Favored Tutorial Format?

I like it where teh tutorial goes through step by step showing the different code pieces and describing what each (or almost each) line does.

I really like NeHe''s style. Step through the code, no code dumps or heavily commented code. Just make sure you include a link to download the source, so it doesn''t have to be typed out (or copied, which would require copying and pasting each little section).

|.dev-c++.|.the gimp.|.seti@home.|.dbpoweramp.|.torn.|.=w=.|

For me, a tutorial needs a combination of things.

First, an explaination of what is being covered and why it works. Like some code or a function that has a little background information, how it works, why it''s needed, its common uses, etc. It may seem sort of useless, but I''m in the beginning stages of *trying* to learn Direct X, and I''ve come across a lot of tutorials that I have to scrap because they give some code that only works in their program, and dont explain how to implement it in other ways.

Another VERY important step is including good examples, also, how they work. I remember doing a tutorial on the DX sprite interface from gamasutra only to have the example be half the real code and expected to know the rest. I did find another site that had a working example that I learned a lot from.

Also, devide the tutorial into sections of working parts. This can make them shorter, simpler, and give results faster. It may seem weird, but when after reading a quick page on sprites and having a (very very simple) working sprite engine at the end, gave a lot of encouragement. It may not be the coolest thing, but eventually with the other sections adding to the code, in sizes you can handle, it makes it much easier.

Now this is from a fairly newbish programmer, I''m still fooling around with my sprites (and now input!!). It drives me crazy to be reading along and all of a sudden some random variable or function pops up that I''m assumed to know. Make sure you explain everything, even the most basic things. If your aiming at a more advanced audience, the format may not have to be as fool proof.

I don''t know if this helps, but I think writibg a tutorial has to be done in a comprehensive way. If I had to choose, NeHe does a fair job at this.

actually i like the way Teej does his tutorial.








500 X 3