General question of the difficulty of making addons.

[James.Denholm]

Well, I know it's not a walk in the park. If it was, I'd bring my dog along.

But, here's what I want to know:

1. Is it difficult to learn how to code C++? That's what Orbiter uses, right?

2. Is it anything like VB.NET?

Cheers,
James.

 

[Urwumpe]

1. Not hard. It is pretty easy to get started with making simple orbiter add-ons.
2. No. Thank god, not! Visual basic is the most bloated BASIC dialect, I know.

 

[ar81]

Staring point to make addons: Start making surface bases. You only need notepad and a few concepts.

This is the first step for a newcomer developer
http://www.orbitersim.com/forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=4531

Then this
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2733"]Tutorial: How to create surface bases[/ame]

Then follow the exercises of the manual from
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2796"]Surface base wizard 1.3b[/ame]

Then edit scenarios
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2735"]Tutorial: How to make scenarios for Orbiter v1.5[/ame]

Then you may try to learn aboput modelling in 3D and then you can make vinka's vessels and then you can code in C++ your own module for your vessel.

 

[James.Denholm]

Hey all, thanks, I sorta forgot about the thread...

What do you mean by "bloated", Urwumplehttp://orbiter-forum.com/member.php?u=125? Do you mean that the IDE is to memory intensive?

 

[Urwumpe]

What do you mean by "bloated", Urwumple? Do you mean that the IDE is to memory intensive?

No, with bloated I mean, that the language as special constructs for each situation you encounter, while C++ or Java for example have a very simple syntax which on the other hand gets it's magic by the vast number of possible recombinations you can do with it, as well as allowing (like VB to be fair) to extend the functionality of the language with add-on APIs.

 

[Sir William]

1. You can make many addons through using calls to the Orbiter API and some intermediate level C++ code.

2. .NET is not supported at all in Orbiter, though you can use wrapper classes or the tool PInvoke. That way you can e.g. call dlls written i C++ from (I believe) Visual Basic .NET. (i.e. un-managed code from managed code)

Visual Basic .NET may have some resemblance with form based programming in C++ .NET using the latest version of MS Visual Studio.

 

[James.Denholm]

Thanks Sir William!