Omnimaga

General Discussion => Introduce Yourself! => Topic started by: DincoC on October 31, 2012, 06:48:18 pm

Title: Dzień dobry
Post by: DincoC on October 31, 2012, 06:48:18 pm
Hi there! After reading the forums for over a week I have decided to make an account and introduce myself.
My name is Janek, I'm 16 and I'm from Poland. I like donuts, longboarding, American hiphop music and everything that is related to computers. I was always keen on programming but I have never had a chance/motivation to start learning it. I have just started my education in an IB school, where students use graph calculators, so I had to buy one. Eventually I have found out about this whole concept of game development and I really got into it. It looks like a lot of fun and a great opportunity to gain some programming experience :)

I don't really have the calculator yet (will have my Ti84+ in about a week) but I have downloaded the Wabbitemu and I'm currently studying your tutorials. But as a newcomer I also have some questions :3
Would you recommend learning TiBasic before getting into Axe? (I know very little TiBasic at the moment)
If not, what is the best way the learn Axe? I know, there are all these tutorials on the forums, but most of them are not related to each other and they only cover a little part of all the things you need to know. Are there some total 'must reads' before learning all the particular things like greyscale or physics?

I would also like to say that I really like how people are amicable to each other here. It's not common on internet forums nowadays :)
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: ben_g on October 31, 2012, 07:00:12 pm
Welcome to the forums!

Have some peanuts:
!peanuts

To answer your question: If you're still new to programming, I'd reccomend to start with basic, and after a while you can move to axe. Basic works exactely the same as the homescreen, but with some extra programming functions (like if, for, while, ...), so when you can use the calculator, you can use basic. Axe is a lot more low-level, which means that you will have to place some elements in the correct part of the memory yourself. Because of this, there is a lot more that can go wrong. Also, basic has an emergency stop, the ON key, but when your axe program stops responding, you have to take out a battery, resulting in a RAM clear. These things aren't really bad for your calc, but they can get annoying when they happen a lot. That's why I reccomend starting with basic. And when you're good with basic, give axe a try. It's a great language.
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Deep Toaster on October 31, 2012, 07:03:49 pm
Quote from: DincoC on October 31, 2012, 06:48:18 pm
Would you recommend learning TiBasic before getting into Axe? (I know very little TiBasic at the moment)
I do, but not because the languages are similar at all.

I just think it's really important to be very familiar with your calculator and at least some programming before starting to learn Axe.

It's also nice to know assembly before learning Axe because that makes it a lot easier to optimize and understand how your program works, but it's not really necessary.
Quote from: DincoC on October 31, 2012, 06:48:18 pm
If not, what is the best way the learn Axe? I know, there are all these tutorials on the forums, but most of them are not related to each other and they only cover a little part of all the things you need to know. Are there some total 'must reads' before learning all the particular things like greyscale or physics?
The best beginner's tutorial so far is still the Documentation.pdf included in the Axe ZIP file. Again, it's easier to pick up (IMHO) if you already know TI-BASIC.
Quote from: DincoC on October 31, 2012, 06:48:18 pm
I would also like to say that I really like how people are amicable to each other here. It's not common on internet forums nowadays :)
That's our goal :) Welcome to Omnimaga!
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on October 31, 2012, 08:30:26 pm
Heya and welcome to the forums :).
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Juju on October 31, 2012, 09:21:52 pm
Welcome to Omnimaga! I would recommend starting with TI-Basic, then when you master it sufficiently, move to Axe.

Also, being amicable always been one of the forum's strongnesses, we always tried to avoid drama as much as possible.

Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: TIfanx1999 on October 31, 2012, 10:05:39 pm
Heya, welcome to the forums! I wouldn't say TI-BASIC is necessary, but it can be fun. As far as AXE goes, a good starting point is the included documentation.
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Xeda112358 on November 19, 2012, 12:48:23 pm
Wow, you joined on my two year omniversarry :D So, when you say you are in an IB school, does that stand for International Baccalaureate? If so, have fun and good luck XD Welcome to Omni!

I was an IB student in the US, and I have to say, college is a breeze XD I took:
Spoiler For What I took:
Physics SL
French SL
English HL
Math SL
Biology HL
History of the Americas (HL, and yes, we studied all of the Americas, not just the US :P)

There was something else, but I can't remember it... For those not familiar, an IB course is usually more demanding than a college course, so taking 7 of them at a time makes college seem like !peanuts
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 19, 2012, 12:55:15 pm
Xeda is it kinda like post-hi-school level but more demanding?
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Xeda112358 on November 19, 2012, 01:03:11 pm
Yes, basically. It is tough, but fun, I think. I got to dissect a shark once o.o
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: DincoC on November 19, 2012, 03:38:09 pm
yes, it is an International Baccalaureate school :) I'm in the pre-IB year now, so it's not that tough yet. I wasn't really sure about IB programme at first - no IT studies. While on the other hand I had a computer science oriented highschool with the regular Polish baccalaureate. I'm still not sure whether I made a good decision or not ;)
Your course combination is not usual for a programmer. What are you studying right now?

BTW: I had to google "shark dissection", cause I had no idea what that was.. <ohgodwhy>
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Xeda112358 on November 19, 2012, 07:10:11 pm
Right now, I am a mathematics major (I have a bit of a passion for the subject). I like to make sure I am not only focused on mathematics and programming, though. I have learned that the more subjects you study, the more you can connect ideas. For example, a biologist might notice the fractal structure of a DNA strand, but not be able to analyse it, but a mathematician might see that same structure and not know how to use it. If you are familiar with both subjects, though, you will know how to analyse and use the fractal structure of DNA and build models with it, using your programming knowledge :P

As for French, English, and History, I had already been taking french for four years, so I figured I would keep going, English was better than the alternative (a really boring highschool course), I thought, and I needed it for the IB diploma, and the History class was about eleven times better than the alternative (a really, really boring history/economics course).

