Compilers for C++ and Flash

MartinC.

Baseband Member
Messages
56
Hello, I'm new here and had some questions about C++ Adobe Flash and compilers. By the way, I have NO programing skills with C++ or Adobe Flash.
However, I do know a little about batch and html.
1- Do you need a compiler to program with flash?
2- Do you have to have a compiler for C++ and Flash?
3- If you do need a compiler for C++ and Flash, then which compilers are the best?
Please post an answer to my question, thanks :)
 
I've got ideas behind flash, but I'm not 100% sure so I'll leave those to someone who programs in it.

As for C++ - yes you will need a compiler. There's lots of ones out there, personally I'd choose the C++ compiler from the GCC toolkit - have a look at mingw for a windows port.
 
What is the GCC toolkit, can you give me a link to the website it's on?
Also, is there any possible way to program C++ by hand (by hand i mean by notepad).
 
GCC is found here.

Yes, of course it's possible to write C++ programs in notepad - you pass the text files to the compiler and it'll take them and generate executables from your code (that's essentially what a compiler does.)

However, the fact that you're asking these very basic questions does lead me to wonder whether C++ is the best language to start off with... Why is it that you specifically want to learn C++?
 
One of the reasons I want to learn it is because I'd like to learn an 'advanced'
programing language. However, I would be willing to learn a simpler/easier programing language to start out with. Do you have any suggestions for easier programs?

P.S. I have some experience with batch files.
 
How much experience? Experience with batch files is good in the sense that you should understand the logic of how to prorgam - you'll still need to take your time to work through things thoroughly and carefully though when learning a "proper" language.

I'd honestly recommend something like Java over C++. It's a newer language, far more used nowadays, easier to pick up, enforces more good coding conventions and there's very little these days that you can do in C++ but can't do in Java. There's also no sign of it fading away any time soon, there's no huge up and coming languages set out to replace it in the next few years. (And even if there was, the sheer quantity of stuff written in it means it'll be a valuable skill for years afterwards.)

With that in mind, I'd honestly recommend it far more than C++ (and I'd really recommend it to most people as the language to start with these days.) If you like I can point you in the direction of some good and fun ways to start off with it too :)
 
I have been working for a week or two with batch files and know the basics
such as variables, loops, timers, how to set a variable, how to use variables,
and environment variables.

here is an example of what I can do

@ECHO OFF
CLS
:startscreen
ECHO.
echo Hello, what do you want to do
echo 1= SHUTDOWN
echo 2= ABORT SHUTDOWN
echo 3= EXIT PROGRAM
ECHO.
SET /P choice= Please type in 1, 2, or 3 and then press ENTER=
IF %choice%== 1 GOTO shutdown (1 minute)
IF %choice%== 2 GOTO abort (instantly)
IF %choice%== 3 GOTO exit (instantly)

@ECHO OFF
CLS
:WALL1
GOTO startscreen

@ECHO OFF
CLS
:shutdown
cd/
shutdown -s -t 60

@ECHO OFF
CLS
:abort
cd/
shutdown /a

@ECHO OFF
CLS
:exit
GOTO EOF

Also, with java do I have to have Adobe Flash, or can I program it in notepad?
I have been thinking about getting it for a while, but I don't currently have it.
(I'll probably have it in about a month or two)
But please point me off in the direction of some fun ways to start off with it :)
Also, what do you mean by 'proper language'?
 
I put "proper language" in speech marks because, well, it's quite a personal thing as to what most people consider proper languages. Batch programming is generally considered a useful little thing to know, but not really a whole proper language in itself. VB / VB.NET is an easy language to start with and for that reason it's annoyingly popular, but it lets you slip into some VERY bad habits and in the context of seasoned programmers it's often seen as a bit of a running joke. (That's no disrespect to people that program in VB, some of the best coders I know started that way. But in itself it's really not enough... and a lot of the most awful code I've seen has been in VB.)

Java and flash are two completely separate things - and if you want to learn a decent, widely used and general purpose language I'd just forget flash, at least for the time being. Concentrate on one :)

You can use notepad, and it is one way of starting off. It's quite good actually in the sense that it teaches you the command line tools and how to write everything from the word go. It's not the easiest however.

I'd recommend using BlueJ, and if you're willing to buy a book the "objects first" text book written by the same guys that wrote BlueJ. It's a very well written guide on getting into OO programming, I'd advise following it through and work through all the examples. By the time you've finished you should have a pretty good basic grounding in Java and OO concepts in general.

Yes, you *can* use online tutorials, but be careful - there's a heck of a lot of badly written ones out there, and the good ones aren't always as easy to find as you'd think.

As for the fun bit - check out Greenfoot. It's also a Java based thing and will also teach you some good OO concepts, but it has the advantage that it's very easy to get started programming something cool with not much knowledge. I used to run day long classes every so often using this for GCSE students (~14-16 years old ish), none of whom had programmed before, and by the end of the day with some help they all had a functional game going. It really is tremendous fun, and you can do some cool things with it too.

Let me know if you want help with any of the above tools - I worked on Greenfoot in particular for a while so I know the ins and outs of it :)

All the above tools are free (including the JDK which you'll need to download for Java development) so it's literally just a case of downloading and going!
 
I looked at Greenfoots website and the screenshot page, and it looks interesting so I'm downloading it now (It has 10 minutes left of downloading).
But I have some questions about it
-Can people who don't have greenfoot run the simulations/games I make using it
-What is OO concepts?
'edit'-where can I get the JDK
'edit'- Im downloading this (below) but I'm not sure if it's a JDK, Also it says it will take 7 more hours...
Download Java EE 5 SDK Update 8 (with JDK 6 U17) for Windows, English
I have a VAIO laptop and I'm using Cricket Wireless Internet to download it,
so that may be why it's taking so long... Do you know why?
thanks for all the help so far :)
 
Can people who don't have greenfoot run the simulations/games I make using it
Yup, you can export to an executable jar and then any computer with the JRE installed (most of them) can run your code. Alternatively, you can upload your creations to the Greenfoot gallery so the world can see and comment on them there :)

where can I get the JDK
Here - the one you need (at the time of writing) is labelled "JDK 6 Update 17". Don't get the one with netbeans or anything like that, you just want the plain JDK. (That's not the one you're currently downloading - it might work but you should really be using the one I've mentioned above.)

What is OO concepts?
Concepts of object oriented programming. Things like learning how to think in terms of objects, call methods on objects, create new ones and that sort of thing. When you get onto the more advanced levels you'll find things such as encapsulation, polymorphism, inheritence and that sort of thing. Don't let those long sounding words put you off though - when you get to the right stage they're pretty easy to understand!
 
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