I'm starting visual basic, (Slight Update)

Community General Discussions
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***Update****

And the winner is... At least for now... Maybe... (I'm surprised)... is Processing. Huh? I played with VB, Perl and processing and I have to say first-off is they are all very similar and that's a good thing. That being said, Processing spoke to me the most. I think it felt a little more simple, user-friendly -maybe set-up for begginers more? --It felt more like Mac software and the others were more like PC software. I really like the ease of graphics and the inputs I.e. mouse etc. I have chosen as a "first big goal" to have walter send serial info from his wheel encoders to the computer and have the computer draw a map of the distance and direction traveled (wall-follow). I am re-working some sample code they have involving an arduino talking via serial to the computer. On that note, I am having some problems with that so keep your eyes out as I might be asking more questions in the near future.

 

I appreciate everyone's help on this one and if I didn't pick your suggestion, please don't be sore --I really did study all suggestions and this is simply where I landed.

Word

 

 

Hey guys,

I have decided to start playing with this visual basic stuff. I clicked through some of the top results for it on google including some labled "tutorial". To be honest, I was less than impressed with any of the "help" I found. If anyone is familiar with VB and can point me in any direction you think I should go, please do.

Really, this is a very open-ended question as I am just getting the tip of my toe wet on this one. Gimme anything you guys got on this one and assume I know nothing.

P.S. The First sorta direction I would like to go with this is some serial commands from computer to picaxe. --Oh, one more... Is there anywhere I can find a simple list of all the VB commands? I have not found one yet, or at least one that is not set-up where I can just "browse" it.

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There are a LOT of cheap

There are a LOT of cheap used books on Amazon that are all fairly good. Its been a while since I’ve used VB, but you will find quickly that it can do a lot, but isn’t awesome at anything. Are you wanting to get into making a GUI with buttons, and such or what is your main goal?

 

EDIT: If you want to start out cheap Excel has VB built in.

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RTFM TWSS
RTFM TWSS

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brrrrr

Here’s my first tip: don’t.

Seriously though: are you still in the phase of considering alternatives? Else I will bow out of this thread. Not really because I have zero point one experience in this language, but because I do not intend to start a Holy War in your thread.

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RTFM --saw that one coming!
With all this newbie talk around here I could see that RTFM a mile away! :slight_smile:

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I don’t even know what GUI is…

I got the user interface part, just not the G… To be honest, I dunno -I simply know there are things the computer can do that the picaxes can’t and I thought I needed to start my educations a bit. I was turned on by maltik’s big-base and his camera based tracking system as an example. Now, I am nowhere near something like that but I do need to get started.

In terms of excell, am I wrong in thinking I can get a “basic” (simple) version of VB for free or did I read that wrong somwhere?

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Excel’s macros
Excel’s macro language basicly IS visual basic. This would be my 0.1 experience. Period.

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Will consider alternatives…
I just gotta figure that basic is basic is basic, right? -or at least they will be similar, no? You know that your 1’s and 0’s scare me, right rik? That being said I have an open mind and you should butt in here if you have any advice at all.

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GUI = graphical user
GUI = graphical user interface

Ive only used microsoft visual studio (around $80 for a student version or hundreds more if you aren’t a student) and Excel. There may be a free compiler out there somewhere.

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perl is free, free and comes with black rimmed support system

Well, since you asked.

I never advised any newbie to pick up perl as their first “big boy” programming language. And I would probably get a lot of flack for it, IF I ever would. I am not even sure myself.

I am a perl hacker and I like it. But maybe that’s only true because of my background. Let’s see if I could sell this to a carpenter, if I needed to.

  • perl is supposed to be resembling natural English (oh boy)
  • it’s open source and therefore free (as in speech)
  • it’s open source and therefore free (as in beer)
  • the books by O’Reilly are great and pdf’s of them probably available for free (as in stolen beer)
  • no seriously: you would love these books, both as a beginner and as a person with a sense of humour
  • TIMTOWTDI: There is more than one way to do it. Find a style that fits you. perl will support it
  • perl will run on any operating system, even on linux!
  • OO: Object Oriented programming: I am not sure about visual basic, but in perl you do not need to program using “objects” (many beginners object against OO programing)
  • but you could if you wanted to play with the really big boys (count me out)
  • libraries up the wazoo
  • perl poetry is not a joke but often funny
  • did I mention the black rimmed support system?

 

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Visual Basic Express Edition Free…

You can download VB Express from Microsoft, even have videos and some tutorials.

http://www.microsoft.com/Express/VB/
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Processing?

