So the basic structure of C is like BASIC, with logic arguments and loops and stuff. What is the difference? Why is C so different? :/

It's not, really. Almost everything you learned about creating programs from an idea in TI-BASIC applies more or less directly to C programming. There's more complexity to worry about, like scoped variables, functions with arguments, structures, and pointers, but it's easy as long as you don't do something silly like try beginner programming projects in C that are well beyond how far you've learned, or try to learn without doing.

Although it is essentially an argument about which is better, it is very educational about the differences
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?t=37904#p1506245

Thanks Kerm, that makes me feel better about it! I will definitely learn by doing, which is what i did with BASIC ;D

What kind of program should i try and make first? Like what kind would be good for hands on learning?

Pong, a Maze game. Maybe a program that uses all the different functions of Mateo's library depending on what key you press. That might be a little harder...

Something you can do is make a copy of a game that you've made in TI-BASIC. That way, you already know game mechanics, and it better helps you understand how C is different.

AS calcnerd said, try something you've already made in TI-BASIC, or even just start with moving a sprite around the screen and going from there!

Okay! Thanks both of you! (calcnerd and unicorn)

the biggest changes to take note of when moving from basic to c are:

1-a. proper functions!!!
1-b. the concept of scope
2. the split between stack and heap memory
3. the more-extensive, and extensible, type system
4. lower-level functionality, like bit-wise ops and inline asm

less obvious, but of equal importance, are things like arbitrary variable names and better support for splitting a program over several files.

together, these features allow for writing much more maintainable programs. because of its greater flexibility, however, one could easily ignore all this functionality and write programs nearly identical to their BASIC counterparts (i.e. a densely-packed wall of spaghetti). thus, it's well worth researching these topics and trying to stick to a clean, readable style before old habits take over and improving becomes more difficult. good luck!

also, in reference to which thing you should try first: make sure it's something you're actually interested in!

I whipped up this BASIC program yesterday specifically to covert it to C. Does it look fine?



Code:

That looks pretty nice indeed, and should be pretty easy to convert to C. Also note that the toolchain already has a randInt(low, high) definition as well to make it even easier

I went over your program and found a few things...

Code:

I meant to say 1->

I say zstandard to undo any window changes, and then do the other two zooms to make the coordinates for pt-on easier. But I think I got rid of all of the points in the program ;

I use a Lbl because 2 different things use it...

The typo doesn't exist on my calculator (where I made the program)

In TI-Basic, you would use labels to call something that's always called, while in C, you just make a separate function. Make sure you do it that way. Goto and labels in C are shunned against by many C programmers except when you want to get out of many nested loops or switch's when a break won't suffice.
Just a pointer. (Get it!?)

So in C, you would just put the function separately, and then use a pointer? are pointers kinda like Goto?

No. Sorry. That pointer thing was a joke. My fault for not making it obvious. Say your labeled section in Basic is called foo(); in C. In the main function, you would just call foo(); when you want the code in function foo to execute.

so the function is like a stored variable that gets recalled whenever i want? The code just borrows it to use it? like a library book!

Sort of?

you do this below your main program that runs first.:


Code:

and you call it in your main program part and it runs the code you put between the brackets above. It is just a way to name things that happen for readability, and to lower the size of your code if you run those commands multiple times.

Code:

and then you declare it by your globals:

Code:


And about the Goto thing, you are using it to loop, instead, put Lbl 3 and then create a loop underneath that so you don use gotos as a loop, which is much slower, I believe. So:


Code:

If you don have a Goto 3 somewhere else in the program, just remove the Lbl altogether.

Thank You!! This was very much helpful! I will fix that in my code!

Edit#2, fixed some other stuff, i think)
I fixed the code i think:

Code:


But,SourceCoder says:

Code:

and i dont know why...

Fixed that, and got rid of E, which i didn't really need

Code:


Edit: I got rid of the return

Code:




Now I just need to start trying to convert this to C ;P