Mini book review: games prog 4 abs. beginner

Hi!

Yesterday finally my copy of Games Programming for the absolute beginner with BlitzMax -- by SLoan Kelly have arrived. Got it via amazon in Deutchland.

Sloan well done!

The contents;
* Introduction to programming with variables, loops etc.
* General blitzmax commands.
* Collision detections and other goodness.
* Introduction to OOP with BlitzMax.
* Introduction to UML and use cases, OMFG great!! :)

I bought the book as a gift for my 11-years old nephew. He hasnt had any programming expereience whatsoever. This book might be a bit beyond his (current) capabilities.
However when he grasp more this book should be really a fine and helpfull resource. Its practical, consice and usefull.

Sloan, how about writing a book to explain more advanced techniques.. how to program Snakes, puzzle games where you go more into algorithms of those common game types?

GREAT book.

so thats what 5 blitz books now?
krylars blitzcoder one
the manual from this site (or dont manuals count ;) )
game programming for teens
3d game programming for teens
and this one

Games Programming for the absolute beginner with BlitzMax is the best programming book ive read and ive read quite alot.

When I opened the huge a4 sized book I was supprised to find that the writing style was so friendly and easy to read. I found myself reading the whole book even though for the first half of the book at least, id aready learnt most of it from using blitz3d. saying that i did pick up some useful stuff.

I just wish I had this book when i was first learning I could have got to where i am now (thats an average coder) alot quicker.

Dont let the name put you off if youve done programming before it does get much more advanced as the book goes on but it is nicely paced.

my review would be 9/10 i cant think of any way to improve it, maybe code on a cd, but thats about it and downloading its no problem. It could cover using 3d engines with max a bit.

yes, definitley a 9/10 overall.

Hey, stuur mij een kopietje :P

whats uml? and how is it used with blitzmax?

UML stands for Universal Machine Language if i remember correctly.

Unified Modeling Language
Basically, a way to show the links between objects, components and system architecture in a commonly agreed diagrammatical format.

Ah, thats what it was. I think ive been using LUA for to long now.

Yeah i need to reread that bit it hasnt really clicked for me yet. its well explained its just im really slow at picking stuff up like that.