There is processing that the Arduino guys use for some things. I haven’t used it but it is based on Java and is supposed to be easy.

 

Personally, I’d recommend skipping VB and learning C#. The IDE for eaiter makes it easy to create GUIs but I feel C# is a better language.

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heheh good I’m not the only one that was going to suggest this.

They also have c# and a few other .net express dev environments.

This is also a site that I ref every once in a while

http://www.w3schools.com/

and the vbscript section - http://www.w3schools.com/vbscript/default.asp

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Expanding on the libraries

Expanding on the libraries up the wazoo, it has support for serial com via bluetooth and serial com period…great for hooking up trancievers that might be hooked up to bots. Output data to one of the many freeware db’s out there like Mysql. Also use gtk to create a nice frontend. There is quite a bit of code out there for perl as well…and yes…the books roxor.

You’d get some metal rimmed support as well. :smiley: though not quite as good as the black rim…thats some sort of voodoo art beyond me in them lens’.

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Anyway, if all those guys
Anyway, if all those guys didn’t manage to change your mind, feel free to ask what you want, as for my job i’ve been coding in VB for years :wink: (doesn’t mean i know everything, but that i could help a n00b ^^ )

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Good effort mate
I cant offer any vb specific tips, but for coding in general i know a thing or two aboot a thing or two.

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LMR programming languages - choose a social tool

I just skimmed this thread on the Ubuntu forum. Similar question, more generic purpose in mind. Besides the suggestions made here, the spectrum runs along Java, C, C++, C#, Python, Ruby, Fortran and even Ada. The only ones in that list that would compete with perl are Python and Ruby. But I am not an expert on those.

I also read an interview with one of my heroes. That taught me that Python is much better geared towards creating Graphical User Interfaces. Clickey rather than Typey. Lookey rather than Readey. And I agree that making GUI’s in Perl is not very easy or attractive.

One aspect of any language that nobody mentioned anywhere is Social Skills. The Perl books actually have chapters on this subject. Social properties of a computer language (just as in human language) are important. Most of us see a computer language as a way a human can tell a computer what to do. A very one-directional view on “communication”. And very limited. Any language is a social tool first.

Just to use Perl as an example:

  • perl wil communicate with humans easily (syntax resembles english, that is why Basic is popular)
  • perl will communicate with other programming languages (perl libraries are not necessarily written in perl)
  • perl will live in any neighbourhood (pretty much every OS has an interpreter)
  • social robot builders will want to exchange code within the community: choose a language that most people can at least read
  • social robot builder will want to support eachother: choose a language that others can teach
Or ultimately: choose a language that fits you and find the appropriate community to support you in you learning.
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perl considered harmful to eye sight?
Well, I happen to know Chris is wearing glasses every now and then. So no harm done there.

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**If anything id recomend **
processing over vb, processing is a lot easier to pick up on and has a lot more support fro this kinda thing. Plus im pretty good with it and can help you out a lot more.

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Yet another opinion

Well, I have to add my suggestion.

Use Java. There, I said it.

Reasons?

1. There is a huge amount of great free & open source software created by very smart and dedicated people out there. Which means, your program can benefit from all this - just by downloading it and putting it in your project.

2. Java was object oriented to begin with and forces you to name your file with the same name as your object. You would think that this is not a big deal - but when your dealing with a huge amount of code, or someone elses code - having file names which correspond to what is in them is really important. This is one of the (many) things I don’t like about c#

3. Multi-platform - Java can run on nearly anything, VB you will find only runs on M$ platforms. Even in applets on browsers.

4. Java runs on Linux. I have found this beneficial when dealing with low level hardware issues. I’ll give you an actual example I had. I’m using some old video cameras (3Com Home Connect - $15.00 on ebay). They are no longer supported on windows - this would be a dead end for me. Yet onlLinux - not only are they supported, but you can bet all the code which makes them work in the first place I can modify for my own evil purposes.

5. Lot’s of good tutorials. Just google for "Java Tutorial"

6. Free Development packages - although you can start with just a text editor, there are some very fancy Java Development Environments. Here are a couple

Eclipse (what I use) cost $0.00

Net Beans cost $0.00

Support? well besides the huge amount of stuff on the net, I would be glad to help my fellow LMR’er in a pinch.

Not to knock any language (this can be a very delicate subject), they all have their uses, otherwise they would not be around. But, I have always found vb distressing when it gets large. If there is not something about the language that forces you to organize what your doing, you will get many different dialects - which is not necessarily bad, but can be hard to understand.

Good Luck