QB64 Tutorial IDE Lesson Added

[TerryRitchie]

A new side lesson, Using the IDE (getting the most out of it), has been added to the tutorial.

I've been working on and off on this HUGE side lesson for almost 6 months now. It contains 75 illustrations, some of them animated.

Before adding the lesson I read through it a few times looking for typos but I'm sure I probably missed a few. Please let me know if you find any.

This side lesson is best viewed by beginners after going through lessons 1 through 7 first. If you're not a beginner then you'll understand the concepts covered. At the start of lesson 8 a link has been added pointing to the IDE lesson encouraging users to work through it before working on lesson 8.

You can access the IDE lesson here directly.

[bplus]

+1 oh wow someone just asking about that at the other forum, i will pass along the link

[Dimster]

Wow what an amazing coverage of the ins and outs of the IDE. Thanks of this Terry.

[TerryRitchie]

Wow what an amazing coverage of the ins and outs of the IDE. Thanks of this Terry.

My pleasure. The old tutorial site had a somewhat quick intro to the IDE that I didn't use when creating the new site. I knew an IDE tutorial was needed and it had to be thorough so I just pushed through it.

[SMcNeill]

I haven't had a chance to review the site yet, but there was a few things I wanted to mention that most folks usually forget, or don't know about the IDE:

1) You can use ALT-num codes to directly enter ASCII characters.  This can be a nice help for people who are trying to write extended characters, such as some of the accented ones.  Press and hold ALT, hit 6, hit 5, then release ALT, and you'll enter the character for CHR$(65) into the IDE.  (In this case "A".)

(Note this ALT-num codes work with both the numbers above your normal keys, and those on the numpad, depending on the state of numlock.)

2) Also worth mentioning:  If folks are wanting to learn various ASCII values, keep your eyes on the bottom right side of your screen.  At the bottom right, there's always a few numbers floating around such as 1:1:65.  That number relates to line number, column position, and ASCII character value for that position.   For the example above, the IDE would have "A" as the first very character on the very first line in the program.

(Note that this position is based on where the PRINT cursor is located, not the mouse, nor whatever might be highlighted in the IDE.  The character that your print cursor is blinking under, is the one that is referenced via this set of numbers.)

[TerryRitchie]

I haven't had a chance to review the site yet, but there was a few things I wanted to mention that most folks usually forget, or don't know about the IDE:

1) You can use ALT-num codes to directly enter ASCII characters.  This can be a nice help for people who are trying to write extended characters, such as some of the accented ones.  Press and hold ALT, hit 6, hit 5, then release ALT, and you'll enter the character for CHR$(65) into the IDE.  (In this case "A".)

(Note this ALT-num codes work with both the numbers above your normal keys, and those on the numpad, depending on the state of numlock.)

2) Also worth mentioning:  If folks are wanting to learn various ASCII values, keep your eyes on the bottom right side of your screen.  At the bottom right, there's always a few numbers floating around such as 1:1:65.  That number relates to line number, column position, and ASCII character value for that position.   For the example above, the IDE would have "A" as the first very character on the very first line in the program.

(Note that this position is based on where the PRINT cursor is located, not the mouse, nor whatever might be highlighted in the IDE.  The character that your print cursor is blinking under, is the one that is referenced via this set of numbers.)

All good points to add. Ugh, wouldn't you know it, I didn't mention anything about the row:column:ascii information in the right hand corner. I'll add that too.

[TerryRitchie]

I updated Figure 1 in the lesson to include new information about the cursor position and ASCII value of the character currently at the cursor position. I also noted the program's name and meaning of the asterisk and pointed out the version number of the IDE.

A tutorial reader also very kindly pointed out about half a dozen typos I had in the IDE tutorial that I have corrected as well. I appreciate anyone pointing these out.