oh alright lol


guess I shoulda checked some links

 

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"I should reiterate that if you are a beginner, don't bother. Remember that any plugin you develop, if it crashes, will quite likely take down your AC instance if it fails too."


I think this is bad advice. If nobody ever tried to do something hard, nothing interesting would ever be accomplished.


Einstein believed that explaining things in plain English is one of the hardest things to do because it requires one to be thoughtful, and most people (even scientists) just aren't very thoughtful people.

I agree. Feel free to try it, and be sure to use all the available resources.


On the other hand, don't expect decal developers to answer basic programming questions. Be willing to spend significant time searching as well as in trial and error. Do not run to others when something you write does not work.

 

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Thanks, the attitude of Decal programmers is interesting though because for any other programming project I've worked on there were always people who were more than happy to help someone starting out. Given how generous the Decal programmers are with their time and work with the programs they develop, it's surprising how hateful their attitude appears to be with regards to expanding the programming community. Paraduck is of course a very pleasant exception. The second I asked him for an example he was more than happy to provide it. Oh well, as I've said I've given up before I began because the function needed, i.e. one to check someone's online status, is not available.

 

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That's what I thought originally, but I've actually learned a lot more about programming because I had to figure a lot of stuff out for myself. I'd never even used the Object Browser before, but it pretty much became my best friend when writing plugins. It's a textbook example of the 'teach a man to fish..' cliche- if every time I asked what method or property to use for something one of the decal devs just told me, I'd still be asking for help every time I did any coding.


Decal programming isn't for the faint-hearted. It's really not a good thing to try if you're not past the stage of being a beginner, and by forcing would-be devs to find things out for themselves, it weeds out the faint-hearted, and pretty much ensures that plugins are only developed by reasonably competent coders. Personally, I consider that a good thing.

More like you're excusing bad behavior.


Good advice, given when asked for, is always a good thing to do. Not everyone is willing to do that.


I was once in New York City, and asked someone for help finding a place. They guy was so nice, not only did he tell me where to go, but he offered to take me there. If he had told me to go find a map because that would make me a more knowledgeable person and a better navigator of New York City, he would have been correct. He also would have been a jerk.


Being condescending is easy. Being helpful and thoughtful is hard.

You asked for directions in NYC and someone actually stopped and was willing to talk to you? Wow, that's quite unusual!

 

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Not everyone is cut out to be a developer. There are far too many people who "want" to be developers, but have no patience, experience, or anything that goes along with it. We help people who help themselves. That's what Thor and Virindi were mainly getting at. I WANT people to program who WANT to program. But they have to have SOME drive to do it. They can't just come up to us asking us questions and expecting we'll hand them all the code they need to write their plugin.


Most of the plugins these types of people also want to make border on the bad side of things as well. Many of the people we see coming in asking questions about how to develop plugins only do so because they want to make a plugin that does bad things, and no one else has written it yet because of the Decal Code of Ethics (with the exclusion of pretty much every Darktide Plugin).


In fact, 2 of the last 3 people I have helped with coding in the channel have turned out to be people who abused my help to create plugins that I don't approve of and wouldn't have given my assistance to otherwise. In a way, we get tricked into helping people create things we don't agree with, and when we deny people the assistance, we get called names or told we somehow have bad attitudes or whatever. I guess the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. *shrug*


Those who have the desire to REALLY learn to program will do so with or without our help. Those are actually the people we are more likely to help as well because they have a drive and determination, and they've done extensive leg-work on their own to get past most of the main n00b obstacles. If you have questions, research them first. If you still do not have an answer, then ask. We aren't opposed to assisting; we just expect people to use Google first!

Perhaps I also need to clarify what I meant as well, since it wasn't clear. When I say "if you're a beginner, don't bother", what I mean is that Decal plugins should not be your first project. Developing for Decal with its complex interops and filters, etc, can be quite difficult, and you are better off experimenting with less complicated projects before attempting to touch Decal plugins. You could still put one together, but you should still be warned that broken Decal plugins can wipe out your AC instance, and that if you're developing any sort of combat assist plugin, you'll probably die a few times in the testing .

 

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"ou asked for directions in NYC and someone actually stopped and was willing to talk to you? Wow, that's quite unusual!"


New Yorkers have that reputation, but it's largely undeserved. I currently live in Seattle, and although Seattle residents are "polite"... they're polite in a politically correct sort of way. New Yorkers are actually really helpful people. They're just rather direct about it.


I was once chastised for jaywalking in Seattle, and not by a police officer but by some folks waiting for the light to turn. I seriously doubt a New Yorker would have given it a second thought.