Learning Ruby with RGSS

[XinChao]

Wonder if there is a site or a book that teaches Ruby with RGSS. It would be an interested way to learn Ruby.

 

[Chaos17]

Gubid is making videos tutorials on youtube directly on rpg maker, into the editor!

Here the first video of a long serie, check his channel for more.

 

[SolarGale]

@Chaos17

Wow thanks for linking that video, just checked it out and it is pretty helpful. :3

 

[XinChao]

Watched the tutorial, it might be good for those who familiar with Ruby, or those looking for a quick editing RGSS, not really for beginner, those want to learn Ruby programming.

 

[omoney]

If you have some programming experience I suggest downloading a script in the Script Resource Forum that seems interesting to you briefly look through it. Afterwards you should try your own implementation that does the same thing or has a few tweaks (don't just copy and paste code, try to understand why the author put each line). Of course you probably wont' understand all the key words and methods but you can look them up here : http://ruby-doc.org/.

I found this to be a fun way to learn the basics of Ruby (but that's just me). First step to learning how to write is learning how to read

 

[XinChao]

I am reading Ruby ebook rightnowIt is too dry to swallow. I am thinking if there is a book that teaches you create a game with RM and Ruby at the same time, like make a script to modify game content.

Example: talk about variable value $Health = 99

If $Heath <= 0

game.stop

end

A new way to learn Ruby.

 

[Shablo5]

If you wanted to learn Ruby in a non-stale way i'd recommed you to the new boston, but just watching his videos (I feel) is not enough to learn ruby. Entertaining and it works for some people (Me included). But alas, not indepth enough.

 

[YesImAaron]

I would suggest that if you actually want to learn Ruby and that if your ultimate goal is to be able to effectively write your own scripts for RPG maker, then I would actually learn Ruby. RGSS is just a Ruby API designed for Rpg Maker. Learn the basics of Ruby and learning the RGSS API will be much easier. You won't just be looking through scripts guessing what does what then copy, paste, and hack your way through code, you'll actually be able to write your own code and read other people's code with a real understanding of what's going on. I know it seems boring, but honestly, if you don't like the idea of learning about how Ruby handles variables, strings, math, and all of that 'boring' code stuff, then honestly it's not for you. You have to get a firm grip on the basics (and then some) to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Most people around here seem to think there's a short cut like you can skip learning Ruby and go straight to working with RGSS. This will just lead to messy and buggy code, and will cause a lot of head aches lol. So if you do want to learn Ruby, i'd check out some books. A fairly easy read that get's you through the basics is "Ruby: Visual Quickstart Guide" by Larry Ullman. Also, Ruby is quite popular among web developer's so if you do a google search for web development blogs and Ruby tutorials you'll get a lot of really helpful results.

I don't mean to come off as harsh or discourage you in any way. But, I promise that if you focus and push yourself to get through those seemingly boring parts and then once you have a firm grasp on Ruby itself, then start digging through RGSS, you'll be very pleased with how well you understand everything

 

[BigEd781]

The guy above me is 100% correct; don't be a Cargo Cult Programmer, we honestly don't need any more of them.

 

[XinChao]

If you wanted to learn Ruby in a non-stale way i'd recommed you to the new boston, but just watching his videos (I feel) is not enough to learn ruby. Entertaining and it works for some people (Me included). But alas, not indepth enough.

That was not what I mean. It does not need to be entertained but do need some motivations. Most people here in this forum try to learn Ruby so he/she can edit or write their own scripts. So, I was thinking if we can learn Ruby at the same time we have our hands on involving edit RGSS, or create script for RM, would that be awesome and a more exciting to learn?

I have read some of Programming books, one thing the authors that often forget is that the examples they used in their books might and might not suitable for some readers. In other word, not all could understand what they are trying to explained.

There were this Ruby book, the Author try to explain the Bloc and the Lambda by linking examples with his experience about skiing, his hobbies.He does not realize that some people out there have never been skiing for their entire lives. I myself is an example, I never skiing once in my life, how does I supposed to know what skiing look like? When I read the book I feel like I am learning two things at the same time, how to skiing which I don't interested in and how to programming.

