PureBasic Forums - English

Hello everyone,

I'm checking out PureBasic and have been looking around for a good, comprehensive beginner's tutorial, video series, book, etc. I came across a book called "purebasic-a-beginners-guide-to-computer-programming". It's in PDF form, and was available free.

I notice it's written for version 4, and PB is now up to version 5.

So, my question is if that book is still relevant/useful to learning PB, despite the version differences?

Thanks!

Thanks for joining the forum. You'll find everyone here very willing to help beginners.

The book is an excellent start and will give you a good foundation.

When trying the examples and something doesn't work, simply look into PureBasic's help file in the 'History Section' and look for changes that affect the command you are trying to use.

If you're still stuck.. simply ask!

I think the official doc(chm) is good enough for beginners to start with.

Wolfsong wrote:...my question is if that book is still relevant/useful to learning PB, despite the version differences?

Firstly, welcome to PureBasic.

And secondly, the answer to your question is, yes.

The core command syntax and programming structure of the language remains mostly unchanged. The book will serve as a good starting point to get a feel and understanding of PureBasic.

Beyond that, the manual is quite comprehensive, and this forum is quite responsive.

Wolfsong wrote:Hello everyone

Welcome.

Wolfsong wrote:I notice it's written for version 4, and PB is now up to version 5.

So, my question is if that book is still relevant/useful to learning PB, despite the version differences?

Here is another book that was written for version 5. There still have been things added and even changed in PureBasic since then but it will get you a little closer to the current version. This second book covers creating a 2D side scrolling game in PureBasic. It introduces the fundamentals of PureBasic also though maybe at a slightly higher level than the book you mentioned. You can find it here.

@Edut: Corrected description of the link to a more advanced book. Thanks BarryG.

Demivec wrote:The author updated it to version 5 a few years ago in 2014. You can find that version here.

The link you gave is for "Programming 2D Scrolling Games", but the OP is asking about "Purebasic: A Beginners Guide to Computer Programming" (Kale's book).

Check out Guillaume's Beginner Tutorials on YouTube!

chi wrote:Check out Guillaume's Beginner Tutorials on YouTube!

I've checked out some of his videos and found they aren't truly beginner-focused. At minimum, he seems to assume programming/syntax knowledge of the viewer.

In watching other of the supposed "beginner" videos, I find that, like many others "teaching" programming, he seems to have forgotten what it's like to be a beginner, and jumps straight into concepts that are beyond beginner level. His intro videos are more just front-loading a bunch of info, with no examples or projects to apply that knowledge to. As I said... seems a lot of people creating "beginner content" make that same mistake. They forget that things which are easy and obvious to them aren't to someone who's brand-new. Too often it seems like they just want to show off how good they are, more than actually teaching anything.

I had the same experience with that book I asked about earlier. It's a lot of front-loading information, with very little application so I can see how/when/why to use it, etc.

Ironically, despite being a 'BASIC' language, I'm finding it hard to find good beginner content for it. Moreso than I have for any other one I've looked into. In fact, I haven't found anything that I could follow and feel like I'm learning and absorbing how to do anything with it.

This is the only language I can't find a "hello world" tutorial for. And that's pretty much a universal, step 1, "go-to" beginner's thing.

So, I don't know. I feel like this language is intended for people who already know how to program. Not so much for someone you'd expect to be looking for a BASIC language to begin with. Or at least I've yet to find anything to make me think otherwise.

http://nomad.uk.net/downloads/PureBasic ... 0Guide.pdf

With "Hello World"

Have fun

Wolfsong wrote:...I haven't found anything that I could follow and feel like I'm learning and absorbing how to do anything with it...

This short tutorial attempts to address the fundamentals of PureBasic:

> The Basic Anatomy of a PureBasic Program

It's truly a simple and powerful programming language. Hope it helps in some way.

Wolfsong wrote:

chi wrote:Check out Guillaume's Beginner Tutorials on YouTube!

I've checked out some of his videos and found they aren't truly beginner-focused. At minimum, he seems to assume programming/syntax knowledge of the viewer.

In watching other of the supposed "beginner" videos, I find that, like many others "teaching" programming, he seems to have forgotten what it's like to be a beginner, and jumps straight into concepts that are beyond beginner level. His intro videos are more just front-loading a bunch of info, with no examples or projects to apply that knowledge to. As I said... seems a lot of people creating "beginner content" make that same mistake. They forget that things which are easy and obvious to them aren't to someone who's brand-new. Too often it seems like they just want to show off how good they are, more than actually teaching anything.

I had the same experience with that book I asked about earlier. It's a lot of front-loading information, with very little application so I can see how/when/why to use it, etc.

Ironically, despite being a 'BASIC' language, I'm finding it hard to find good beginner content for it. Moreso than I have for any other one I've looked into. In fact, I haven't found anything that I could follow and feel like I'm learning and absorbing how to do anything with it.

This is the only language I can't find a "hello world" tutorial for. And that's pretty much a universal, step 1, "go-to" beginner's thing.

So, I don't know. I feel like this language is intended for people who already know how to program. Not so much for someone you'd expect to be looking for a BASIC language to begin with. Or at least I've yet to find anything to make me think otherwise.

Did you check the userguid part of the doc ? It starts with very simple concept, step by step

https://www.purebasic.com/documentation ... rview.html

Another good source learning PB: blueznl's PureBasic Survival Guide