#im new to python and coding

[lucidofthenight]

I wonder if I could make a warrior cats text game in python-

warrior cats autism goes brrrrr

[rigelmejo]

learning to code!

When I was 9 years old, I learned enough html to code neopets pages, my own geocities websites, and I even made forums on my own sites so my friends could all roleplay together or rant together lol. And then? I forgot so much. I no longer no how to make a forum, or even a 'next page' button - so even the dream of just making a simple blog or webnovel site feels like a huge hurdle now. (9 year old me could probably figure it out in 2 hours).

So I'm relearning! I figured this would be a fun post to place resources I find for coding, since there's coding languages, and I figure maybe if you like running you're blog then you also might be interested in tools for making blogs!

First, for those of you who miss the old geocities and angelfire type of sites to make your own free site on: neocities.org

You can make free sites you can code yourself, the way 9 year old me did. A lot of people have made SUCH amazing sites, it's baffling my mind trying to figure out how they did, I definitely wish I could make an art portfolio site even a fourth as cool as some of the sites people have made on here.

And for those pressed for time, who aren't about to learn coding right now: wix.com is the place I recommend for building a site, it requires no coding skill and is fairly straightforward about adding pages or features by clicking buttons. I used it to make my art portfolio site, I am testing out using it for my webnovel - the alternative is Wordpress, but wix.com is letting me basically make a wordpress blog Inside my own site. It's very beginner friendly in terms of "how the fuck do I set up a 'sign up for updates' message and have my site actually email these people my novel updates?" and "I need a 4x20 grid of my art down the page, that lets people click the art to see it's information and make it bigger."

I did neocities.org's little html tutorial today, it's the part of html I DID remember (links, paragraphs, headers).

My next step is to go through htmldog.com's tutorials. They go from beginner, to intermediate, to CSS. Unlike many a coding tutorial I've seen, they explain what program on your computer you need to WRITE the code in and then how to save it and how to open it. (You'd think this isn't a big deal but I've been looking into how to learn Python for months and I can't find a tutorial explaining what fucking program to write my python in... notepad? do I need something else? I don't fucking know!! My dad finally gave me a printed textbook which supposedly tells you what to download to start... I learned C++ in college and for that you needed Visual Basic to code C++, so I figured I needed Something to Write the fucking python IN.)

[springcatalyst]

the devil in my brain says ooooh i wanna make a shitty low quality video game but my time and skill and knowledge say otherwise

[studyyblrring]

💕 intro post 💕

not new to the community, but coming back from a rather long hiatus so here's a lil introduction ^^

i'm 26, currently pursuing a master's degree in data science (kinda?). i was diagnosed with adhd late last year and have been on a journey of self-discovery ever since trying to manage my symptoms and improve my quality of life, and that also includes my studies!

i'm currently in the process of writing my master's thesis, which i had to push back to the fall instead of this summer bc of my adhd </3 im still trying to find my rhythm atm and get better at coding in python. im hoping that by rejoining the studyblr community i'll be able to get back on track to still graduate this year!!

other than my master's degree, i am also a big language learning enthusiast. i'm bilingual - i speak romanian (native) and english (c1). i've dabbled in many languages, but i'm most comfortable with japanese (~N4). right now i am taking a break from japanese and will be focusing on studying korean. my goal for kr is to reach lower intermediate, so around a2/b1 (topik levels still confuse me sorry) by the end of this year.

finally im an intl student studying in the netherlands and i'm slowly working my way to gaining confidence in speaking dutch and improving my skills, so if youre a dutch speaker willing to help out learners hmu :')

also im ofc looking for friends and i'd love to chat about anything really. my dms/asks are always open so feel free to reach out :)

[tanasha-not-yet]

problem: my coding environment doesnt see my module 'pil'

solutions ive tried: reinstall python, try out older and newer versions, create new python environments, resort the system variables with paths, kill god, rebuild the coding environment with new modules, address each element im trying to use by global fucking path, nearly kill my windows, accidentally delete a virus lol??

real solution: um eh im called 'PIL' not 'pil'.. show me some respect..

