[Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hello all, I'd like to learn how to write programs and games in VB. I just downloaded Microsoft VisualBasic 2005 Express and I'm just confused because it's so complex. I wanted to use the tutorial that shows you how to create a small browser, but I got stuck because I couldn't find the toolbox. Now I have some questions: 1. Is it possible to write good games in VB? 2. Where can I find the toolbox? 3. Is it a good idea to create a webbrowser at first? 3. Where can I find a good VB tutorial that explains all or at least most of all the features and how to use them? 4. Is there someone here who can program in VB and who could give me some lessons? Thanks for help! Robin. ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hi Robin, In the future posts like this should probably go over to the agdev-newbies list where we discuss such issues like this more in depth. However, since I am writing this email anyway. I will answer as many questions as I can, and I have a few questions of my own. /Snip I'd like to learn how to write programs and games in VB. End Snip Is there any special reason you decided to go for Visual Basic rather than say C#, called C-Sharp. I highly recommend going with C-Sharp over VB for the primary reason many things are better documented and supported. One of these important areas in particular to you will be DirectX. While you can use MS DirectX in VB games Microsoft does not officially support it, and do not provide code samples, instructions, etc on writing games in VB .NET 2005. Snip 1. Is it possible to write good games in VB? End Snip Yes, but you will find that good and reliable documentation for newbies is extremely lacking. Visual Basic became famous among amature and rapid application developers during the 90's but it's popularity is on the decline. Most of the VB croud have switched to C-Sharp. Just some historical background when DirectX 7 and 8 came out Microsoft unvailed it with VB 6.0 examples etc and offered newbies a simple basic language with a good set of multimedia libraries for developing games and other amature home wrote applications. In 2001 Microsoft converted all there Visual Studio languages to the .NET Framework furthering increasing the power of the languages as well as a universal development platform, and unvailed a new rapid development language C#, called C-Sharp, which had many improvements over VB, used C++ style coding conventions, reused allot of concepts from Java, and became a very new and innovative language. Now, it is rising in popularity, and in some areas has passed up VB in popularity among amature programmers. In 2003 when Microsoft DirectX 9.0 was unvailed to the world the documentation was for C++ and C-Sharp users, and VB devs were left in the cold documentation and support wise. Since I know both C-Sharp and VB as well as DirectX I know I could get DirectX up and running in no time in VB, but for a newby I don't see that happening without good samples and training. Snip 2. Where can I find the toolbox? End Snip Press control+w then press the letter x. Your screen reader should land you on the toolbox area of the screen. Keep in mind there is two columns in the toolbox window. There is one side which sets the type of tools you wish to view, and the other side is the actual tools themselves. For your first experience with this I would say arrow up to have it show all tools, and then you can tab in to the tools and view the entire list. Obviously, later on you may want to customise your view as there are only certain types of tools you need for certain projects. Snip 3. Is it a good idea to create a webbrowser at first? End Snip No. Any seasoned developer will tell you that you need to start out extremely basic. For example my very very first program I wrote as a student was a text program which did nothing more than display my name on the screen. Some use hello world, your name, or whatever but the idea is to get you use to structures of programming, understanding functions, variables, data types, etc. Unless you know the basic termonology and use for things in a program you can not begin to write one. So first advice keep it simple stupid. Your first batch of programs are going to be lame, boring, throw away, projects, but worth the practice. Snip 3. Where can I find a good VB tutorial that explains all or at least most of all the features and how to use them? End Snip Well, I am very fond of recommending http://safari.oreilly.com which has books on just about any programming topic you can research for $20.00 US monthly. if you are going to do VB I suggest reading something like VB .NET In a Nutshell by O'reilly and Associates. Snip 4. Is there someone here who can program in VB and who could give me some lessons? Thanks for End Snip I know enough of VB .NET to get you started in designing games, but unfortunately I have a rather tight schedule aready and can't take on a student at this point in my life other than ocational pointers such as this email from time to time. Smile. ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] scary sound in monopoly
