Request: Beginners Guide to Thyme

[moorpipe]

Past week I've spent some time reading the forum, more specifically topics about Thyme.
I know that Thyme is not officially supported and only suited for advanced users. But when you have played around in Algodoo for some time learning and enjoying the mechanicals soon you want more control and build scenes that require scripting. So, what do you do as a beginner?
Check if there is a manual or guide; I couldn't find one.
Check if there is a tutorial; I found quite a few, even an elaborate one by gradyfitz. However, without a proper introduction these tutorials are quite hard to read (e.g. it took me 7 days before I discovered hitting TAB in the console shows the settings). The "gradyfitz" tutorial is nice, but seems to be a bit outdated (Sept. 2009). There are references to a wiki but all I could find was an empty page and a list of commands and variables. The list seems to be quite complete, but isn't very helpful for beginners.
Check and analyse examples in the forum and Algobox. I found some very useful ones, but most of them are rather difficult to understand without some background knowledge.
Read all the topics in section Thyme scripting. I read a lot of them, but again, for beginners this is not very efficient and very time consuming. It's good if you know what you are looking for (e.g. "readable").

I wonder if emil (he's the author of Thyme, right?) has some kind of manual and is willing to share it with us. At least he wrote a master thesis about it. Secondly, is it possible to put all tutorials in wiki style (like the old phun wiki)? I know it has been suggested a couple of times (for instance by tatt61880), and maybe it was operational for a while, but I cannot find it at the moment.

Any guidance would be very appreciated.

[tatt61880]

C:\Program Files\Algodoo\thyme.cfg can be a simple example for programmers, in my opinion.
There is no example for "readable" in the thyme.cfg, though.

I wish that there are people who are willing to create guide and sample scenes for Thyme.

[electronicboy]

Grady's list of thyme, although outdated, most, if not all, of it is still applicable!

The main methods of learning thyme, is to look into others scenes, and look at the code. That was how I started to get into thyme. I only really read tutorials and stuff when I was really clueless.
However, the learning method you choose is dependant upon how you learn,

Good luck!

[tatt61880]

I've uploaded a sample scene for "readable".
Blue box has next code in its text property.

Code: Select all

{"" + (readable(owner)).pos}

ThymeSample readable owner

tatt61880

Rating:
Filesize: 12.83 kB
Comments: 0
Ratings: 2

====
This sample scene doesn't use onCollide, at all.
You can also use readable with onCollide.
Next code will return velocity of which collided with the box.

Code: Select all

(e)=>{e.this.text = (readable(e.other)).vel}

[NilsMolinder]

That video is still mostly correct and is a fairly good guide if you're an absolute beginner. It's a bit slow though, like videos are sometimes

[moorpipe]

Thanks for all your advice. I guess I have to learn it the hard way like everyone else did.
But that can be fun too.
I basically agree with electronicboy (about learning methods), but it would be nice there was a guide to the most elementary stuff. E.g. I already know that the TAB key will be my friend in the Console. I wish I knew what you can do with this key from day 1.
Thanks tatt61880 for the samples. And also thanks to NilsMolinder pointing me to Paradigm249's video tutorial (with very good narration; wish all video tutorials were like that).

[Xray]

Past week I've spent some time reading the forum, more specifically topics about Thyme.
I know that Thyme is not officially supported and only suited for advanced users. But when you have played around in Algodoo for some time learning and enjoying the mechanicals soon you want more control and build scenes that require scripting. So, what do you do as a beginner?
Check if there is a manual or guide; I couldn't find one.
Check if there is a tutorial; I found quite a few, even an elaborate one by gradyfitz. However, without a proper introduction these tutorials are quite hard to read (e.g. it took me 7 days before I discovered hitting TAB in the console shows the settings). The "gradyfitz" tutorial is nice, but seems to be a bit outdated (Sept. 2009). There are references to a wiki but all I could find was an empty page and a list of commands and variables. The list seems to be quite complete, but isn't very helpful for beginners.
Check and analyse examples in the forum and Algobox. I found some very useful ones, but most of them are rather difficult to understand without some background knowledge.
Read all the topics in section Thyme scripting. I read a lot of them, but again, for beginners this is not very efficient and very time consuming. It's good if you know what you are looking for (e.g. "readable").

I wonder if emil (he's the author of Thyme, right?) has some kind of manual and is willing to share it with us. At least he wrote a master thesis about it. Secondly, is it possible to put all tutorials in wiki style (like the old phun wiki)? I know it has been suggested a couple of times (for instance by tatt61880), and maybe it was operational for a while, but I cannot find it at the moment.

Any guidance would be very appreciated.

I totally agree with moorpipe. I, too, wish there was a single wiki or tutorial that describes every tyme function, and gives some script examples of ways you can use each function. Currently, a person can only dredge through countless numbers of forum threads and other hap-hazard resources. Some of the resources are helpful, but they are very limited, and they do not seem to explain the "hows", "wheres" and "whys" of the functions. Maybe such a complete resource doesn't currently exist, and is in need of someone who is willing to devote hundreds of hours to such a project. If someone were to compile a list of functions, and put them together with sample scenes that explain how to use each function, I would be more than happy to pay money for such a document, and I'm sure that other people would too.

I would take on such a project myself if I were very knowledgeable with Thyme, but I'm not. This would have to be a job for someone from the Thyme development team. And maybe someone would have more of an impetus to take on such a project if there were money to be made (?). Just a thought.

[Kilinich]

Just pick some scene and dig it. As questions here. You'll get it soon.

[TC42]

>Open the console (use the tilde, "~")
>Press the 'tab' key

If memory serves correctly, this should enable you to see every single thyme function there is in algodoo, complete with a vague and/or entertaining description. As Kilinnich says, exploration/reverse-engineering is the way that most people learned thyme; grab a basic tutorial from the forums, and as you need more powerful functions, go into the console or into a scene and find them.

[Xray]

Just pick some scene and dig it. As questions here. You'll get it soon.

Yes, that's how I will have to learn about Thyme until (or IF) a complete tutorial is published.
Thanks for your help, Kilinich!

Xray

[Xray]

>Open the console (use the tilde, "~")
>Press the 'tab' key

If memory serves correctly, this should enable you to see every single thyme function there is in algodoo, complete with a vague and/or entertaining description. As Kilinnich says, exploration/reverse-engineering is the way that most people learned thyme; grab a basic tutorial from the forums, and as you need more powerful functions, go into the console or into a scene and find them.

Most of what I have learned so far came from OPC (Other People's Code). That's a method of learning to use when there is not much else available. But when reverse-engineering OPC, it invariably opens the door to a lot of questions. And when questions get answered in this forum, the answers are often very limited, and they almost always explain the WHAT, and never the WHY. I'm a person who needs to know WHY something is done a certain way in addition to how it is done. For now, I realize that this is how it must be.

Thanks for your reply, TC42!

Xray

EDIT -- By the way, I tried the TAB key, as you suggested, and a list of functions came up in the console, but with no other details. I found that using the / key (and then the Enter key) gives a list of functions along with some examples of usage. This is somewhat helpful.