[snailsnaps]

Part 2 of a Computer Science student's analysis of the FNAF: SB intro

Full with tech lingo, abundant personal interpretations, and translations so that my tech illiterate fellas may undertand whatever the fuck im yapping about!

This post is written under the context that you've read my last analysis. I highly recommend you first check out these two posts before continuing with this one if you haven't already: > First post + Continuation ( IMPORTANT!! ) > An addition to the first post

Once you've read through those two (three?) posts, come back here! You're back? You've read them? Awesome! Let's begin then. =)

Reminder! This analysis has been done based off of my own understanding of the subject of both computing and programming - which I am currently studying. I would also like to yet again shout out this reddit post, that also gives a great perspective. Definitely check it out if you're interested later!

Also I have not re-read this, you may find typos - don't hold it against me, they will be fixed, someday =(

Now then, fellas, this is where shit gets wild.

Last post, I talked about the command box we can see at the top right corner of the intro - what each command did and how it basically corresponded to what happens to freddy in the events of the intro.

However, you might recall I mentioned a second command box, the one found at the left side of the screen. This command box is by far the most important piece of information we have throughout the entire duration of the intro. Mostly, because it changes 3 times.

It changes a total of 3 times in the time it takes for the right command box to finish.

Each time it changes, it displays new lines of code. And every single line of code it displays, tells us a lot about what is happening to Freddy.

This is the first block of code that we get:

system32> Get-568_win heat_869%yTnu_bl8 lvl_b> 228.wst serial.dot_btb rec.556> dtd /

You might inmediately realize that the first line of code from this command box matches exactly the one from the first analysis. Here are both of them as comparison.

Hopefully, you've already made the connection. This command box is the one possibly being run by the Glitchtrap/Vanny Virus. Whatever lines of code appear on the command box to the left, are the ones being executed by the Virus - and they affect Freddy in real time. However, the command box on the right ir Freddy's, so to speak.

Both CLI (command line interfaces) are being run at the same time - yet independently of one another. Keep this in mind.

I don't want to go too in depth with this first block of code. All you need to know is that it moves around some directories and runs something called 'dtd', wich could be a command or a program.

The next two blocks of code, however? Ohhh damn... This is it, fellas. This is what I've been waiting for.

Now, I want you to know that this doesn't quite resemble any 'real' code, at least not at first glance. I do believe that it is a very 'condensed' form of the Python programming language, since the syntaxing of the commands shown here somewhat resemble how a string written in Python would look like.

So, I have taken the time to try to decipher what each line means, and what they do. And well, let's just say it explains why Freddy wasn't affected by the Virus in the first place.

def rule(x) return warning78 init; self_overdrive abort(3)RTLKt abort(5)XGE END

This is the second block of code that we're shown, so lets break it down.

def rule(x) return warning78 init;

This string would define "rule" as a function, specifying "x" as the parameter. Basically, this line specifies that if the command rule is inputted, it should return whatever value (or argument) x has taken.

Normally, define is followed by a return function, which is why I've shown them together, as well as the init; command.

The command return followed by "warning78", makes it so whenever we call upon the function rule, it shows us whatever warning78 may be - and judging as to what happens in the intro, it could be any of the multiple warnings that appear in Freddy's GUI. Or it could also easily be the big "WARNING!" message that can be seen the entire time near the top of the screen.

Lastly, the init; command isn't exactly a standardized python command - but it is a common abreviation of the initialization command, where in the field of programming, it means "the assignment of an initial value for a data object or variable". Basically, it's when you assign the initial values and variables to a program so it can start.

All in all, these three lines create a command that, when called upon, gives out the warning78.

self_overdrive

Again, not really a python function, but important nontheless. This command doesn't have a specific meaning, but we can try to understand what it does.