Hi Don, The monopoly11.wav file that we are talking about is just a background music file that is new in version 7 of my Monopoly game. So since you have down loaded winpoly7.exe you do have the monopoly11.wav file. HTH BFN - Original Message - Hi Jim! `Do you have monopoly 11? I downloaded 7. Thanks! Jim The trouble with life is there's no background music. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kitchensinc.net (440) 286-6920 Chardon Ohio USA ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hi Thomas Where can one find the agdev-newbies list to subscribe to it? Also, what do you think of AutoIT as a programming language? The little that I saw of it, looked quite good. Best regards Quinten Pendle PENDLE PRO Klerksdorp, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 83 395 4593 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype: ahakimbo Website: www.pendlepro.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thomas Ward Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 10:51 AM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic Hi Robin, In the future posts like this should probably go over to the agdev-newbies list where we discuss such issues like this more in depth. However, since I am writing this email anyway. I will answer as many questions as I can, and I have a few questions of my own. /Snip I'd like to learn how to write programs and games in VB. End Snip Is there any special reason you decided to go for Visual Basic rather than say C#, called C-Sharp. I highly recommend going with C-Sharp over VB for the primary reason many things are better documented and supported. One of these important areas in particular to you will be DirectX. While you can use MS DirectX in VB games Microsoft does not officially support it, and do not provide code samples, instructions, etc on writing games in VB .NET 2005. Snip 1. Is it possible to write good games in VB? End Snip Yes, but you will find that good and reliable documentation for newbies is extremely lacking. Visual Basic became famous among amature and rapid application developers during the 90's but it's popularity is on the decline. Most of the VB croud have switched to C-Sharp. Just some historical background when DirectX 7 and 8 came out Microsoft unvailed it with VB 6.0 examples etc and offered newbies a simple basic language with a good set of multimedia libraries for developing games and other amature home wrote applications. In 2001 Microsoft converted all there Visual Studio languages to the .NET Framework furthering increasing the power of the languages as well as a universal development platform, and unvailed a new rapid development language C#, called C-Sharp, which had many improvements over VB, used C++ style coding conventions, reused allot of concepts from Java, and became a very new and innovative language. Now, it is rising in popularity, and in some areas has passed up VB in popularity among amature programmers. In 2003 when Microsoft DirectX 9.0 was unvailed to the world the documentation was for C++ and C-Sharp users, and VB devs were left in the cold documentation and support wise. Since I know both C-Sharp and VB as well as DirectX I know I could get DirectX up and running in no time in VB, but for a newby I don't see that happening without good samples and training. Snip 2. Where can I find the toolbox? End Snip Press control+w then press the letter x. Your screen reader should land you on the toolbox area of the screen. Keep in mind there is two columns in the toolbox window. There is one side which sets the type of tools you wish to view, and the other side is the actual tools themselves. For your first experience with this I would say arrow up to have it show all tools, and then you can tab in to the tools and view the entire list. Obviously, later on you may want to customise your view as there are only certain types of tools you need for certain projects. Snip 3. Is it a good idea to create a webbrowser at first? End Snip No. Any seasoned developer will tell you that you need to start out extremely basic. For example my very very first program I wrote as a student was a text program which did nothing more than display my name on the screen. Some use hello world, your name, or whatever but the idea is to get you use to structures of programming, understanding functions, variables, data types, etc. Unless you know the basic termonology and use for things in a program you can not begin to write one. So first advice keep it simple stupid. Your first batch of programs are going to be lame, boring, throw away, projects, but worth the practice. Snip 3. Where can I find a good VB tutorial that explains all or at least most of all the features and how to use them? End Snip Well, I am very fond of recommending http://safari.oreilly.com which has books on just about any programming topic you can research for $20.00 US monthly. if you are going to do VB I suggest reading something like VB .NET In a Nutshell by O'reilly and Associates. Snip 4. Is there someone here who can program in VB and who could give me some lessons? Thanks for End Snip I know enough of VB .NET to get you started in designing games, but unfortunately I have a rather tight schedule aready and can't take on a student at this point in my life other than ocational pointers such as this email from time to time. Smile.