Omnimaga
Calculator Community => TI Calculators => General Calculator Help => Topic started by: TAC0CAT on February 02, 2014, 03:23:56 pm
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Hi guys. I am a complete newb when it comes to calculator programing. I want to try programing for a TI 84 plus. Could anyone recommend a good programing language for me to start out on? ???
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It depends on what you want to do. Math programs or games ?
If you want to make math programs, Basic is the way to go.
If you want to make games, then you have a dilemma to face :P
I'd actually advise you to try ASM out, because it is only difficult when you already know another "easy" language. But if you start with this one without having programmed in any language before, it won't seem any more difficult than anything.
If you don't want to, or if you are stuck while learning ASM, there's Axe and Grammer.
You should also know that if you plan on doing games and math programs, you have the possibility to use libs so that you only have to learn Basic. But the step between Basic and Axe/Grammer isn't that hard to take (you'll just produce unefficient code but it will work :P).
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For the start I would recommend TI-BASIC, as it is very simple to learn.
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Thanks for the help. :thumbsup: Just wondering, will it be difficult for my later if i decide to switch from ASM to a different programing language?
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Actually, if you are new to programming, you should maybe start with TI-BASIC, mainly the easier stuff. You need to try to do some math programs, experience with the basic commands but don't go into the bad habit of using Goto/Lbl for everything (or at all). If you eventually want to make faster graphical games, however, Axe, Grammer, BASIC enhancers (xLIB/DCS/Celtic) or ASM will be the way to go in most cases.
I personally spent 1.5 years using TI-BASIC before finally starting to use external libraries and 1 more year before mastering most intermediate optimizing tricks.
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Last question, what would you suggest as a good website/source to get started?
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The wiki at http://tibasicdev.wikidot.com/ has full documentation on the TI-BASIC language, as well as the online TI-84 Plus Guidebook on TI website. You can also ask on the forums here if you need additional help. Some topics here might have extra answers to your question as well.
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Great. I cant wait to be part of the team! :w00t:
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Hello TAC0CAT, welcome to Omnimaga. For a beginner, TI-BASIC or AXE are recommend. They are both fairly easy to pick up and there are plenty of people to help. It's also easy to program them on calculator, as you can just use the built in program editor. ASM is a bit more tricky and not recommend usually unless you have some previous programming experience.
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If you have absolutely no programming experience, I would reccomend BASIC over axe, because it is a lot safer with it's build-in error handling (it'll abort the program and show an error message when something goes wrong).
Axe can easily crash when you do something wrong (a crash on an 83+/84+ calculator usually means a RAM clear + your clock will be reset).