New codea youtube channel.

Prynok

I have decided to make video tutorials for codea, feel free to give me ideas

Here are the tutorials I have planned so far:
1. Variables
2. Order (Like the way you order your code, that way it doesn't break)
3. Positions
4. Drawing
5. Math
6. "if" statements
7. functions
8. Debugging
9. Tables

Any others?

EDIT: First video is up at: Please give me some feedback on my speech and what I could of done better!

CodeaNoob

I would add storage/saving, or possibly Internet connection for later on(openURL,http.request,etc.)

brookesi

Also,

Looping: for, while, repeat
Classes, inheritance
Best practices, constants, modularisation,structure
Tweens, touches

Also an in trouction to explain the fact the draw function is the main event loop, how you use the draw function in your own classes, the fact that you effectively change 'state' in variables to get the draw function to do what you want..

Brookesi

Prynok

@Everone Almost done with the first tutorial, sadly, I have speech problems, where I don't say words correctly/weirdly Would you guys give me some pointers on a sneak peak of it?

Luismi

good @Prynok

Prynok

Ok, I'm done with the editing, will upload it tonight or tomorrow, again, please point out flaws in my speech, I don't want to sound like a muffled penguin forever!

EDIT: Here goes nothing, first episode is up at !

EDIT2: Wow, I sounded tired, lets hope next time I make one I'm more awake!

Prynok

I don't know why it was private, fixed the link. Sorry about that.

Luismi

good start @Prynok , and I saw the first video
if you need help for the next videos only ask

Prynok

@Luismi Thank you, did you see any small flaws in it? Was the pace to short/fast?

CodeaNoob

4 things: 1) Typo in desc. Nothing serious, just thought I should point it out. 2) Good pace 3) What do you use to record the screen? 4) If you need any help, just ask

Prynok

Fixed the typo, thank you I use Microsoft Expression Encoder to record, still trying to figure out how to record my Ipad screen, might just use the Codea Runtime Recorder, and the Microsoft one.

SkyTheCoder

@Prynok I've heard of an App called "Reflector" that lets you have a window on your computer of your iPad's screen. Then you could just record that.

Also, I' assuming, as the name includes "Microsoft", that that screen recorder is not Mac-compatible?

And just for kicks, what is a muffled penguin supposed to sound like?

Edit: Subscribed.

Luismi

which is the next topic we will ride ? @Prynok

Prynok

@Luismi Order!

Luismi

@Prynok .I'll send this link to familiarize yourself more with lua (I know that already handle but you can serve to the videos), in chapter 12 talks and explains about codea

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1c4ho0dikkj2u7e/learn_lua_for_ios_game_development.pdf

Prynok

@SkyTheCoder Does the Reflector work on Windows, and is it free?

Prynok

@Luismi Thanks, once I get back, I will take a look at the link.

EDIT: Do you guys think at the end of each episode, I should give a small challenge for the user? For example, for the next tutorial I was thinking of challenging the viewer, to make a little story with the print command, and changing variables.

Prynok

Episode 2 is out! Tell me what you think!

Luismi

@Prynok .It was good, but the video does not last nearly anything haha. but slowly explain it well and to understand better. I think you could be a extended a little more, it is clear that the issue is simple, but it is always better to explain a little more, just a suggestion

Ignatz

btw, Reflector works well for recording your whole iPad screen, but it's a little expensive

Ignatz

@Prynok - I watched the first one, and my comments are (assuming it is for complete noobs)

• it jumps straight into variables. My noob is still looking around, wondering what all the text on the screen means. I think you need to start by getting them to clear the screen except for a blank setup function, and explain this is all we need for now.
• noobs need to know what variables are for. Basically they are places to hold values you will need later on, and you need to give them names so you can find the right one. This is worth a whole minute, I think.
• showing codearocks = "ddd", 2,e etc on the same line will, I think confuse people, who don't realise you are showing different possibilities. I would show each on a separate line, and briefly show how you can set text, numbers, fractions, negative numbers
• then I would show arithmetic, ie plus, minus, divide etc, eg a=b*c-d. Lots and lots of simple examples so they really, really get it.

Overall, I think the pace is way too fast in the first one. I think you need to type slower, explain more, and show multiple examples to make sure they get it. A big difference between video and written tutorials is that in video, the viewer doesn't get time to sit and think about something like you can with writing, so the pace needs to be slow, especially at first.

Also, without generalising too much, I would guess that the kind of users who prefer videos are not your hardcore programmers who can learn really fast - those guys will just read the manuals. You are talking to people who are pretty new to all of this, so it needs to be really slow and gentle.

I thought your voice was fine. If the content is good, that is what matters most.

Please don't take these as criticisms. I know this is your first time, and it is very, very difficult to record videos and get everything right in one go.

(And I think it's great you're doing it). =D>

Prynok

I see where your coming from would you suggest I delete the videos and try making them simpler, or just make them easier to understand from here on out?

Prynok

Also, this is my new script for episode 3, any suggestions to make it more noob friendly?

Welcome back guys, today I will be teaching you about the draw function. This
is one of the most important functions in codea, basically, it does what is ever inside it 60 times a second, so if I put in 
print("Breaking the speed limit here in Kansas")

Then it would print that message 60 times a second.

