Learning how to Learn? Lua inc.

[Lightbound]

Hello there!

Since im currently working on a ui for myself that is mainly like dragging addons together, style them to match one look and set kg panels behind them i got realy interested in learning lua. I saw so many amazing stuff made with addons in wow so ye. Enough sayed.

In general i would say i did forgot how to learn. Im "just" 20 years old and of course i did a learn progress in using daylie stuff. For example after starting to use pc's. I went totaly frightened after a blue screen did appear. Like jumping miles away from my pc "please dont exmplode!". Now i can do basicly everything i want to do with pcs, building them modificate them, tweak em and so on. The point is that was a progress that is basicly default by remembering and googeling.

If it comes to lua and mainly the wow api it is something complete different. I just dont get how to learn it. For sure i can read addon codes of existing addons and if i google right i can find every information about lua and the wow api i want so if my mind wouldnt be unable to combine and learn stuff i could be a master in lua after 1 minute. But im a boring, normal human without special learning skills. Even after the inventing of google i properly lost my skill in trying stuff out.

For sure i can try things out and put words together that "sound" logical for me but my skill in sort omsething out by myself nearly died. That sayed i would like to hear something by the "i learned writing addons by myself!" people around here.

If i guess right i have to learn 3 things in general before even start to write my own addon that is just based on my ideas instead of googleing something and modificate a already existing code.

1. The lua syntax.

How would i do that? How did you do that? I mean ye, if i understand what every thing in lua is doing i can get a clue. By the time i spent in forums i learned that bb codes start with [] and end with [/]. I learned how the most bb codes look like and ye this is basicly the syntax. In terms of programming i just know that if i want to use a if statement there has to be at least a then / else statement (if i guess right).

2. The wow api. Even if i know how to write lua properly i wouldnt be able to do anything in wow if i dont know how wow does work with the lua code. I saw a lot of lists explaining the wow api and its functions. Do you guys just google what you want to do and build it in then?

Is it like "okay i know how to create a background in lua and how to border it. Now i want to add a button so lets google "WoW API creating buttons" ?

3. The librarys and other stuff like that.

If i for example want to safe profiles i have to use a library if i guess right. Or if i want to use a 3. party API for World of Warcraft i have to learn it as well.

So that said i would realy appreciate to get some advices in terms of learning a language myself and in which order.

[Seerah]

Have a start by looking at the first couple of stickies here: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=12

[Gethe]

1. I found "Learn Lua in 15 Minutes" a while ago. It provides a very good overview of the syntax, as well as some additional links at the end.

2. Wowpedia is probably the best resource for WoW API docs. I use it extensively when I don't know how to do something with the API.

3. Libraries are by no means required or even needed, though they do make certain things easier. Wowpedia has a simple example of how to do Saved Vars without a library.

Edit: and Seerah's link too, good stuff.

[Lightbound]

Well didnt expect that fast and helpful answers. Ill take a nap and than read through every information i can get. I dont expect that much but since i got a bunch of free time i want to do something "usefull" with it.

Edit: just scrolled over the "Learn Lua in 15 Minutes" thing. Basicly looks more like a "if you know any programming language, ill show you how you do stuff you already know in Lua". Anyways, ill take a look later on it.

Edit2: Is the IRC stuff still working? Tryed to join irc.freenode.net/WoWUIDev via webchat.quakenet.org. Not sure if i did right. Long time ago i did use IRC

[Phanx]

There are some additional links, mostly to useful forum posts explaining Lua concepts and such, at the "resources" link in my signature.

2. Rather than Googling for how to make a button, it's probably faster to look at the code of an addon you already have that makes a button, or even the default UI code.

Same for events and functions -- try searching for keywords on the "all events" and "all API functions" lists on Wowpwedia first, and look in the related default UI code if you can't find it there. I only use Google for answering more conceptual questions, or for looking for information about specific API bugs.

3. I would not recommend using any libraries until you have a good grasp on the basics, and can make an informed decision about whether using a library will actually make your work easier, and whether the overhead is worth the gain. For example, it would be insane to use AceGUI just to create one button.

[Gethe]

Yeah the 15 min thing does make a few assumptions, but it's still a good overview. If you're just getting started, you really only need to go as far as the tables section (then skip to the bottom for more links).