Authors of the book are no different with school instructors, some could make you understand things, some do not. It never entirely students fault when they failed the course, don't you agree?

So, what I was trying to say if we can learn Ruby at the same time we have our hands on involving edit RGSS, or create script for RM, would that be helpful for those who learn Ruby to write their RGSS script? would it not?

 

[YesImAaron]

I do understand what you're saying. But what I'm trying to say is that until you understand Ruby as a language, you will not truly understand the RGSS API. It's like trying to run before you can even walk. You have to understand the basics before you can understand how to use the RGSS API. And I'm not saying that you can't learn the basics from a book and at the same time look through peoples scripts and try to see what's going on. But I wouldn't let it distract you from the true goal of learning Ruby. Buy a book, learn how to install Ruby, open up irb (if you buy a book you'll know what that is), the terminal, or your favorite text editor, and follow along. I know the examples seem silly at first. " How the heck is making the screen say "Hello World!" going to help me?" I get it. But inside that silly, simple, seemingly non-useful example lies the basics of Ruby that you need to know before you can dive into the API. You have to learn how Ruby works. You have to understand how modules, classes, methods, variables and all of that relate to eachother. Where can you call upon certain variables? How does inheritance work? I feel trying to learn Ruby from RGSS is just distracting and will ultimately lead to bad results. It will lead you to only see everything how Rpg Maker makes it and not truly understand how Ruby works and what is actually going on.

Anyways, I'm rambling now But my final thought on this subject stands at what I said before. Buy a book, and just push yourself to not only get through it, but really try hard to grasp what they are saying even if it seems silly and pointless. Again, not trying to be a jerk or discourage you in anyway. I'm only trying to help you towards (what I feel) is the best direction.

Good luck!

edit:

Here are a few links to a few tutorials. Two of them are video tutorials however you do have to pay a subscription fee, but if you learn best visually then it's well worth it!

http://teamtreehouse.com (mostly web development related, but does have a pretty good Ruby section that is quick and doesn't get boring! Only thing is that they are still adding to it)

http://lynda.com (again this is from my web development resources, but if you're willing to spend the money for the subscription the Ruby video tutorials are fantastic!)

http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/24/beginners-guide-ruby/ (yet another web development resource. This is a quick easy read that very lightly discusses the basics of Ruby)

These are all great resources, but I wouldn't rely on just one of them, especially the smashing mag one because it's not near in depth enough!

Good luck!

 

[Tsukihime]

There is no need to understand the RGSS API to learn ruby.

Or write RGSS scripts for that matter, though you'd probably need to know one or two classes to actually write something useful.

Just take a couple methods and use them to explain basic programming concepts like variables, loops, conditional branches, etc.

The point of using a reference is to further clarify a particular concept, and if some people prefer to learn by doing and seeing exactly how something behaves, then it would be useful.

However, the drawback is that RGSS isn't meant for teaching, just like how handing someone the source code for linux might not be useful for learning how to write C code, or your own OS (though if they already know how to code but is just not sure how to go about doing certain things, it would be useful to see how others have implemented it and what they have used).

My suggestion is to come up with a simple idea that you want to implement, think about exactly how you would actually implement it (eg: write an algorithm in pseudocode or natural language), spec it out like any regular project, and then ask someone to tell you where you would write the code. Then once you find it, you can start experimenting.

I started out with ruby by going to the script request forum and looking at what some other people thought of, cause I couldn't really come up with any ideas of my own.

Learning to write code is more about figuring out how to solve a problem rather than type stuff on your keyboard.

This is why programming books provide exercises rather than just explain stuff.

And ya, skiing? Lol it's good to see that authors get creative, but it's as useful as teaching someone about classes and objects using cars and other vehicles when I have no idea about cars or manufacturing processes in general.

That's why when I talk about classes, I use dragon quest for my examples. Maybe I should be choosing from LoL or WoW?

