This may not be in the correct forum so mods feel free to move it to the proper place.
I wanted to know what type of app to try to make in order to skill build using XOJO. I’m full of ideas that are ambitious but without even learning to crawl I’m trying to run, and it’s not working out.
To set myself up for success rather than repeated failure, can anybody name 5 types of apps that a beginner should embark on and complete that will help build skill and a solid foundation that can be applied to working and making apps with XOJO?
My advice would be to learn as you go. My own app went through multiple re-writes. It went from a jumbled mess to so-so Object Oriented and then to a really robust design.
I concur with Beatrix. The best way to learn is to just get into the thick of things and figure it out.
You’ve heard the saying that if you want to learn how to swim, you have to jump in the water… In my experience, when I’ve had to learn a language, or a framework for a language (like Laravel for PHP), in order to learn it, I would take a project that I’d want to code and just literally jump right in with it. This forces me to learn it. Like Beatrix said though, as you get to learn the language, your code will go through re-writes and become better, and better, along the way.
Each project will have it’s quirks and it’s own way of doing things. Like sessions in a web app vs a global variable in a desktop app, or mobile app, things like that, but you’ll only figure that stuff out by using it and learning it.
Have you coded with any other languages before, or is Xojo your first language?
I have previous coding experience yes, but in the game programming field. I’ve never really looked at programming applications for a living though which is what lead me to XOJO.
And, thanks for the replies. I guess I’ll dive in and learn as I go.
There seems to be good support from this forum too… So as you need help along the way, if you can’t figure something out, don’t hesitate to post it… I’ve found this forum to be quite helpful so far in my Xojo journey.
I suggest you start by breaking down what you know you need. Create small example projects that do ONLY what you want. And then start moving code into your master, or more complex, project. Along the way you’ll have questions/needs that will arise and then you can research and create more example projects.
If you’re using a database, create an example project that only deals with creating, opening, closing, and doing insert, update, delete, and with UI that allows you to list, edit, delete, etc. That will give you a rudimentary knowledge of multiple areas.
The list goes on and one but, in general, I’d say try to do things one at a time and when you don’t know how to do something (yet), create a small example project so as to not mess up your master with a lot of dumb/useless code.
I’d recommend using a source code management system (git or subversion for example) and using the Xojo Project format (not binary) and commit changes early and often for all of your projects (master and examples). That way you can back out something that doesn’t work.
Been using the product for 20+ years and many moons ago I did training for it. Try bite sized pieces rather than trying to bit the whole thing at once.