The term overdrive doesn't really exist in the field of computing/programming. However, it is asociated with overclocking - "the practice of increasing the clock rate of a computer to exceed that certified by the manufacturer" - Overdrive is also a term in the field of music, also known as distorsion, which is when you force an amplifier to output past its limits.

Both of these definitions go around the same concept, pushing a computer to its limits so that it works better, or faster - even while it possibly damages the computer.

We can then assume that the function self_overdrive is making Freddy's system run pasts its usual limits. Which is why I believe Freddy's integrity level plumits during the intro.

abort(3)RTLKt abort(5)XGE END

Lastly, we have these three lines.

The abort function isn't a real python function - but I believe you can asume what it does. Both lines are attempting to kill something - a program, a process, another function... However, I am not sure wether these two are really functions, since they could very easily be error handling messages. Essencially, warning messages that the system returns when something crashes, for example.

The last line, END, specifies the end of this string of code.

Which leads us to the third and last block of code. The one which in my professional opinion, is the one that reveals to us why Freddy's cool with us during Security Breach! =]

report.NULL gridlock [ax674] init_task>void alloc [overload] SW.failure return /

THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR, FRIENDS. THIS IS IT. This is the part where I had the most fun with this analysis...

report.NULL

Now, usually report, in the field of programming and software, it means to record or log something. For example an error log, or crash log. However, it being followed by NULL could also mean that this is an error handling message of sorts.

In computing, Null is, well, zero. It's nothing. It's the absence of value, when something that should be there, isn't.

From this, we could gather that this is a warning message that attempted to report something, yet failed to find anything to report back. No value at all.

...or, we could take this line literally. Taking into consideration that this code is being executed by the virus - this line of code could be taken as an attempt by the virus to stop Freddy's system from freaking out.

Remember that this entire code is being executed as Freddy's actively getting a big flashing WARNING! message. So, this line of code could be an effort to silence it, returning a null value to a warning message.

Both scenarios are plausible, so stick with the one you think fits best!

gridlock [ax674]

This one... man... this line was wild. It's where everything clicked for me. You will want to ignore the characters [ax674], what we truly care about is the first word: gridlock.

You see, a gridlock isn't really a term used in computing at all. It is a term refering to a "severe congestion of traffic, where continuous queues of vehicles block an entire intersection". HOWEVER, gridlock is also known as another term for deadlock.

A deadlock is what's known as a stalemate. A situation where two opposing parties come to a point where no progress can be made. In programming, it means basically the same thing.

A situation where two processes can't proceed, since both of them are waiting for the other to release a resource. Now, imagine this scenario. We have two processes, A and B, and two resources, R1 and R2.

Process A is currently using resource R1.

Process B is currently using resource R2.

Process A requests resource R2, but is blocked because it's held by Process B.

Process B requests resource R1, but is blocked because it's held by Process A.

Now... imagine this situation, but with Freddy, and the virus.

What we most likely have here, the line gridlock [ax674], is an error handling message, warning that a deadlock is ocurring. The string of characters beside it has no meaning, and could easily be but an error handling code of sorts.

init_task>void

I've explained before that init is the abreviation of initialization. So, we can gather that this is a command that is attempting to initialize a task. Now then, in the context of the previous line, this one could mean one of two things:

The virus is attempting to initialize a task (a set of instructions) called void.

The virus is attempting to initialize a task, however, due to the deadlock, it returns this line as an error message, indicating a void return. In programming, when a function returns the word void, it usually means that the function was not able to return a value. It is similar to Null, yet not the same.

Either of these could be a posibility, so I will leave it to your personal interpretation.

And here it when it all goes to hell...

alloc [overload] SW.failure return

Alloc is not a real function, but it can be considered an abreviation of the word allocation. In computing, the allocation is the assignment of memory and resources to the various processes the system may have.

