Author Topic: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)  (Read 19719 times)

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Offline SMcNeill

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The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« on: February 01, 2022, 03:48:46 pm »
As you guys might know (if you don't, what the heck have you been doing -- hiding your head under a rock somewhere??), I've transitioned into a writer/novelist now that I've more or less officially retired here at the farm.  October to January still keeps me busy with farm life, but otherwise I've got the rest of the year free to indulge my hobbies however I want.

For ages, I've been promising, "Some day, I'm going to sit down and end up writing up some sort of overly complex and wordy manual for QB64 that everyone can laugh at and nobody will probably ever use!"

Well, I just so happen to be snowed in -- and have been snowed in for the last few weeks -- and my boredom and restlessness has now gotten to the point where I finally decided to sit down and start on this little project:  The QB64 Bible.

For now, all I've got is basically a write up about SCREEN 0 -- (and it's only about 14 pages long) -- but I hope it shows the style and format I'm shooting for here, and the information which I want to try and gather up into one easy to find and reference area.

Feel free to download it.  Study it.  Point out anything that seems unclear or imprecise, or that you just don't like, and offer any ideas of what you guys think should go into this little project.  I'm just starting on this, but if all works out, I can probably churn out a few hundred pages of nonsense by the end of the month (provided I stick with this project exclusively during that time), so at that point it might actually have enough information in it to become something that somebody, somewhere, might want to make use of sometime in the future.

Just remember:  This is a work in progress and is subject to any and all revisions, edits, changes, additions, and deletions -- at my whim and whimsey -- for the foreseeable future.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2022, 09:09:09 pm by SMcNeill »
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Offline Dimster

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2022, 04:49:49 pm »
page 8 of 18 .... should "with AUTOMATICALLY" be "will AUTOMATICALLY" ? That just jump out at me as I was skimming thru, so it may be exactly what you wanted there.

Looks great Steve. You have always written in a very understandable voice. Unlike the religious Bibles of our day, The QB64 Bible should never come to an end as QB64 seems to evolve rather quickly. There are so many members pushing QB to do more in just about every facet of it's syntech.  Terry Ritchie's slant was on Gaming, from what I have read, your focus will be more a reference book for coders. I gather it will be more in depth than those old "For Dummies" books?

Anyway, you have a great start there, and not being a coder of game programs, I'd very much welcome this new Reference Tool Book.

Offline Petr

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2022, 05:09:09 pm »
@SMcNeill

Nicely written, it reads nicely. I'm glad you started, I'm looking forward to continuing. I also learned a few things I didn't know about before.

Offline wiggins

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2022, 09:34:16 pm »
Well done, as always, Steve!  Congrats on your retirement. 

Offline SMcNeill

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2022, 08:28:56 am »
Well done, as always, Steve!  Congrats on your retirement.

I've been retired for a while now.  The problem is, I've just been too busy to notice it!

I don't do a lot of farming anymore, but I still have about a thousand projects going all on at the same time that I'm trying to work on and finish before I die.  I just don't think I'm ever going to catch up though!  By the time I end up finishing one thing, I've got six new things that I need to get around to sometime, adding to my ever-growing list of chores. 

But, I guess that's just what life is all about -- work until you die.   And then you just end up making work for other people!!  (The poor undertakers, grave keepers, preachers, tax men...)  /sigh!
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Offline _vince

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2022, 08:38:20 am »
nice work, Steve, look forward to reading more.

That OCR analogy is earth-shatteringly revelatory! You can read SCREEN 0 but SCREEN 12 and above requires a mapping of pixel clouds to symbolic characters

Offline bplus

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2022, 11:35:49 am »
Is it much trouble to make a.pdf version?

Offline SMcNeill

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2022, 11:50:21 am »
Is it much trouble to make a.pdf version?

It is at this point -- for me, at least.  I work in Word.  Always have.  It's the tool/software I'm used to using and most comfortable with, and it saves *.docx files.

When I finish working on this little project, it's simple enough to convert from docx to pdf, but it's not worth the time and effort while adding to and editing the document on a regular basis.

If there's a particular version you want converted, just pop it into an online editor and format it into whatever you want.  ;)

https://smallpdf.com/word-to-pdf  -- Try this one if you like.
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Offline bplus

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2022, 11:53:02 am »
Thankyou Steve.

Update: It worked.

Offline Qwerkey

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2022, 12:12:28 pm »
@SMcNeill Unless the Senior Librarian (@bplus) objects, and he won't, we'll be putting this into the Learning Section.  Just the sort of thing we want there.  The Junior Librarian (@Qwerkey) will be copying it to there when finished.

Offline bplus

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2022, 12:42:07 pm »
@SMcNeill Unless the Senior Librarian (@bplus) objects, and he won't, we'll be putting this into the Learning Section.  Just the sort of thing we want there.  The Junior Librarian (@Qwerkey) will be copying it to there when finished.

Right and Qwerkey please refer to me as the Sexagenarian Curator.

Offline Qwerkey

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2022, 01:03:02 pm »
Aye-aye, Sir!  And I very much regret that in 12 days time I become a Septuagenarian Curator (and I'm still such a kid).

Offline bplus

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2022, 01:04:21 pm »
Curators are like bottles of wine...

Offline SMcNeill

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2022, 01:12:20 pm »
Curators are like bottles of wine...

One loose cork away from turning into vinegary piss?  😁
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FellippeHeitor

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Re: The QB64 Bible (Work In Progress)
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2022, 01:54:55 pm »
The effort and time you're setting aside for this project is highly appreciated, Steve.