The DM Guide!

ID:278493
 
Oct 6 2011, 8:44 pm
How much more programming abilities would one gain from reading the DM Guide then someone who didn't read it, but still knows somewhat how to program? So my ultimate question here is, on a scale from 1 to 10, how important do you think it is for a programmer to read through the DM Guide?
Oct 6 2011, 9:40 pm
The DM guide doesn't actually tell you how to build what you want. It just gives you the tools to do so. If you have previous coding experience then it would be simple to pick up but for new people it's not worth much to be honest. People always say "read the guide..." but that's just because they think it's some kind of all functioning bible.

I can do some quite cool stuff with Byond now and I never read the guide. How boring, just going through pages of functions and not even knowing when or how to use it. I just read some basic tutorials I got from google and asked a few questions on the forums. Everything else I just looked up or worked out.
Oct 6 2011, 9:56 pm
In response to Kyle_ZX
Yeah, I never read the guide either. So I was a little afraid that I was missing out on something or anything the guide may provide. I've skimmed through it a couple times, but got bored an veered away. I just don't have the attention span to read that much. I'm a guy whose never finished a book in my life, but has still Aced every English class I've ever had.

I was just wondering if I was missing out on anything, I'm doing fine programming, and reading up on demo's and libraries that more advanced programmers post, but just have trouble handling advanced programming such as; Gravity, with velocity, etc.. More along the lines of the stuff Forum_account creates. Don't get me wrong, I can program, just to a certain extent. Been around on BYOND since I was 8, and I'm now 17, and I haven't really learned anything I didn't already know, I was just wondering what I'm missing.
Oct 7 2011, 8:25 am
In response to A. Ness
The Blue Book is a useful resource, the issue is that people treat it like a novel. You can't sit down and read it in a couple of sittings and expect to just absorb everything it has to teach, you have to treat it like a text book, which it is. You study it, when it mentions something new, you apply that thing, and in doing so learn more about the language.

It could definitely use some practice exercises at each section, to really emphasis that you have to apply what it is telling you, but you should really be able to come up with something on your own.
Oct 7 2011, 5:14 pm
In response to Robertbanks2
Yeah, that's a really good way of putting it Robert.
Oct 7 2011, 5:41 pm
In response to Kyle_ZX
I second that, thanks a lot. I'll study it more often in the fields I'm unfamiliar with.