So im learning a programming language!

[Jacklack3]

Now i chose this one because

1. Theres a 3DS app for it.
2. Its easy to use
3. Something.

So what is it? Well before you open the spoiler guess what it is.

Its a old programming language
Theres a 3DS app for it...

Its...

Spoiler

BASIC!!! So whatcha guys think? Do you think i should switch up? Right now i can make a decent text adventure game in SmileBASIC! im using the apps manual and the [ ? ] button to know what the commands do and look at the examples, im trying to move onto sprites to make a decent SmileBASIC game.

 

[fafaffy]

Basic is OK, but a pretty dated and non-used language.

If you want to learn something a bit more common, you can learn Visual Basic which is a .NET framework language by Microsoft. It's similar in syntax in that it's closer to English than other languages.

However, if you feel for the challenge, learn something such as C#. I would stray from C++ or similar for *right now* as there's a lot more things that you need to be careful with (no garbage collector, managing own memory, etc..)

 

[MissingNO123]

Good luck, and have fun

Spoiler

Can't wait till you learn C/C++ and find out how much better it is
like
no joke
it's like being an English major and nailing improv slam poetry
compared to being a quadriplegic with all four limbs amputated trying to use sign language

 

[Jacklack3]

Basic is OK, but a pretty dated and non-used language.

If you want to learn something a bit more common, you can learn Visual Basic which is a .NET framework language by Microsoft. It's similar in syntax in that it's closer to English than other languages.

However, if you feel for the challenge, learn something such as C#. I would stray from C++ or similar for *right now* as there's a lot more things that you need to be careful with (no garbage collector, managing own memory, etc..)

I think ill continue on learning BASIC, then once i can make a good game ill move on to Visual Basic, then after im good at that ill move on to python.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Good luck, and have fun

Spoiler

Can't wait till you learn C/C++ and find out how much better it is
like
no joke
it's like being an English major and nailing improv slam poetry
compared to being a quadriplegic with all four limbs amputated trying to use sign language

For now im learning BASIC,

Yes C can be SOO much better but to at least know a programming language i wanna learn BASIC first.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I would tell you to learn something else, perhaps Python, but actually if you already have the motivation then go for Basic.
Learn it, it will be good mental exercise.

 

[loco365]

I think ill continue on learning BASIC, then once i can make a good game ill move on to Visual Basic, then after im good at that ill move on to python.

Oh my god anything else BUT Visual Basic. It doesn't teach good programming habits. C# is very similar to it, and it's not too difficult at first. It's only difficult when you start trying to edit and manipulate data for users (Such as tools).

 

[fafaffy]

Oh my god anything else BUT Visual Basic. It doesn't teach good programming habits. C# is very similar to it, and it's not too difficult at first. It's only difficult when you start trying to edit and manipulate data for users (Such as tools).

I agree Visual Basic doesn't teach good programming habits. However, if he isn't motivated to learn anything else, learning visual basic will still give him some general sense of direction of how programming works and is better than nothing.

In my opinion, I believe C# is an optimal first language to use, and has a ton of documentation, while allowing the ease of creating fairly sophisticated UI's. If not C#, then do a scripting language such as Python. However, I believe BASIC is a terrible first language to learn (imo).

 

[loco365]

In my opinion, I believe C# is an optimal first language to use, and has a ton of documentation, while allowing the ease of creating fairly sophisticated UI's. If not C#, then do a scripting language such as Python. However, I believe BASIC is a terrible first language to learn (imo).

Yeah, it sits nicely within most coding conventions, whereas BASIC doesn't really have much use anymore, and the GUI that you use on Petit Computer is still limited, you don't really have much for debugging.

 

[pwsincd]

I wrote my first ever computer program in BASIC in 1985 for my Olevel computer studies course .. a GUI calculator for a bbc micro , burnt to an eeprom. basic learnt me loads at the time , and for fun basic is cool . but you know can do much better these days , VB isnt that bad for throwing together simple apps , in an almost wysiwyg way , but i would really try something like C# its a better stepping stone.

 

[WekkinsWiiU]

well smilwbasic uses a modified version of basic

 

[mashers]

BASIC is a good starting point for learning, well, the basics. Setting and checking variables, programming flow, simple I/O, can all be learned with BASIC. When you're comfortable with basic BASIC, I would move on to an Object Oriented flavour of BASIC. This will help you get your head around classes and proper functions, return values etc, which will stand you in good stead to upgrade to C++. I really like RealBASIC, which is a cross-platform, object-oriented BASIC language with a great IDE and a nice API.

You should also read up on memory management, which is something that most BASIC compilers take care of for you but you will need to know about when you move on to a C-like langauge.

Good luck!