Proper memory and resource allocation is very important in a computer. As you may know, a computer as a limited amount of RAM it can work with, and the same goes for it's processing power. But, for example, what happens when you try to allocate resources that aren't available?

Well, a lot of things may happen. Mainly, the program could hang, the process could freeze - or the entire system could crash!

Remember earlier, we saw that it was likely that Freddy and the virus were in a deadlock. Yet, the Virus tried to allocate more resources to itself... Which overloaded the system, and likely resulted in the next line.

SW.failure has no real meaning - but I've interpreted the first two characters [SW] as software. This would make this line an error message warning about a software failure.

So... What does this all mean? How does it all tie together? Why didn't Freddy get infected by the Virus? Because it got too greedy. It tried to allocate too many resources/memory, overloaded the system and crashed both itself and Freddy.

Why only Freddy, though? Why didn't this happen to the other animatronics? That... I'm not sure. I believe this is more of a lore question rather than computer question.

In my opinion, I don't think this was a case of 'Freddy knew that he was getting infected by a virus, and fought back'. I'm leaning more to the posibility of it being a 'wrong place wrong time' type of situation... or maybe 'right place right time'? In general, a lot of factors and a lot of different things happened that lead to this specific scenario happening.

Anyways, this is it! This has been my analysis - or nerdy infodumping, if you please.

I do hope that I was able to teach you something today, and that this whole analysis helps you understand the animatronics a bit better - and helps you with future fanfics, comics, AUs, artworks... whatever!

One last reminder - if you have any more questions about this stuff, my ask box is open! I love talking about this stuff!!

Oh, and, coming soon...

DJMM's Bouncer Mode ! A theory by a computer science student as to why it's still present, and why it makes him so aggressive.

[machetelettuce]

WAIT TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROGRAMMING WHAT YOU DO- mainly i need to be reminded this is not an impossible task and i am in fact just tired lololol

OHHH LOL I'm not a professional or anything but im in an advanced Python class so I've worked on a few projects that have absolutely KILLED me in terms of motivation. I haven't worked with super complex games (yet) but I have coded a few simplistic games in Blender (Absolutely miserable by the way, Blender is awesome but it has a HUGE learning curve that im still not over) and also in Spyder. Admittedly, what your working on (a fully fledged game?!?) is wayyy more complex then what I'd probably take on, but it's still doable and definitely not impossible!!! I've gotten incredibly fatigued on a few projects for my class (Err-- I think the worst one was on making a back-and-forth combat game in spyder with pygame, god, absolutely miserable.) but you've just gotta remember your goal and that it IS possible!!!!! Just difficult and tiresome. Taking a break might help!!! Not even a particularly long one, just enough to rest your mind so you can view your problem through a new lens.

Sorry if this isnt the most helpful lol I'm not versed in complex game-making, but good luck on your journey!!!! I've loved reading about your ideas, it sounds really cool!!!!! <:)

[prettyboykatsuki]

hi!! random but with your new tagging system i wondered if you've ever played SeekL? it's a visual novel based around the SQL coding and it's really good! made by the same person that made Blooming Panic (another awesome visual novel if you've never played that one either i highly recommend!! 🥰)

i have ! actually me playing SeekL is what got me back into SQL. i studied SQL mostly in a for-fun sort of way while studying python in school but playing SeekL reminded me of my like. genuine love for it. i want to study it more and learn it better so i can make a database for fun but yeah!!

i’ve also actually written for seekl as well 💀💀 i fear the way i lust after odxny is something that needs studying. i have smut for him in my drafts but yeah im one of the four fics he has in ao3. ive played bloomic (and. written for it) as well!!!! nightowl my wife

[a-fox-studies]

Hello Iris! Im Yvaine, I've been following you for a while now and I just wanted to say that you and your blog have inspired me a lot as a student and im so thankful for that ♡

And regarding my question, I am a beginner who wants to learn how to code, so what programming language do you recommend I start with??

Thanks!

