A good place to learn scripting for utter noobs (Wannabe Coders)

[SinSin]

SinSin here, part time forum lurker full time procastinator.

Today I was sat at my desk with that question
"How the heck do I learn AGS scripting without going back to college"
and so I set about typing into google things such as " What language should I learn to create asteroids?" also using that ever so popular phrase "FREE"

Immediatly I came across the site www.codecademy.com and as a noob to scripting (yes I have been lurking since 2005 ) I though hey its worth a shot.

This website sets about the task of teaching you how to write in languages including HTML, Java,Python and PHP and continues into teaching you how to build API's.

So far I have started doing the JavaScripts course and have successfully finished its first chapter (and earned a few badges too).
I was wondering if anyone else has come across this little site and even if you haven't would you say that it is a beneficial website for users of AGS??

I understand that AGS has its own syntax but even for me (again a noob who has only ever built GUI's again and again) its plain to see that its all the same stuff ...ish

What say you??

[Adeel]

I learned about the similar website i.e. Code Avengers and joined it. Currently, they have HTML/CSS and JavaScript. I started learning JavaScript from there and continue to do so. It proved to be fun. Helped a lot in understanding AGS too.

Thanks for sharing a good website.

[Stee]

I'm sure I've seen a similar topic to this crop up before...

I found Udacity to be quite helpful. It's a lot more in depth and focuses on a little bit more than Web based programming

[Stupot]

Funnily enough I just today started following the tutorial for CSS on http://www.w3schools.com/.
Although I've picked up some HTML and CSS tidbits over the years through toying with messy templates, I am now teaching myself CSS from scratch.
They have a cool online editor and it's all free.  Pretty neat.

[Khris]

I probably should mention http://w3fools.com

[st.]

After reading the reply of    monkey_05_06    below and considering the limited range of programming languages that I am aware of, I decided to reduce the size of my reply. I recommended reading through the AGS Manual, again and again, and perhaps starting with some basic C++ programming( corrected from the recommendation to learn C ). I knew that Dev-C++ is a functional free IDE but I can't present it as the best. This link leads to a C/C++ tutorial.

monkey_05_06 :  Thank you ! It's true about programming being more about logic than learning a language - the basics should be the similar with every language anyway. In the light of what you said, I was most probably wrong to worry that one could get distracted by a different language; even a beginner to programming. I should have paid more attention to what the others said in the previous replies - no complains about being drawn away from AGS. Well, it should be comforting for one hesitating about getting started with AGS to know that it allows even someone with outdated programming skills to make a little game

[monkey0506]

springthoughts, you're right that it would be a good idea to read what the AGS manual has to say, but learning other languages isn't necessarily detrimental as programming is about 80-90% logic and only about 10-20% language. Learning programming idioms from another language is a viable way of understanding the more advanced side of programming in AGS.

If you're just looking to do more basic scripting, then you could probably learn everything you need from the AGS manual.

As for Dev-C++, I can't really see supporting a compiler/IDE that hasn't been updated in 8 years. There are significantly better alternatives (MS Visual Studio Express, Code::Blocks, etc.) that are regularly updated. Oh, and AGScript is much closer to C++ than it is to C.

[Adeel]

    Since Code Avengers are demanding fees for their level 2. I am going to leave them. Now, I am using Code Academy.