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Quintin: Autoit is an excelent language to get your feet web. However, if you are serious about doing anything serious, your best bet is to learn a language like c sharp or vb. I'm a very big vb fan, and I know me and Tom will disagree. But, it's what works for me, and it's what I can teach people on the best. Grnated, my dot net stuff is rusty, but I'm still learning, and I've found all I need to know to get dx to work fairly well. However, Tom is right in that there is not a lot out there for beginner programmers. I really really do not like autoit though. There is much better out there. I won't write a whole list of the things I don't like, just know that I dislike it greatly. Hahaha. Liam -Original Message- From: Quinten Pendle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 5:28 AM To: 'Gamers Discussion list' Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic Hi Thomas Where can one find the agdev-newbies list to subscribe to it? Also, what do you think of AutoIT as a programming language? The little that I saw of it, looked quite good. Best regards Quinten Pendle PENDLE PRO Klerksdorp, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 83 395 4593 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype: ahakimbo Website: www.pendlepro.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thomas Ward Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 10:51 AM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic Hi Robin, In the future posts like this should probably go over to the agdev-newbies list where we discuss such issues like this more in depth. However, since I am writing this email anyway. I will answer as many questions as I can, and I have a few questions of my own. /Snip I'd like to learn how to write programs and games in VB. End Snip Is there any special reason you decided to go for Visual Basic rather than say C#, called C-Sharp. I highly recommend going with C-Sharp over VB for the primary reason many things are better documented and supported. One of these important areas in particular to you will be DirectX. While you can use MS DirectX in VB games Microsoft does not officially support it, and do not provide code samples, instructions, etc on writing games in VB .NET 2005. Snip 1. Is it possible to write good games in VB? End Snip Yes, but you will find that good and reliable documentation for newbies is extremely lacking. Visual Basic became famous among amature and rapid application developers during the 90's but it's popularity is on the decline. Most of the VB croud have switched to C-Sharp. Just some historical background when DirectX 7 and 8 came out Microsoft unvailed it with VB 6.0 examples etc and offered newbies a simple basic language with a good set of multimedia libraries for developing games and other amature home wrote applications. In 2001 Microsoft converted all there Visual Studio languages to the .NET Framework furthering increasing the power of the languages as well as a universal development platform, and unvailed a new rapid development language C#, called C-Sharp, which had many improvements over VB, used C++ style coding conventions, reused allot of concepts from Java, and became a very new and innovative language. Now, it is rising in popularity, and in some areas has passed up VB in popularity among amature programmers. In 2003 when Microsoft DirectX 9.0 was unvailed to the world the documentation was for C++ and C-Sharp users, and VB devs were left in the cold documentation and support wise. Since I know both C-Sharp and VB as well as DirectX I know I could get DirectX up and running in no time in VB, but for a newby I don't see that happening without good samples and training. Snip 2. Where can I find the toolbox? End Snip Press control+w then press the letter x. Your screen reader should land you on the toolbox area of the screen. Keep in mind there is two columns in the toolbox window. There is one side which sets the type of tools you wish to view, and the other side is the actual tools themselves. For your first experience with this I would say arrow up to have it show all tools, and then you can tab in to the tools and view the entire list. Obviously, later on you may want to customise your view as there are only certain types of tools you need for certain projects. Snip 3. Is it a good idea to create a webbrowser at first? End Snip No. Any seasoned developer will tell you that you need to start out extremely basic. For example my very very first program I wrote as a student was a text program which did nothing more than display my name on the screen. Some use hello world, your name, or whatever but the idea is to get you use to structures of programming, understanding functions, variables, data types, etc. Unless you know the basic termonology and use for things in a program you can not begin to write one. So first advice keep it simple stupid. Your first batch of programs
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hi Liam, I'm with you. Visual Basic, DirectX and the sapi5 TTS is what works for me as well. BFN Jim I am using BASIC, because I don't want to be C-sick. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kitchensinc.net (440) 286-6920 Chardon Ohio USA ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] SelfDestruct download
