Ok guys, completely new to programming for the bbc, infact consider me a novice programmer for the time being.

I'm aiming to learn to program for the bbc micro, although don't have a clue where to start, i also would love to be pointed in the direction of books/webpages for the beginner bbc programmer.

I've really got a few questions, i'm just going to go into them now...

1 - Where should i start?
2 - what web pages / books should i use?
3 - I plan to emulate and code on the pc, and once content will move over to an actual bbc system, what programs should i use, before i leave my pc?

Thank you in advance.

well, I left my starting advice here.

Sam.

cheeky!

so this book is the one i'd need to read? this?

beebm, downloaded.

i'll be back !

Yep, that's the original.

As it says on the Useful Docs page, there's an online version here or a txt version here.

If you get into assembler/machine code programming and really want to get the bare metal, you will also head into the territory of the Advanced User Guide for the BBC Micro and the New Advanced User Guide. Again, downloadable versions of both are linked on the Useful Docs page.

The other option if you want to buy one from eBay is to consider RetroClinic's reprint. This, apparently, contains the best of the three guides reprinted, and updated to include modern hardware. I haven't got one of these myself but have been considering getting one. Might be cheaper than buying all three if that tempts you, going off the description!

Sam.

The best way to start would be to familiarise yourself with the BBC first. As Sam says, grab a copy of the user manual and work through the first few chapters with BeebEm. Also, you might like to download some games from the Stairway To Hell web site and play them to get a feel for what the Beeb is capable of, and what it's limits are.

When it comes to programming your own games, my advice would be to take things slowly. It's easy to get carried away with a million cool ideas that you want to put in and then get bogged down in the technical stuff. Try writing lots of small, simple programs to learn the basics. Something like a bat & ball game would be a good place to start.

Most of us, these days, use cross-development tools and emulators. It's much more convenient, particularly for coding in assembly language. For simple BASIC programming, the emulator will do just fine. Any work you do in BeebEm can be saved to a floppy disk image file.

Yes I think Pauls idea of looking at some existing games is a good idea. Probably don't just dive in randomly though as with all other platforms old and new there's some dross in there that's not representative of what can be done.

Some of the main titles that most people know of on the Beeb were (and in no particular order and not discussing the merits thereof or whether I like them !)

Repton series
Strykers Run
Codename droid
Sentinel
Elite
Exile

That's just a quick taster and I'll leave it to others to add in many more. You may have heard of some as they went cross platform.

ahh cheers guys, i did wonder what the user quide actuallly held within it.

I'm not planning to make the wolrds most amazing game, not for a long time anyway

but i hope to pick up BASIC as i go along

I'm wondering if we can re-print Kevin Edwards' articles from the Micro User?

They were quite good...

The second part of the series, by Roland Waddilove, was good too. There was also a two part series with Electron specific tips by Tony Oakden in The Micro User after Electron User closed down but before it became Acorn Computing.

Interesting - what mags were they in? I've bought the DVD off Dave E so hopefully will have them

I learnt a lot about games programming for the Beeb from Micro User and possibly more the Electron User. If Dave_E gives permission (I know he doesn't have copyright on the material but out of respect he has spent a serious amount of work doing these mags) then they'd be excellent additions to the site.