple of days when visiting my father, and I used some of that time to explore new demos or post on the Developer forums. My suggestion: Use the guide to learn the language concepts. Use the reference to learn the specific components. Then start thinking for yourself. As for the "before the guide" days, the Preface to the DM Guide was written on 11/11/1999. The oldest keys I know of are only dated a few months prior, i.e. Newbie which was registered 7 months prior, so we can safely ignore those. | |
Govilku wrote:
Thanks for clearing up the history for me, I would have never guessed the Guru's actually received help from the "Big Two" :p Don't quote me on it, it's just my understanding of it, though I may be wrong (but I'd place a good chipstack or two in that bet :P) Oh yeah, I've failed on hundreds of things. I even made a project I dubbed BYONDWave going that was almost complete - then when Ghtry actually pointed out how unnecessary the project was, I shut it down (~2 months ago). However, I learned a lot. All of my interface foundation came from that project. My mini-map library came from that project (I was actually working on an icon editor - I basically recreated XxDohxX's Paint, and gave it functionality to grab a screenshot from it). I made a map editor for it, and now I have a complete map-saving library (that I won't release, but it is fully functional). I mean, failed projects help significantly (or just unfinished even). | |
Well for me it was alot of experimenting and a lot of exploring in the Help -> Help On... menu in dream maker. Which is pretty much the reference and the guide helped as well but I can't remeber when I actually first read it.
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mind*
I'd like to assume the guide and reference always existed.