The journey of a life time.....

[Marks256]

That is right. I am about to attempt the unthinkable. You guessed it, i am going to try to move from BASIC to C.

Has anybody done this, and succeeded? If you have any knowledge about the two, you know that they are as different as an apple and an orange. Any ideas, languages, pointers/tips would be very helpful.

 

[dknguyen]

Get a good book. I mean a really good one. It will make all the difference (none of the garbage textbooks the courses make you buy for school)

 

[hjames]

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf ("Hello world\n");
return 0;
}

*grin*

Is this for embedded stuff or just on the computer side? Embedded C often has lots of oddball stuff that just isn't reasonable, and "normal" C has a lot of other stuff to know, as well as the "upgrade" path to C++ and it's ilk.

 

[Marks256]

What would you suggest?

 

[dknguyen]

This is the one I learned from and by far the best one I have come by:

https://www.amazon.com/Object-Orien...=pd_bbs_1/002-9227628-2664837?ie=UTF8&s=books

It's C++ and gets into structures and other things that aren't supported by simple uC. But it's the language, not the device.

 

[kchriste]

Has anybody done this, and succeeded?

I've done it, but don't really know if I succeeded.

Any ideas, languages, pointers/tips would be very helpful

Pointers are really important in C

I would start with a text based program as posted by hjames above. Nothing beats a good book on C, but look for a C FAQ on the net and read it from start to finish. Download LCC if you already haven't and use the wizard to compile a console program. There as many opinions about what is an acceptable coding style in C as there are flame wars about it.

 

[bloody-orc]

buy yourself borland C++ builder 5 (or 6) and get started. this thing has the best ******* help in the world of programming.

It aint so hard to go from basic to C (done that myself in microprocessor world).

 

[HiTech]

The journey of a life time.....

That is right. I am about to attempt the unthinkable. You guessed it, i am going to try to move from BASIC to C.

... and here I thought you were going to do something real, like move out of your parents house, get your own apartment or home, hook up with a woman, and pay bills.

 

[Marks256]

buy yourself borland C++ builder 5 (or 6) and get started. this thing has the best ******* help in the world of programming.

It aint so hard to go from basic to C (done that myself in microprocessor world).

I have Borland C++ Builder 4 Professional, how about that? I also have the standard version, too.

 

[dknguyen]

That is an excellent IDE. I still suggest you do some pure DOS coding for a bit until you get a feel for the syntax. Then you can use the IDE for GUI coding.

 

[Marks256]

It has been a while since i used it. I started to play with it some a long time ago, but then i lost all interest. So, having said that, Builder 4 had a DOS bit to it too, right?

 

[dknguyen]

Yes it does. I just meant don't jump into the GUI windowd projects right off the bat. Just make a DOS project which is basically an empty text file to start (rather than a precoded text file with windows and stuff).

 

[Marks256]

Ok. Yeah, i know i shouldn't go into the windowing quite yet, actually, i don't have a purpose for it? Hmm, thanks!

 

[Hero999]

Yes but don't get confused with DOS and any other command line environment. You can compile a text mode program to run on the Windows command line and this has nothing to do with DOS. As for C programming, here's the best place to start.

 

[Marks256]

I just looked at some of the code. So, am i right when i say "C is like Assembly on steroids"? Cool.

What is the purpose of the brackets {}? What do they do? I don't understand them.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I just looked at some of the code. So, am i right when i say "C is like Assembly on steroids"? Cool.

What is the purpose of the brackets {}? What do they do? I don't understand them.

If you don't even understand the curly brackets you have a LONGGGGG! way to go with C.

 

[Marks256]

Yes, i know. That is why i am so worried. None of C makes any sense to me, because i am used to BASIC. Now, if you are done stating the obvious, then what is their purpose? I found a short description about what they are, and it said "The brackets '{}' mark the beginning and end of block code", or something like that. What is block code? I have been looking through some tutorials and what-not, and i am beginning to like the structure, a lot, but i still don't understand a couple of things.

Since i have both the Borland C++ Builder 4 Professional, and the Borland C++ Builder 4 Standard, i just installed pro, but standard came with a "Sam's Teach yourself Borland C++ in 5 days", so i am reading through that. Now, I REALLY HATE SAMS TEACH YOURSELF TUTORIALS. They are what drove me away from C++ in the beginning. I got a "Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 days" book/tutorial, and it was CRAP. It didn't explain anything, not even the brackets. I will look through it some more when it get a chance, but i am starting to like that "Howstuffworks" article.

 

[Hero999]

What is the purpose of the brackets {}? What do they do? I don't understand them.

Then read the tutorial I linked in my previous post.

 

[theinfamousbob]

The brackets define the function...


for example, with:

int main ()
{

<stuff for the function main goes here>

}

A couple questions to seasoned c coders (I'm a bit rusty myself) - should there be a semicolon after the int main statement (I don't think...) aaaand do the parentheses on int main define what can be passed to other programs (global/local)?

I like doing 3d animations with Pov-Ray ( www.povray.org ) which uses a C-ish language to define objects...it's really worth checking out.

 

[bbarney]

here's that tutorial in a pdf file