 

[XinChao]

I do understand what you're saying. But what I'm trying to say is that until you understand Ruby as a language, you will not truly understand the RGSS API. It's like trying to run before you can even walk. You have to understand the basics before you can understand how to use the RGSS API. And I'm not saying that you can't learn the basics from a book and at the same time look through peoples scripts and try to see what's going on. But I wouldn't let it distract you from the true goal of learning Ruby. Buy a book, learn how to install Ruby, open up irb (if you buy a book you'll know what that is), the terminal, or your favorite text editor, and follow along. I know the examples seem silly at first. " How the heck is making the screen say "Hello World!" going to help me?" I get it. But inside that silly, simple, seemingly non-useful example lies the basics of Ruby that you need to know before you can dive into the API. You have to learn how Ruby works. You have to understand how modules, classes, methods, variables and all of that relate to eachother. Where can you call upon certain variables? How does inheritance work? I feel trying to learn Ruby from RGSS is just distracting and will ultimately lead to bad results. It will lead you to only see everything how Rpg Maker makes it and not truly understand how Ruby works and what is actually going on.

Anyways, I'm rambling now But my final thought on this subject stands at what I said before. Buy a book, and just push yourself to not only get through it, but really try hard to grasp what they are saying even if it seems silly and pointless. Again, not trying to be a jerk or discourage you in anyway. I'm only trying to help you towards (what I feel) is the best direction.

Good luck!

edit:

Here are a few links to a few tutorials. Two of them are video tutorials however you do have to pay a subscription fee, but if you learn best visually then it's well worth it!

http://teamtreehouse.com (mostly web development related, but does have a pretty good Ruby section that is quick and doesn't get boring! Only thing is that they are still adding to it)

http://lynda.com (again this is from my web development resources, but if you're willing to spend the money for the subscription the Ruby video tutorials are fantastic!)

http://coding.smashi...ers-guide-ruby/ (yet another web development resource. This is a quick easy read that very lightly discusses the basics of Ruby)

These are all great resources, but I wouldn't rely on just one of them, especially the smashing mag one because it's not near in depth enough!

Good luck!

What you said is also make sense but you and I have different views when it comes to learn a subject.

When I was still in school, I was told by professor that human learn things in different approaches. Some feel comfortable to learn by reading. Some like to have hands on experience, interactive learning. Some prefer to visual presentation.

Yes, of course, you can learn anything by just reading a lot of materials. However, you can find the short cut for yourself, a way that you can learn things faster than a regular way. If you drive 2 hours to your work place by heading to root 93. However, someone show you that there is a short cut to your work place that reduce to 1 hour 30 minutes drive, would you take that path? or no?

I could read and understand the book with just plain text. Though, it would take me twice the time to read the book with visual presentation (not to mention if you read the plain text, you get boring and likely to quit reading). I like books with visual presentation than just read the plain texts. This is just example of interactive learning.

The conclusion is, yes I can learn thing by just reading the books, but hey I would want something more interesting than just reading the plain text. Since, I want to learn Ruby because of RM. So, would it be more fun if I learn about "variable" with an example of a dude (character in RM) can have infinity lives $my_dude = 999, rather than the tradition way to learn "Variable" , variable is memory location in computer where you can assign value...etc.

That was why I asked if there is any book which teaches Ruby with hand-on experience with RM. Because I find that easier for me to learn than just reading random Ruby books/materials out there.

Last, thank you for the links. Im reading one of free Ruby ebook, "Learn to Program" by Chris Pine. The book is good but when you read to later chapters, it increasing complicate. It is not about the subject is complicate but the Author fall short to explain a complicate subject which he tries to simplify for the reader.

 

[Asclepius]

Gubid is making videos tutorials on youtube directly on rpg maker, into the editor!

Here the first video of a long serie, check his channel for more.

I am sorry but i loathe Youtube there change in TOS make the site unuseable its only a matter of time before videogames give you strikes and that includes enterbrain getting a strike for posting a video about there PRODUCTS !