Author Topic: How you started programming  (Read 22917 times)

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Offline calc84maniac

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #60 on: June 07, 2009, 08:31:35 pm »
Tifreak8x confirmed it many times before. The first time was when he e-mailed me about The Reign Of Legends 3 v0.70 in May 2004. He tried the game on a TI-83+SE and on a TI-84+SE and it ran slightly faster on the 83+SE. He also re-stated that many times afterward, altough showed no screenshots proving it. The speed change must not be very great, though, maybe like 4%
Well yes, I have heard that the TI-84+ is slower, but I don't think it's because of the clock. It could quite possibly be because of this.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #61 on: June 07, 2009, 08:43:49 pm »
mhmm could be that too

Offline necro

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #62 on: June 07, 2009, 09:25:46 pm »
I saw other people with games on their calcs, so I read the manual and made a simple ascii boxing game (it really sucked) then a stop the pointer game and such
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Offline TravisE

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #63 on: June 16, 2009, 03:54:28 pm »
I think the clock feature on the calcs can be extremely useful. I was excited when it was first added to the TI-89 in the form of an AMS upgrade. You can program a lot of highly-customized, advanced time-related programs that a standard clock or watch can't do. Another nice thing you can do is date/time-stamping. I released a BASIC Yahtzee game for the TI-89 a long time ago that did this for the high-score list, because I found it nice to be able to see how long ago I made each score. If they had added an alarm feature, it would have been even more useful (the HPs have alarms, and you can set them to run whatever program code you want when they trigger).

To answer the original topic, I'm another of those really strange people who learned programming by actually reading the manual (naturally, since I've always been addicted to reading manuals for some reason ;D) and developing my skills by doing it for many years. Not that there was much of a choice, though, since this was in 1994, long before I had any kind of Internet access, and I didn't have any friends who did programming.
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Offline calc84maniac

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #64 on: June 16, 2009, 04:15:19 pm »
I couldn't use the manual to learn programming, because I got the ridiculously thin one with my 84+SE. :(
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Offline Eeems

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #65 on: June 16, 2009, 05:56:03 pm »
I had to get my dad to enter his password every time I wanted to read mine (CD version) so I never got around to it...
/e

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #66 on: June 16, 2009, 11:19:48 pm »
Ugh I understand your situation Travis, altough with me the difference is that I had some sort of internet access (still very limited, though). My only source was the manual, the reason why I progressed so slowly in programming in my early days of TI-BASIC compared to certain other people on this forum and United-TI.)

I am heading toward the end of my TI programming "carreer" most likely, considering in the past 4 years the rate at which I release games keeps slowing down and when I program I spend fewer and fewer time per day doing it. Had I got the dedication I had in 2002, Illusiat 13 would probably have been finished 1 month ago.

That said, everytime I stopped for almost a year without touching a calc at all during that period, then everytime I came back afterward to release something new, so maybe in 2011 or 2012 you will see a Celtic Celtic Revolution or a Reign Of Legends 4 :P

I also want to try Casio FX-9860G BASIC
« Last Edit: June 16, 2009, 11:24:48 pm by DJ Omnimaga »

Offline Ti-newb

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #67 on: June 17, 2009, 04:17:08 pm »
I also have the Ti-84+ SE booklet.. I don't think it's that bad.. i just don't understand like.. 30% of the crap thats in there.. cause the explanations are like.. not existent.

And DJ. im sad to hear ur heading towards the end of ur TI programming "Carreer".. I met u not too long ago and thought u were a cool guy/teacher figure.

Offline TravisE

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #68 on: June 17, 2009, 04:31:52 pm »
Ugh I understand your situation Travis, altough with me the difference is that I had some sort of internet access (still very limited, though). My only source was the manual, the reason why I progressed so slowly in programming in my early days of TI-BASIC compared to certain other people on this forum and United-TI.)

I don't feel that I progressed slowly, as I picked up on it quite quickly. Though I have greatly improved in programming skills and practices in general (for any language) over the years through experience and reading things. Like I know how to split things up into separate pieces that I code and test separately. I still remember in my early, inexperienced days when I used to spend 2–3 weeks writing code for a whole program before testing it, then spending the next 2–3 months after that managing to get it to actually run and then weeding all the bugs out. ;D I'm glad I don't do it that way anymore!

I couldn't use the manual to learn programming, because I got the ridiculously thin one with my 84+SE. :(

That's something I forgot to mention. I really hate this trend of being cheap and using CDs instead of books for things. Luckily, this started after I finally got a decent computer (in 2001!) with a CD-ROM drive. Else, I would have been screwed (and ticked!) as far as getting the programming reference info I needed.
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Offline simplethinker

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #69 on: June 17, 2009, 04:59:38 pm »
That's something I forgot to mention. I really hate this trend of being cheap and using CDs instead of books for things. Luckily, this started after I finally got a decent computer (in 2001!) with a CD-ROM drive. Else, I would have been screwed (and ticked!) as far as getting the programming reference info I needed.
At least there are CDs.  My mom got a new laptop recently.  There was no manual, nor a CD.  This meant she would have needed a working computer with a working internet connection if she had any problems setting up the computer  :o
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Offline TravisE

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #70 on: June 17, 2009, 05:14:05 pm »
That's something I forgot to mention. I really hate this trend of being cheap and using CDs instead of books for things. Luckily, this started after I finally got a decent computer (in 2001!) with a CD-ROM drive. Else, I would have been screwed (and ticked!) as far as getting the programming reference info I needed.
At least there are CDs.  My mom got a new laptop recently.  There was no manual, nor a CD.  This meant she would have needed a working computer with a working internet connection if she had any problems setting up the computer  :o

Whoops, you're right there. That's even worse! Before I had regular Internet access, that's another thing I used to complain about—people who assumed everybody and his dog (and cat and mice and fish...) had the Internet 24/7.  >:( Well, at least I'm no longer in that situation, either. :)
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: How you started programming
« Reply #71 on: June 17, 2009, 06:06:32 pm »
THis cheap manual + CD issue is what hinders a lot of new programmers I think. Not everyone likes to sit in front of the PC screen to read a manual or have to print everything they need. Sure, it saves paper and trees, but still quite annoying. Plus, not everyone owns a computer. Even Casio started doing that a few years ago. MY Casio FX-9860G manual is on a CD, so whenever I use it I refer to my old CFX manual and sometimes AFX one (which are quite similar, altough misses a lot of functions from the FX-9860G). Idk, but just being in CD form is actually what seems to make me less motivated to start learning to program for this model. Heck, even worse, my computer can't even run my old TI CD anymore (from 2001, which came with my SE calc). It says not enough free RAM.

@TI-Newb: you have to understand  that I've been doing calc stuff for almost a decade now. Also stopping calc programming doesn't necessarly means leaving (at least, Omnimaga forums)