Objective-C

poopdecksweeper · April 2012

Can anyone associate the things like classes, methods, instances, etc. to the actors, prototypes, attributes of Gamesalad for me?

I am trying to learn objective-c because I want to get a job coding for companies out there, but I have no background in C. I know that I could grasp and understand objective-c if I could only make the associations of all the little parts and pieces within gamesalad to the parts and pieces of objective-c.

Any help?

theCodeMonsters · April 2012

Unfortunately there is little that can be associated between the two. But here is one big thing that is. And that is Objects and Actors. Actors are like Objects in programing. Here is the breakdown:
Behaviors→Methods
Attributes→Data Types
Tables→Arrays
Rules→If/Else,Switches

And remember, don't learn Objective-C to program. Learn to program with Objective-C. (meaning focus on the CONCEPT, not the syntax)

And I agree with @mynameisace don't use GameSalad concepts/practices to help you understand Programing concepts, there's a good chance it'll confuse you more because Programing is much more technical.

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mynameisace · April 2012

In my experience with coding (which is admittedly limited), try not to associate anything with Gamesalad - it just further complicates stuff.

If @JohnPapiomitis or somebody else who has a lot of coding experience could chime in, that'd help more I reckon.

Ace

poopdecksweeper · April 2012

I figured there were a few people on the forums that could assist. Thanks.

Zoyt · April 2012

I've coded in BASIC, Lua, and a little of everything else. Unfortunately, GS isn't entirely like a normal Lua or any other language game structure. It has some differences. Bu basically, there are global variables under Game > Attributes. Each object has their own attributes too that you can edit. When you press the + button to add one, it gives you the typical variable type options. I would go into more detail (that was basically a hunk of info floating around in space attached to nothing, making it useless), but there is already a manual here:

Still have questions? Just ask.

EatingMyHat · April 2012

It is quite different, not sure you can compare... but if I'll try:
Class = Actor?
Instance = Actor Instance?
Method = nothing in GS

There are different ways to look at it, but in reality, GS is not coding (thats part of the point). The experience can help on building logic, but coding is just different.

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Zoyt · April 2012

Sorry about that @EatingMyHat. You are correct. And my asumtion is that Scene Controlling Class = Scene.

BFJoshua · April 2012

I've coded in quite a few languages up to date such as Lua, C, Objective-C, Java, etc...
One of the main things in starting to learn a programming language is you should know the basics of programming first. Such as what variables are and how they work and the many types of them, conditional statements(if/for), and basic data storage and management(pointers etc.).

One thing I might suggest is try to learn Java(not JavaScript) to get the basics down. It's an easy language to learn, as well as being an object language like Objective-C, and has a slightly better learning curve.

I wish there was an editor in GameSalad that would let us edit the actual code as that would greatly open up opportunities. My knowledge of programming isn't enough to just use standalone X-code and I'm in college so can be quite busy a lot.

tenrdrmer · April 2012

Yeah you really need to take some classes or tutorials or something starting completely from the hello world stuff If your going to learn something new. Dont bother trying to associate anything to another SDK or language until at the very least you understand the basics of what your trying to learn.

poopdecksweeper · April 2012

Tenrdrmer you misunderstood my first posting. I know the basics in objective-c (I have been doing the "hello world" examples for some years now and I have been working on learning various programming languages on and off for some years now), and after reading through the first few chapters in the objective-c handbook I wanted to affirm my belief on what things in GS matched to the things in objective-c. Like variables and gloabal attributes. Rules and methods. Objects and actors. Instances and unlocked actor instances. Private vars and actor attributes. Rules and if/else statements.

All I really wanted to know was if there was more to understand. Maybe someone on the forums knows how to associate more than that from GS into objective-c.

But I understand that you think I should:

Yeah you really need to take some classes or tutorials or something starting completely from the hello world stuff If your going to learn something new. Dont bother trying to associate anything to another SDK or language until at the very least you understand the basics of what your trying to learn.

Thanks

RP · April 2012

Check out some of the iphone Xcode courses that cartoonsmart.com put together.
There are some great tutorials that go step by step explaining the hows and whys while you build an app strictly using xcode and interface builder. Good stuff for any GS user to know (especially to see why working with GS is a dream).

poopdecksweeper · April 2012

thanks, those look like some pretty intensive courses. I have been trying to watch the iTunes University courses on iPhone Dev and Xcode. I wish I had someone in the area that knew this stuff well.

Objective-C

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