 This is important for drawing pictures, and doing math fast, and smoothly. But for this tutorial we will focus on the images.
 The most important image you will be using in codea is the sprite function, it draws a pre-made, or custom image on the screen. 

if you click on the parentheses, then it will pull up a box full of options.

You should see pre-made images, and a option for you to upload pictures from Dropbox, which I will not be covering in this tutorial. But if you so desperately need it,
then go look around on the internet, there are some amazing guides for doing that. Anyways, 

once you select a image you like, then you set the positions. The first position is the "x"

position, Its like a straight road your sprite walks on. The next one is the "y", which is more like a ladder, that your character can go up and down. 

Also, the x and y slots can use variables, which is one of the more "important" things I was talking about in the first episode.

So that is the sprite function covered, now lets go onto the Text() command, you remember how we've been using the print for awhile now? This is similar to that, but
instead of displaying the message in the console, it displays it inside of the app, where your users can see it. Putting text inside of it is the same as the print,
but there are two other things we have to fill out, the x, and the y. Again, the x is the horizontal movement of the text, and the y is the vertical.

The last one for this tutorial is the rect() function. It will create a rectangle at your your x and y value, but for this command you will have to add two other 
things, the width, and the height of the rectangle, For example, if I put rect(100, 100, 50, 50) It would create a rectangle, at x and y both being at 100, and
the width and height being 50 pixels long and high.

Hope that wasn't confusing, if you have any trouble. Please leave a comment and I will try my best to help you, thank you for stopping by, and have a nice day.

Ignatz

@Prynok - I would probably at least redo the first one, because it's the most important.

If people don't understand it, they won't watch any others!

Prynok

@Ignatz Will do!

Prynok

How does this sound for the new Variables lesson?
Sorry about the cut off words, notepad doesn't like codea very well.

Hello, and today we will be covering variables. Essentially, a variable is like a small container, and can hold one of anything.
They are useful to store data and use it later. But
To make a variable, you first type out a name for it, like so. But there are some rules you have to follow 
when you make a name for it:

 Capitals and lowercase are different, for example, Highscore is not the same as highscore.

Two varibles can't have the same name. If you do this, then Codea will think your changing the varible

And lastly, it can't just be an array of numbers. It must have some letters in it.

So please take your time and memorize that, anyways, to assign something to a variable, you put a equal sign, and the value, or in less complicated 
terms, what you want the variable to equal. As I said before, variables can hold almost anything, there is one exception though, it can't
have more then one thing in it. For example, if I made my variable equal to 50, and "Text" then the program would be confused what you are trying
to use. Keep that in mind while you program. Back to the tutorial, here are some things it can hold:

"Text"

Numbers

Math problems

true or false values

other variables

and nothing

You might be confused why and how you would use the nothing thing, to use it, type nil after your variable name and equal sign, this is a very 
important part of codea. Lets say you want text to appear at the start start of your project, and then after awhile want it to disappear, 
that is one of the many
uses of it. Anyways, you can also change your variable in other parts of the code, lets say I have a variable called Mood

I could make it equal to "Happy" in the beginning, and "Sad" later on in the code. 

Now your probably wondering how they are used on codea, since this interferes with later lessons, I will only explain one use for them.
As you can see, there is a print function, and inside it are some text inside quotes, delete all the text, and replace it with your variable named,
without the quotes, and as you can see, the program printed are variable! Cool huh? Now that might seem like a lot to learn, but its quite easier 
if you 
think about it, to sum things up, a variable is basically a placeholder for data, that can be used in other parts of your code. Thank you for
watching, and have a nice day.

Saurabh

Maybe one of your examples is incorrect, " suppose you want text to appear at the start of the project and then after awhile want it to disappear". If you set the string to nil then you'll get an error stating string expected got nil. You instead have to change the string to "". Im not sure what exactly will happen cause i dont have my iPad right now but i guess thats exactly what should happen.

[Deleted User]

Lol, hey guys, I'm new to codea but here my basics learnings:
Start EveryCodeaClass with the

draw(), setup(), and touch()

functions. we are now learning how to make a simple math program.
In the setup-function place this code:

parameter.integer("CurrentElement", 0, 50)
-- We will make only 51 numbers (from 0 till 50)
parameter.action("Plus", plus)
parameter.action("Minus", minus)
parameter.action("Answer", answ)
op = nil
isElement1 = true
Element1 = 0
Element2 = 0
Answer = 0

Okay, now we have all what we need. A little lesson, what you wrote:
Every calculator got 2 elements, were duplicated. El1 and El2.
The isElement1 I made for future: If you click Plus or Minus, we will set this to false, that means we are making the next element:

function plus() ,function minus(), function answ()

• create this functions
  in the PLUS function print this script:

if isElement1 == true then
Element1 = CurrentElement
isElement1 = false
op = plus
elseif isElement1 == false
alert("Error: You have to click the answer-parameter")
end

In the

answ

set this script:

if op == plus then
   Answer = Element1 + Element2
   Element1 = Answer
elseif op == minus then
   Answer = Element1 - Element2
   Element1 = Answer
end
setup()

Now we made already the math-calculator. Now try to make a text() -command and try with Element1, Element2 and Answer to make a panel in the draw() -function