Coding help

[Gene]

I'm just starting to learn how to code games(as in the green dot eats the red dot) and i'm what you would call a coding nub. as you know it is hard to find a good coding tutorial. I'm just wondering if someone could link me to a good coding tutorial or could just give me some pionters for psp or whatever might help me.
Anything helps, Thanx.

[b8a]

What's your skill level? If you're absolutely, absolutely new to coding, I would start out with learning C on your home computer. Google "C/C++ tutorials" and you should find a slew of helpful tutorials to get you started.

As far as programming specifically for the PSP goes, there's some great tutorials available at http://www.scriptscribbler.com/psp/tutorials.

Also, if you're new to console programming, you may want to try programming for the GBA first. There are lots of emulators available for it, so it's pretty easy to test on your home computer. It's also been around longer than the PSP, so programming for it is documented A LOT better (non-official PSP programming is only a little more than a year old, and it's not extremely well documented, and some methouds are still pretty spotty). So, it may be easier to get started with, while still using a lot of the same concepts as PSP programming. A GBA programming community hub is here: http://www.gbadev.org/. And a very comprehensive guide for programming is available at: http://www.jharbour.com/gameboy/default.aspx.

A lot of people will suggest that you try Lua because it's a lot easier to write for, but it's got some funky syntax (whereas JavaScript, ActionScript, C, and C++ all basically use the same syntax and if you can read/write one, it's very easy to understand any of the others. I've personally never run into another scripting/programming language that match Lua's quirks), so I'd personally suggest doing the hard work in C if you have any real interest in actual programming. If all you want to do is make some simple apps/games, then Lua is a great choice and you can find a good tutorial at: http://wiki.pspdev.org/psp:lua_player:tutorial?s=psp. There are lots of other good ones available as well.

[Gene]

First off I'd like to say Thanks for the info (it really helps)!

I have a 3 questions you might be able to answer:

Do I need linux?

If so can it coexist with Windows, as an OS?

I know basic C++ and C, but where can i get the program?

Do you know of a nub(me) friendly C++/C program?

Thanx.

[b8a]

The PSPSDK being developed through www.ps2dev.org DOES require a Unix environmnent to run. I run Mac OSX which is already a Unix environmet, so I can't help you too much with Windows questions, but I have read that CYGWIN can be used under Windows to get the unofficial PSPSDK running. However, look around the forums at ps2dev.org, although it may work, it's been confirmed as the source of MANY problems and they STRONGLY suggest using a native Unix system.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the program", but if you're talking about the SDK, see the link above. However, it is not an advanced IDE in any way and does not have a GUI. Everything is done through Unix CLI, so you may want to brush up on that as well if you don't use it much.

Sorry, I don't know of any "nub" friendly ways to program for the PSP other than using Lua. There's a pretty steep learning curve to programming for the PSP right now, but the link to the tutorial I posted above should be the easiest way to get started without relying on Lua.

Good luck!

[yaustar]

How much C/C++ do you know? If I said "Write me a template class for 3D Vectors." would you be able to do that? Or if a piece of code that said "int result = 100 >> 3;" ?

If not, you are are already on a steep slope before learning on developing for the PSP. If I remember correctly, the PSP has an SDL port so developing for SDL on the PC would be a good start before moving to new hardware while you still getting grips with the language.