Plugin Developers, where did you start?

Discussion in 'Plugin Development' started by kotpx3, Mar 13, 2012.

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  1. Offline

    kotpx3

    Hi, this thread is directed towards plugin developers. I am a high school senior and I run a Minecraft server that uses bukkit. I want to be able to code some plugins by myself for my server. Once I get enough experience, I would also start to release plugins on bukkit. My question is where did you start to learn how to code plugins? I know absolutely nothing about java and coding plugins. I just want a solid base to start at and build up from there. How did you first learn to make plugins?
     
  2. Offline

    7cardcha

    ZeusAllMighty11 likes this.
  3. Offline

    Kanlaki101

    Learn at least the basics of java before you get into doing plugins.
    I'm not saying you need to get into the heavy, more experienced functions, but you need a grasp of the normal things like variables, if/else, operators, and conditions, before you begin writing plugins.
    http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/index.html
     
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    Moon_werewolf

    I already know how to code from Game maker and PHP when i started. I basically just downloaded a simple plugin with source code and keep trying to modified it... try and error ^^
     
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    dsmyth1915

  6. Offline

    Lolmewn

    I started fixing Sortal :)
    That didn't go well :)
    But I fixed it anyway :)
     
  7. Offline

    kotpx3

    Thank you guys for the replies! I'll start working on learning how to make a website first. After I have mastered that, I'll start java and plugins for bukkit.
     
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    dsmyth1915

    PHP, HTML, CSS, are all code, but fairly different from java in some respects. it's a good start and it may help you with java later on but it's not guaranteed.
     
  9. Offline

    Taco

    Start with learning the basics of programming and the language in question (Java in this case) and move onto plugin development once you have a decent grasp on the basics. If at first you're bored, try by assigning yourself small projects that you may enjoy. A good way to start is to make simple text-based games, like blackjack or even just a dice.

    Once you move onto plugin development, you may want to check out the code behind other plugins first. Most plugins have their source out for anyone to look at and learn from, as well as tutorials to introduce you to plugin development, so starting out shouldn't be too bad. An example of a simple plugin that you can look at to see what you may be dealing with can be found here: Clicky.
     
    SgtStud likes this.
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    SgtStud

    kotpx3

    I highly recommend watching TheNewBoston's tutorial's on Java. He has an 87 part series on the basics (it soundsl overwhelming, but you learn so much!), a shorter intermediate series, and a short game development series.

    TheNewBoston Channel:
    http://www.youtube.com/thenewboston
    WebSite:
    http://www.tnbforum.com/
    Once you have mastered all of his tutorials (and yes I mean mastered, do not half ass them but write the code along with him and rewatch tutorials if you have to), then move on to plugin developing. For learning plugins I recommend looking up guides and tutorials to learn the absolute basics, and after that, checking out other plugin's source code.

    Finally, and hands down the best way to learn plugin making and Java in general is to get down and dirty:

    Trial and error


    Good luck in your future programming endeavors!
     
    7cardcha likes this.
  11. Offline

    ZeusAllMighty11

    I started out with a basic Torch Notifier plugin. :p

    I searched up some youtube tuts, and they were confusing as hell. So instead of that, I just took source off of an old torch notifier plugin, and worked from there and learned what the events were, etc.
     
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    zwap1233

    many of ways to learn it.
    only i advise you to use one because some tutorials do it different than other tutorials and than you get confused
     
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    dakoslug

    Javascript is similar in some ways to java. So learn that, and then you can try to grasp java.
     
  14. Javascript is so much different than Java, from creating variables to defining methods.

    Still, any previous experience in another language will help... expecially basic stuff like conditions, functions, arguments, etc... but unless you start doing stuff by yourself and try to understand errors and etc you won't fully wrap your head around it.
     
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    dakoslug

    It is different, but its similar logic wise.
     
    billofbong likes this.
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    Sorroko

    I do agree, they are both OOP languages and similar concepts, maybe 100% different in how it is presented i.e class systems in java and threads but it helps ;)
     
  17. Offline

    ItsHarry

    First learn JAVA through tutorials and practice. Once you know JAVA, coding plugins is easy :D
     
  18. Offline

    nisovin

    Many languages are similar logic wise. Javascript and Java are extremely different.
    You might be able to argue that Javascript is OOP, but it is so different that learning Javascript wouldn't really help you much to learn Java. There are better ways, like just learning Java instead.
     
    SgtStud likes this.
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    SgtStud

    I first came into programming after learning a bit of VB.Net. Although it was event-driven, it was very helpful for me in grasping the concepts of programming.

    Not to mention it has a built in gui system!
     
  20. Offline

    damospiderman

    Tbh I think the best way to get into programming is by getting a simple plugin which is already made and change it slightly to do something fun. You'll run into errors along the way - this is where you start to learn - Google the errors and find out why it isn't working and make it work. Once you're hooked you can go and learn some of the basics about conditions and variables and some more advanced stuff.

    It does help knowing the basics about conditions etc from the start but I find learning about a language by doing the boring beginners tutorials is well... boring and an easy way to not really advanced any further with it. Getting hands on and dirty straight up is the fun bit and what gets you hooked.

    This is coming from experience - In high school I really wanted to do programming and stuff but always got bored too quickly learning because basically I wanted to do stuff which were way past a beginners level or had no goal at all with what to code.

    Then I came across SA-MP(GTA:SA multiplayer mod ), and through messing around with plugins in that I got hooked because I could see what I coded in action and play with it. A year or so later I got a programming job ( from learning other languages ) and also joined the sa-mp dev team.

    Whatever you do, make sure you have fun doing it :)
     
  21. Offline

    Sayshal

    I'm taking classes in highschool.
    We've covered Python, some Game-Maker, and now are moving into the VERY basics of Java. Because of taking a month of python, it's helped me grasp things in Java. Also, thenewboston.
     
  22. Offline

    psanker

    Yes, as others have said, learn Java first. I highly recommend buying a Java "tome," a fat reference book that has helpful advice for almost every tool Java can provide. However, I started as an iOS developer using Objective-C. Moreover, I was/am a webmaster, so I also know PHP, Perl, SQL, (X)HTML, JS, CSS(3), and more. The transition from C-based to Java was weird, but much of the nomenclature from Objective-C is similar to Java.
     
  23. I started out by watching thenewboston's tutorials on youtube till about video #20, then proceeded to developing here. I mostly learned by looking through and studying source code from bukkit plugins, researching on forum topics, and reading minor parts of Blue Pelican Java and Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel. I've only started learning Java around 5 months ago, and I'm a high school freshman:)
     
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