Re: Paladins (fwd)

From: James A. Young (ja_young@fang.cs.sunyit.edu)
Date: 05/08/96


On Wed, 8 May 1996, Billy H. Chan wrote:

> <Strom finds a nice tall horse and stands on it>
> Don't want to sound high on myself or anything, but is it me or has there
> been an increase in people not knowing how to program in the first place 
> asking technical questions about the programing language itself?  I find it
> strange why people can't go buy a nice book or two on how to program in C
> before doing it.  It's really easy if you read first.

Yes, I have noticed that trend.  But doesn't mean that someone can be 
flamed for it though, right?  Understand, we were all newbies once.  Some 
people have different ways of approaching a problem and should not be 
condemned for it.

> Wasn't Chris writing a FAQ on coding?

Umm, that faq was never completed, even through version 11. Nor there is 
a complete version of coding.doc.  If you like, I can send you what I 
have of coding.doc to prove it.  I don't have problems with coding at 
all.  I've coded before, but for a completely different mud type.  Just 
wanted to say that before you flame me.

>  If so, read that first, I'm sure
> most of the more newbie-ish "Where do I.. what does this mean?" questions
> are answered there.... For instance, the multiple attacks code has been
> gone over at least 2x since I joined the list... if you want a lot of this
> stuff done, look in the Lostlands distribution where I've put in most of the
> multi*blah* stuff... use it like a sample code on how something might be 
> done, sometimes elegantly, most of the time, not. (Yes, this is a shameless
> plug... but the code's free)

Not to sound stupid, but isn't the point of the list is for questions and 
support for the circle mud?  If that's not the case then, let me know now.

> Now, for a good book on how to program in C, the one I learned off of,
> and still use as a valuable reference:	
> 	2nd Ed. The C Programming Language by Kernighan and Ritchie
> Some others (who're now gone, wonder why) have suggested others... For 
> instance, the Learning <blah> series by the O'Reilly people are very good.
> If you can't spend the $30 for a book, skip your next game purchase and do
> everyone a favor.

The book mentioned is a very good book.  Billy, you can't speak for the 
whole list, speak for yourself.  So far, it seems that you're the only 
one expressing an opinion.  I'm sure there is SOMETHING that you can't do 
well and I'm sure you would get criticized and you wouldn't like it, 
right?  So think about the feelings of others before directly/indirectly 
flaming them.

> Get these books so stupid == problems (don't mean to pick on that guy 
> specifically) will stop spamming the list.  As well as those who are code 
> blind... go enlighten thyself. RTFM/RTFB
> <Strom gets off the high horse>
> -- Billy  H. Chan     bhchan@po.eecs.berkeley.edu  bhchan@csua.berkeley.edu
>    CogSci/CompSci     http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~bhchan     ResumeInside
>    ^^^-yes, real coding background... strange huh?     Yes, job hunting-^^^
> 
My hat goes off to Jeremy Elson & Crew for spending their valuable time 
creating what we are administering.  I know it does take a lot of work 
and time to code the base.  Can you say that you've coded a mud from 
scratch?  I can't say I have, but I have coded many things from scratch 
and I will tell you it's not easy.  So before you go picking and flaming 
people about lack of knowledge on things, remember this:

EVERYONE STARTS FROM THE BOTTOM.   YOU GET TO THE TOP BY HARD WORK, NOT 
BY KISSING ASS.

James



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