QC Tutorials for absolute beginners

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:42 pm

I'm writing a series of QC tutorials for total beginners, guiding them step by step through the basics of the language, and culminating in adding a new weapon to Quake.

http://www.electronicliberationfront.co ... s/tut1.htm
http://www.electronicliberationfront.co ... s/tut2.htm
http://www.electronicliberationfront.co ... s/tut3.htm

Post by **scar3crow** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:15 pm

Looking good, definitely solid work there. But whats with the eating of faces? Too much Rage in you? ; )

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:22 pm

scar3crow wrote:Too much Rage in you? ; )

...says the man whose avatar is a severed head...

Post by **scar3crow** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:24 pm

It was actually a British joke, 28 Days Later and all that.

To be fair, I also have this avatar for my work correspondence... ...and my work tagline is self.health => -40

SantaClaws messaged me the other day at work stating "You will not gib!"

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:46 pm

There are plenty of british jokes in the next few tutorials, worry not!

CocoT · Post by **CocoT** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 7:34 pm

Cool stuff!

Would it be okay to have it posted both on PQ and here in the I3D tutorials section?

P.S: Oh, and, Mauve: you have a typo in your web address, at the very bottom

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 8:08 pm

No problem, and I'll fix that in a sec.

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 8:57 pm

Part 2 is up: http://elf.planetquake.gamespy.com/tutorials/tut2.htm.

Ugh, I'm starting to realise why people don't bother explaining tutorials, it takes forever!

Part 3 can wait 'til tomorrow.

goldenboy · Post by **goldenboy** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:31 pm

Well done Mauve.

Boy, would the journey have been easier with these.

It's quite a high speed ride though, newcomers will need to read these several times to "dig" it. Chock full of info.

I look forward to more

Post by **scar3crow** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:32 pm

The explaining is what makes it a tutorial, and not just a copy and paste of code =) Thanks a lot for doing these by the way.

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:36 pm

Yeah, I've never really seen the point of copy+paste tutorials. Well, they're useful for people who know the basics of the language but struggle with programming methodology, i.e how to put their ideas across, but basically useless for beginners.

QC needs explained tutorials like these and the AI cafe ones, else it's a very sleep hill to climb.

Post by **FrikaC** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:05 pm

I've written copy-paste tutorials here on I3D and more hand holding tutorials elsewhere and I think copy-paste tutorials definitely have a place. It's more about learning by example rather than learning by explanation. It's handing the person doing the tutorial the solution to a problem, and a very terse list of the steps taken. In essence the author has narrowed the hugeness of the codebase to just the changes needed to accomplish the task. If you're motivated to learn how it works, he's made the task of understanding it that much simpler. A beginner tutorial it is not, but it does have have a use for the slightly more advanced learner. It's also an avenue to release mods that aren't quite mods and simultaneously release the source to them and allow users to take this feature and adapt it to their code.

MauveBib · Post by **MauveBib** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:10 pm

FrikaC wrote:It's also an avenue to release mods that aren't quite mods and simultaneously release the source to them and allow users to take this feature and adapt it to their code.

That's the main use I see of copy+paste tutorials. I have a whole directory of plugin qc files I've knocked together at various times that I've never had much use for, such as a centerprint radar. Maybe I should rejig some of them as tutorials in case others can find a use for them.

EDIT: It seems I released the centerprint radar on this forum a few years ago anyway. I guess my brain must be going.

ceriux · Post by **ceriux** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 7:58 am

great job on this tutorial the ways you explained things helped me learn a few things, im going to read through a couple of times and take notes in the mean time im going to see if i can do anything with what iv learned

i hope you put out more tutorials

Baker · Post by **Baker** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:19 am

In the tutorial, it mentions FTEQCC. Would the gui version be better for beginners?

Or for that matter, I'm just wondering if anyone who has used both prefers the command line?

What I like about the gui version is that I can double click on errors and the file opens to the line in question.