<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Tim Retz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:human.shield.117@gmail.com">human.shield.117@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
I now realize I need to have some sort of example for anyone to work with, so<br>
here's my current plan:<br>
I know that "Diving in" would be the best way to learn, so (With the help of<br>
boredom) one day when playing minesweeper I thought to myself: "I wish I had<br>
an empty playing-field, where I could click to place mines, and the<br>
surrounding cells would number themselves off. That would totally help my<br>
strategy, and I could expand it into a working minesweeper game really<br>
easily. I bet that'd be a great 'my first smalltalk app'!" Now, I know I<br>
would have to make some sort of grid with cells, and make the cells aware of<br>
their surroundings. My biggest issue is that I don't have the experience to<br>
know where to start.<br>
<br>
Every guide I've found (with one exception) has more or less just given code<br>
to make something work, without much insight as to how they got the idea to<br>
do what they did. I can copy and paste methods all day long, but I won't<br>
learn anything.<br>
<br>
The exception I mentioned above was the "Bots Inc." tutorial. It was<br>
fantastic, made me think, and I really felt like I was learning. My only<br>
problem is that is ended too soon. I wish it would go on to show you how to<br>
build your own systems and, well, just keep going.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On a side note, I'd like to mention that I've been at this off and on for<br>
some time now, and I was hesitant to write a question for someone to respond<br>
to directly. Before now a Google search to find if anyone is having similar<br>
trouble is all I've had the confidence for, making this a very pleasant<br>
experience. (I'm 21, old enough to know I'm still a kid, and be nervous<br>
about wasting people's time.)<br>
<br>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">I feel I should also mention my long term goals. I know it'll be a LONG</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
while before I'm successful, but I hope to eventually (I'm thinking in terms</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
of years from now) write my own OS, and everything that runs in it. I sort</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
of hate windows, and want to be able to change anything I want at any given</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
time (I know I'll need to learn more than smalltalk, but I have to start</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
somewhere!),<span style="background-color: rgb(51, 255, 51);"> but I don't want to have to deal with how someone else thought</span></span><br style="background-color: rgb(51, 255, 51);"><span style="background-color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">
things would work best.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"></blockquote><div> </div><div>I'm new to this Small Talk too and I have you by 49 years. If I understand your point of view then you will stay frustrated a very long time. Take a look at the history of Small Talk. Listen to some of Alan Kay on video. It will help you get a real perspective of where Small Talk came from. Way back to Sketch Pad.<br>
<br>Why invent the wheel again. Later <br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
However, I'm starting to see that this idea is likely hindering my learning<br>
experience. (I want to do it all myself, which pushes me away from other<br>
peoples (working) code in favor of struggling to solve the problem myself.)<br>
I have also, once, managed to run a program I was working on in my head to<br>
see what things where doing (And it was quite a trip!), if it's worthy of<br>
noting.<br>
<br>
Wow, This message ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would, I<br>
hope I didn't leave anything out!<br>
...And for whatever reason, I was unable to post a reply for a few weeks.<br>
It's working now though.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
View this message in context: <a href="http://forum.world.st/I-ve-never-written-a-line-of-code-but-want-to-be-a-programmer-tp3417210p3426772.html" target="_blank">http://forum.world.st/I-ve-never-written-a-line-of-code-but-want-to-be-a-programmer-tp3417210p3426772.html</a><br>
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