Thankyou so much!!! I'm glad I can help others by being myself :)

I started off with Java because of school syllabus, but putting that aside — if you have a particular career in mind, then go with languages that pertain to that field. For example, an aspiring web developer would start with HTML.

If you're not set on a particular field and you're completely new, then I would recommend Java for an understanding of how everything works, and to know about basic concepts. You can also learn Python, and after that you could do small projects like a tic-tac-toe game, or rock-paper-scissors game to wrap up your understanding of the basics. I feel like you'd have a good idea of everything by then <3

@vexacarnivorous @codemerything @moose-mousse you can give your opinions and suggestions too to help out :)

[munmun]

stream of consciousness about the new animation vs. coding episode, as a python programmer

holy shit, my increasingly exciting reaction as i realized that yellow was writing in PYTHON. i write in python. it's the programming language that i used in school and current use in work.

i was kinda expecting a print("hello world") but that's fine

i think using python to demonstrate coding was a practical choice. it's one of the most commonly used programming languages and it's very human readable.

the episode wasn't able to cram every possible concept in programming, of course, but they got a lot of them!

fun stuff like print() not outputting anything and typecasting between string values and integer values!!

string manipulation

booleans

little things like for-loops and while-loops for iterating over a string or list. and indexing! yay :D

* iterable input :D (the *bomb that got thrown at yellow)

and then they started importing libraries! i've never seen the turtle library but it seems like it draws vectors based on the angle you input into a function

the gun list ran out of "bullets" because it kept removing them from the list gun.pop()

AND THEN THE DATA VISUALIZATION. matplotlib!! numpy!!!! my beloved!!!!!!!! i work in data so this!!!! this!!!!! somehow really validating to me to see my favorite animated web series play with data. i think it's also a nice touch that the blue on the bars appear to be the matplotlib default blue. the plot formatting is accurate too!!!

haven't really used pygame either but making shapes and making them move based on arrow key input makes sense

i recall that yellow isn't the physically strongest, but it's cool to see them move around in space and i'm focusing on how they move and figure out the world.

nuke?!

and back to syntax error and then commenting it out # made it go away

cool nuke text motion graphics too :D (i don't think i make that motion in python, personally)

and then yellow cranks it to 100,000 to make a neural network in pytorch. this gets into nlp (tokenizers and other modeling)

a CLASS? we touch on some object oriented programming here but we just see the __init__ function so not the full concept is demonstrated here.

OH! the "hello world" got broken down into tokens. that's why we see the "hello world" string turn into numbers and then... bits (the 0s and 1s)? the strings are tokenized/turned into values that the model can interpret. it's trying to understand written human language

and then an LSTM?! (long short-term memory)

something something feed-forward neural network

model training (hence the epochs and increasing accuracy)

honestly, the scrolling through the code goes so fast, i had to do a second look through (i'm also not very deeply versed in implementing neural networks but i have learned about them in school)

and all of this to send "hello world" to an AI(?) recreation of the exploded laptop

not too bad for a macbook user lol

i'm just kidding, a major of people used macs in my classes

things i wanna do next since im so hyped

i haven't drawn for the fandom in a long time, but i feel a little motivated to draw my design of yellow again. i don't recall the episode using object oriented programming, but i kinda want to make a very simple example where the code is an initialization of a stick figure object and the instances are each of the color gang.

it wouldn't be full blown AI, but it's just me writing in everyone's personality traits and colors into a function, essentially since each stick figure is an individual program.