Hi robbin. Any ideas why xl studios went out of business? I dont like how when you move on to the next level, you lose all your health points and you only end up with 300 points again. Even if this was intentional, I dont think it's fair. ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hi, You can find the agdev-newbies list home page at http://lists.agdev.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/agdev-newbies where you can setup your account info for the list, view archives, and so on. As for AutoIt it's not technically a programming language but a tool kit. Personally, I am not very fond of it. If you are serious about real programming high-quality games you need a fully qualified programming language like C++, C-Sharp, or even VB with Microsoft DirectX used for your music, sounds, input, and optionally graphics. I don't know how far you wish to go with this, but if you want to write games of the quality of Tank Commander, Shades of Doom, or any other games like it or better than go with a real programming language. Quinten Pendle wrote: Hi Thomas Where can one find the agdev-newbies list to subscribe to it? Also, what do you think of AutoIT as a programming language? The little that I saw of it, looked quite good. Best regards Quinten Pendle PENDLE PRO Klerksdorp, South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 83 395 4593 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype: ahakimbo Website: www.pendlepro.com ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hi Christian, Like I was saying in the last post VB.NET seams to be less documented in some areas than C-Sharp. Fortunately, the .NET languages are so similar that what you learn in C-Sharp will apply to VB.NET and VB.NET concepts will apply to C-Sharp. The difference is of course the structure of the programs, sintacs, etc... The key reason to the .NET frameworks success is that all of the .NET supported languages use the same set of libraries, namespaces, classes, etc for performing programming tasks. For example, in C style languages like C-Sharp they use allot of punctuation symbols like braces, brackets, and so on. Where in VB style languages they use less punctuation say it out right like End If, End Sub, End Function, End While, and so on where a brace would end that same block of code in C-Sharp. I'm not certain as to why this is, but I know many in the agdev comunity seam to feel comfortable with VB for the simple reason everything is more-or-less plane english like End If to end an If statement, End Function to mark the end of a Function block, and so on. However, I have been programming for about 10years, and most programming languages such as Java, Perl, C-Sharp, C, C++, etc are unlike VB and use braces, brackets, and so on to mark the start and end of a block, and I have never had a problem in figuring out where a block of code start and stops. Christian wrote: Hi Thomas and all, I would also be very interested in this since I am currently learning Visual Basic 2005 just for accessible games. If i don't find much of that documentaiton i might switch language before i have completed this one. Many thanks, Christian ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
Hi Jim and all, For purposes of this discussion for the newbies I think we should make a destinction between VB, meaning VB 6 and before, and VB.NET meaning 2002, 2003, and 2005. The primary reason for this destinction is that VB 6 and earlier were not primarily concerned with object oriented design concepts although it did have some. In VB.NET 2002 and later Microsoft adopted a Java-style object oriented design for VB.NET, C-Sharp, C++.NET, and that through old VB programmers for a loop. Suddenly, they had to relearn how to program using an Java-style object oriented design rather than the way they had been doing things. For those of us who had worked with Java the idea everything was based on an oop design was no big deal. The concepts were simple, and got on with learning on how it was to be written. Another point to make a destinction is in VB 6 we often imported Win32 dll files in our projects, and in VB.NET we depend heavily on the .NET Framework and not the Win32 API directly. In short Microsoft made several drastic changes between VB 6 and VB.NET 2002 and later which in many ways almost made VB.NET a completely different language except for the common language coding conventions, etc. Jim Kitchen wrote: Hi Liam, I'm with you. Visual Basic, DirectX and the sapi5 TTS is what works for me as well. BFN ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic
I just sat down and pounded out a quick guess the number game in vb dot net. It's very easy to use when you break it down and figgure out each window. I am not planning on upgrading any of my games to dot net though. -Original Message- From: Ken the Crazy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:14 PM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic me too--but I can't even begin to understand vb2005--maybe it's just that I am using express? All I know is there are too many things on screen at once, and it couldn't upgrade the wrecking ball from vb6 for me--so unless I can learn vb.net I'm sticking with vb6. Ken Downey President DreamTechInteractive! And, Coming soon, Blind Comfort! The pleasant way to get a massage--no staring, just caring. - Original Message - From: Jim Kitchen [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Liam Erven Gamers@audyssey.org Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:20 AM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Learning VisualBasic Hi Liam, I'm with you. Visual Basic, DirectX and the sapi5 TTS is what works for me as well. BFN Jim I am using BASIC, because I don't want to be C-sick. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kitchensinc.net (440) 286-6920 Chardon Ohio USA ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web. -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.11/496 - Release Date: 10/24/2006 ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web. __ NOD32 1.1659 (20060713) Information __ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com ___ Gamers mailing list .. Gamers@audyssey.org To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