Sorry you had to look up the dissection XD It was interesting, though! Mine was a boy >.> There "parts" are actually located on the dorsal side of their ribcage (for lack of a better description). They also have thick, oily blood that prevents most illnesses and cancer.
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: aeTIos on November 20, 2012, 06:08:59 am
As for Axe vs. Basic, I recommend you not to get too used to Basic. <_< I switched to Axe after one week of Basic programming and I never missed anything in Basic.
By the way,
!peanuts !peanuts
Enjoy your stay here, and we're always happy to answer your questions!

~greets
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Deep Toaster on November 20, 2012, 10:43:27 am
Quote
As for Axe vs. Basic, I recommend you not to get too used to Basic. I switched to Axe after one week of Basic programming and I never missed anything in Basic.
The languages have nothing in common, but I rather think it's useful to get some footing in TI-BASIC before Axe because you'd want to be familiar with how your calculator works before learning Axe (and what better way than learning BASIC? :D).
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: chickendude on November 20, 2012, 10:55:55 am
I don't think z80 asm is that hard, either, and it's loads of fun ;) Anyway, dzień dobry and witamy :)
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: Hayleia on November 20, 2012, 12:53:36 pm
Quote from: Deep Thought on November 20, 2012, 10:43:27 am
Quote
As for Axe vs. Basic, I recommend you not to get too used to Basic. I switched to Axe after one week of Basic programming and I never missed anything in Basic.
The languages have nothing in common, but I rather think it's useful to get some footing in TI-BASIC before Axe because you'd want to be familiar with how your calculator works before learning Axe (and what better way than learning BASIC? :D).
The problem with people coming from basic is that they assume that axe is somehow an amelioration of basic and wonder why storing something in Str1 after having already used it doesn't work.
So I'd advise start with what you feel more interesting. For example, if you want to develop games, start axe. But if you want to develop more maths programs than games, start basic :)
Anyway, welcome here, have some more of those !peanuts ^^
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 21, 2012, 04:15:17 pm
Quote from: chickendude on November 20, 2012, 10:55:55 am
I don't think z80 asm is that hard, either

You can make a 15 hours long RPG in ASM in 2 weeks?? O.O
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: aeTIos on November 22, 2012, 05:16:45 am
Quote from: DJ_O on November 21, 2012, 04:15:17 pm
Quote from: chickendude on November 20, 2012, 10:55:55 am
I don't think z80 asm is that hard, either

You can make a 15 hours long RPG in ASM in 2 weeks?? O.O
Did he imply that <_<
And yes I think it's possible once you have the engine running.
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 22, 2012, 10:02:30 pm
Quote from: aeTIos on November 22, 2012, 05:16:45 am
Quote from: DJ_O on November 21, 2012, 04:15:17 pm
Quote from: chickendude on November 20, 2012, 10:55:55 am
I don't think z80 asm is that hard, either

You can make a 15 hours long RPG in ASM in 2 weeks?? O.O
Did he imply that <_<
Yes. He said ASM isn't that hard :P (in TI-BASIC I made many long RPGs in 2 weeks ;D)
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: chickendude on November 23, 2012, 03:34:10 am
How long did it take you to reach that level, though? You could do the same in ASM using a premade tilemap engine (like Jim e's) and making maps with CalcGS. Also, a 15-hour basic RPG would likely need less content to fill it up because the general speed is slower (and there is less spriting work). Most of the work isn't the coding, it's the data, sprites, maps, storyline, etc. And being able to do something quickly doesn't mean it's easy, likewise taking a while to do doesn't make something difficult ;) But that's neither here nor there, i just wanted to add another fun programming option :)

(EDIT: Not an attack against anyone, but i would really appreciate it if people used non-gender ways of referring to me... "They" or some other pronoun: "zie", "zir", etc. It feels so weird to see "he"...)
Title: Re: Dzień dobry
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 23, 2012, 04:08:13 am
One year actually in TI-BASIC. I made Illusiat 7 in 2 weeks, 8 in 2 weeks (although that one was slightly shorter), 9 in 2 weeks, then the rest took longer because they became ridiculously long. Reuben Quest (hybrid BASIC) took 3 weeks each to complete. The longest was ROL3 in half a year, though.

However, in BASIC, you don't have to deal with the 8811 bytes of executable code limit that plagued ASM and Axe coders until Crabcake/Fullrene arrived, nor swapping between flash pages, so your programs don't have to be as organized as ASM ones. Plus until recently, coding ASM on-calc was a major hassle.

That said, I was kinda joking around too because of how easy BASIC is to start learning compared to ASM. ASM takes a while to get the grasp of before you actually find it easy, especially if the only other language you know is BASIC. I heard a lot that making RPGs in ASM was a major PITA, though.

Quote from: chickendude on November 23, 2012, 03:34:10 am
(EDIT: Not an attack against anyone, but i would really appreciate it if people used non-gender ways of referring to me... "They" or some other pronoun: "zie", "zir", etc. It feels so weird to see "he"...)

Sorry but nope :P. They say bad habits takes 21 years to get rid of, and since you are the only person in the TI community who have a problem being refered to as he/she (even Xeda doesn't mind so much being refered to as "he" despite being a "she", since it's an habit people have on calc/programming forums), you'll probably have to live with it since it will be impossible for everyone to lose that habit without ever forgetting. Plus zie/zir isn't english-as-second-language-friendly so very few ppl here might even know it. As you noticed, you asked that before and I still call you he, simply because I forget (if every single person on the forum had problems with he I would probably eventually stop, though).