[marcholasmoth]

OSRR: 3808

i talked to my therapist today. it was very helpful.

talking to her kind of felt like i was given permission to look into going back to school again.

so among a bunch of stuff we talked about, i told her about my struggles with creating and maintaining a structure and my need to keep my brain actively engaged in something. and i know that i work best in the sort of structure school/college/university classes give, and i told her i want to take my time as im unemployed to learn new things and hopefully make my résumé more appealing by adding new skills. so she told me to look into them, find costs, and do the analysis.

so after finding and applying to a bunch of jobs, going to the mall with joel, and grabbing some hot chocolate from starbucks, i spent a good while looking for educational programs with and without costs. MIT has their opencourseware which is MIT classes but just with everything posted for free online. harvard has online classes that you can take and then pay about $220 for a certificate saying you completed the course (which is damn good if it can lead to a degree). mcc has certificate programs and other schools in the area do adult education. i'm still looking because there's a lot to learn. but i've done so well on being on top of my payments and stuff that i could potentially just get a part time job and be in school again. which i would love. but it's not necessarily feasible, hence the analysis of things im collecting.

after looking into stuff, joel came in and asked me what i was up to, so i told him. i told him i was looking for courses on programming, specifically python, because i'd started learning it during my program at UNH in durham, which i did not do great during. i just didn't understand how to use it at the time.

but joel laid down beside me and talked me through how to write code in python by using d&d as an example. he told me about functions and defining them, and he told me about how to use variables, and he told me about orders and stuff. it was more enlightening than an entire semester at a university because joel sat and explained it all for so long. i'm confident if i were any other person i'd have been clobbered a long time ago, but joel is so patient with me and im so happy that he is.

and then we headed out with the idiot squad for dinner at buffalo wild wings. i got orange chicken boneless wings which were hotter than i expected , making me uncomfortable after like 8, and im CONFIDENT they gave me more than the 15 i ordered. but they gave me a bunch of carrots and ranch and i was happier than a clam at high tide, i was just tickled peach. so good. i did the happy rocking and wiggling thing. just so happy with my carrots.

after dinner, joel and i came back and i grabbed some stuff from downstairs and headed back home. i'm getting breakfast in the morning with the eggs so i wanted to be here the evening before.

i also got to talk to leo a little bit. he's been having a rough time lately, so i was happy to listen to him. man's struggling, but im here for him.

and now it's time for sleeping.

[ranidspace]

iMessage got reverse engineered

This is me texting my dad over imessage using an open source demo/proof of concept program that can send and recieve basic texts using the imessage protocol.

Disclaimer: this program stores all your encryption data in a VERY EASILY ACCESSIBLE PLAIN TEXT FILE, please don't share that file with anyone, and if you test it out, delete the file as soon as you're done with it. this is nothing more than a test application and not meant to be a full imessage replacement

it's not got good security, however the messages you send, appear to be private, they encrypt the data beforehand and send it directly to apple's servers (in madrid i guess), nothing in between or anything third party.

Sorry for no alt text, the screenshots are "send" function in imessage.py and the "send_message" and "_connect" function inside of apns.py, both are in the github link i sent earlier in the post ("socket" is a built in python package)

(dont trust a random tumblr user who barely knows how to code to tell you that this is safe, i dont know what im doing, this is just what i think was the relevant functions used in the program to send messages, and i could find no evidence of it stealing any data or sending it to third parties)

This was apparently bought and turned into "Beeper Mini", which. just takes this and makes it into an app that's 2$ a month to use, though (apparently) more secure, more features and you don't have to have it running all the time to get messages.

Beeper Mini is not open source so i have no idea if it's actually doing this or if it's actually private/secure. I would wait for it to be externally audited before using it, i'll add a reblog to this post if it ever does, or if any other programs use this method which have been audited to be as/more secure than the regular imessage app

And no, all of the news outlets reporting on this, beeper mini did not reverse engineer imessage, it's a frontend for someone elses work, which the developer was compensated for and they approve of it! it's not bad, i just dont like how it's being reported on, Beeper themselves even credit the dev:

woo

[crescentmp3]

in my CS50P course i notice there are lots of instances where we learn the 'Pythonic' way of doing something, where it's just covention to code a specific way because that's how people do it in python

now im imagining someone coding in a new language for the first time and someone who's well-versed in that language just looks at it and goes "interesting, you have a python accent"

