Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news
From: Alex Herbert <aherbert@ndirect.co.uk>
Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.beginners,scee.yaroze.freetalk.english
Subject: Re: Darco's Newbie Tutorials
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 14:28:46 +0000
Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE)
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Darco wrote:

> I'll be writing a newbie tutorial (A tutorial for newbies) so that
> newbies like Chris Ramirez and Tranvir Khan can learn faster. I'm
> modeling it after the type of tutorial that I learn best from.
>

Good move.

> The tutorial will be in HTML format, will be fully illistrated(Screen
> shots, flow charts, etc.), and of course will include example code.
> Heck, I might even run spell check on it. ;)
>
> Nearly every PlayStation term will be hyper linked to it's definition in
> the glossary so if you don't understand a word you there's no excuse not
> to look it up. Just click on it.
>

Also a good move.

> I'll start work on it this weekend. Here is a list of what's going to be
> on it when I'm finished. There's probably going to be allot more on
> there. If you can think of anything else that needs to be in there, just
> tell me.
>
> Now, Eventually I'll have this organized into a very orderly outline
> that you will see from the title screen. But for now it's just a jumble:
>
> 1) Hardware diagrams and explanations
> 2) The PlayStation address space (An explanation of)
> 3) Memory Management
> 4) A Glossary
> 5) Using GCC effectively
> 6) Using CodeWarrior effectively
> 7) How to use MAKE
> 8) Ordering tables
> 9) Logical code layout (Tips for making readable and modular code)
> 10) Your first yaroze program
> 11) An explanation of VRAM
> 12) Working with VRAM
>
> Blah blah blah... There allot more than I can think of but i have to be
> at school in 15 minutes.
>
> The reason I'm writing this is because I don't think that there are any
> tutorials out there that really teach something. No offense to George
> Bain or anyone, I've used those tutorials and learned allot from them.
> But just giving a newbie code isn't going to make them learn anything.
> Without an explanation, they'll just cut and paste code and then ask why
> it doesn't work. This tutorial will have more explanation than code.
>
> Perhaps I should give all the example code in pascal to force them to
> re-write it themselves. :) That is the best way I've seen to learn
> something; to re-write it.

I'm in total agreement.

> I'm not going to do that though, that's too mean to those who don't have
> a sure footing in C.
>
> But anyway, any input would be greatly appreciated.
>
> 'Darco

Collision detection seems to be a tricky area for the newbies.  Not so much
the detection itself, but what to do when a collision has been detected.


Herbs