Looking over some recent posts and questions, it is apparent some folks don't have a concept of how involved programming is. DM is a language... give it the respect you would in learning Spanish or German. It takes time to learn the basics, so don't expect to be writing beautiful poetry in it any time soon.
For those who have programmed before, picking up another language is a bit easier. I have been programming for 20 years, and DM is probably about the 15th programming language I have learned. Even so, I still have trouble with bits of code at times.
If you have done little or no programming and you really want to be able to create something in DM, buy the Blue Book and read every single page. What else should you do? Here's a start:
1. Print out the FAQ and read it.
2. Print out the guide and read it.
3. Look over the tutorials. Open them. Read the documentation. Analyze them. Learn what every line of code does.
4. Keep the reference open at all times when you code. If you have a problem, search the reference for keywords pertaining to what commands you are using.
5. Buy the book (yes, another copy!)
6. Read everything on the forums every day.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Can't figure it out? Try again. Please. Try another approach. Put in extra lines of code like 'world << "test"' all over the place. Put in a little effort. Thumb through the blue book for inspiration.
Still can't figure it out? Now post a question to the forums in either the Newbie section, or the Coding Problems section (not both!). Be concise. Explain what you are trying to do, and quote a small relevant section of code showing your attempt. Then please be patient waiting for a reply.
Programming is hard work. I should know, people pay me a lot of money to do it every day. If it were easy, they might not pay me so much. All I ask is that you respect the work needed to accomplish your cool game. Oldbies love to help newbies, but they hate writing their code for them.
Keep plugging away. It will get easier.
/mob/skysaw
ID:180420
 Jun 27 2001, 6:04 pm
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On 6/28/01 12:28 am Cinnom wrote:
On 6/27/01 9:04 pm Skysaw wrote: Yeesh, that's only one and a half years ago, ya know. I play computer games that are five times that old. | |
buy the Blue Book and read every single page.
I second that one, very good book. Couldn't of learned anything in Byond without it. Well, I probably could've these days, now that they have guides that weren't last updated in 1999 =)