[fandaniel]

there is a guide out there about how to convert your ffxiv mods from the old version of the game to the new one but im kinda fucking stupid and saw python coding and my brain locked up for the night

[studyyblrring]

to do list 2nd of july

day 9 and last day of the heatwave yippieeeee🌟 there has been a change of plans for my thesis, my coding skills are so absolutely abhorrent rn that im losing my mind so im taking time off from actively working on it to speedrun a coursera python course 💀 so my only goal for the rest of this week will be to make my way through the course.

i wanna do as much as possible in the first days so that by tuesday/wednesday i can start going through my code to fix it properly this time. we'll see how that goes since i've some long work shifts coming up but i'll do my best! today's plan is to stay for about 2h at uni while i finish the first module, and then finish the rest home

update: i did almost 3h of focused work while making my way through the python course! considering i basically started in the evening i'm really happy with it. i failed to take into consideration the fact that there are assignments for each module (which that take some time to complete), so unfortunately i didn't complete the practice & final module assignment today, but i got through all the material and half of the practice assignment 🥳 i'll be reading a bit more before bed and then do a quick meditation to lull me to sleep 😴

Thesis (python course):

✅ finish module 1

☐ finish section 1 of module 2

한국어:

✅ anki deck reviews + new daily words

✅ busuu streak

☐ lesson 6 세종학당 한국어 앱

Personal:

☐ workout

✅ meditate

✅ read 32/20 pgs

파이팅 해야지~

🎧 txt - anti-romantic

📖 'dead-end memories' by banana yoshimoto

[king-fae]

6/100 days of code.

1.3.24

happy new year! im late, but it still applies

this is not a personal blog, so ill keep this brief: life happened, and c++ took a backburner. im not abandoning this project! in searching for inspiration to do this challenge before i started, i noticed that not many got very far- so ive decided in this time between the last post and now that i need to go at my own, albeit weird, pace. aka: do days as i can, and not do the catch-up thing i was doing. adhd can do that to ya. once im back on a schedule with school ill be able to incorporate c++ into my routine, whereas aside from my new job im flying solo which makes it historically difficult for me to get stuff done xP

where i left off a week ago, doing W3schools's C++ tutorial, i finished the function section, and today i began the classes section, which peaking at the section headers, made me excited. object-oriented programming is not something i learned in my intro to cs class with Python, and i know C++ does it well, so im pumped to be able to start programming with this.

unfortunately, though, the problem of it being a fairly informal educational resource does rear its head in this section, as im reading and studying this stuff, but can feel it not retaining. this website is better used as a reference resource, rather than a study one, but it is still worth studying imo as it breaks down concepts very simply. thus: im now beginning the C++ beginner course from exercism (an open source resource!!!!), which has a built in compiler, course material, and ability to get support on their discord. cool stuff! it took a minute for me to get acquainted with how it works, as i assumed the instructions were solely a repeat of the lesson, but there were. actual. instructions. beneath that lol so once i got that figured out i was able to properly solve the first exercise without issue.

the lesson material moves fast in its examples, but that is not reflected in the exercises, which was a relief as that impacted my first run, over-complicated tinkering i did before i realized there were actual values given i was supposed to input. theyre complicated but not too difficult to parse, which is a good show of what ill be learning to create as i progress.

final note though, as this is getting long: having W3schools as a resource while doing exercises material is very good, as while the first exercise i did went easily, the second one is jumping into if statements before ive had the chance to learn them from the website, so being able to refer to what they operate like was very helpful. this below is what saved me from error hell, as i had forgotten how to format them already:

im a goof and overcomplicate shit, so was not supposed to use if statements. oh well. this still helped to make it accurate lol

int myAge = 25;

int votingAge = 18;

.

if (myAge >= votingAge) {

.....cout << "Old enough to vote!";

} else {

.....cout << "Not old enough to vote.";

}