The Dink Network

I have started a dice rolling program using Visual Basic that should be useful to those here and elsewhere who play dice roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons.

I started work on it a few hours ago and now I have a working Alpha version that does the most basic stuff that I want the final product to do. It rolls any number of the following dice: d2, d3, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d30, d100, and you can get it to roll dice with other numbers of sides as well if you wish.

In later versions, I plan to add other features such as: graphics, the ability to customise the appearance of the program, the ability to calculate the stasticial average of any number of dice (or die) rolled, and other features I have yet to think of.

If you can suggest any features that you think would be useful, please do suggest them too me...

MORE PLANNED FEATURES:
Speficiation of the best number rolled over a range of rolls.
A special module that let you generate DnD and or d20 Modern ability scores.
The ability to accept the best results over a range of dice.

Randomly generated numbers in VB, you say? I hope you're a beginner.

I am a novice VB programmer, but what exactly is your point?

I think his point is obvious. Most people - especially me don't go anywhere near VB. A lot of D&D geeks are Linux geeks too.

VB teaches bad habits. I'd go for something like Perl www.perl.com or Python www.python.org . A die roller doesn't need graphics to work

Oh I was hoping it wasnt something as silly as that. I dont see why YOU should care if I use VB all that much, I want to make a simple Windows application while not knowing cross platform languages such as Qt yet.

VB is not the langauge I prefer, but good for simple applications. There is little rational reason for windows programmers to avoid VB as much as many do, it has many advantages, as long as the programmer doesnt try to carry VB concepts to other programming languages where they dont belong.

Hmm, I thought Striker's point was either

a) a program to display random numbers in VB (or almost any language) would be absurdly simple, or

b) the random number generator for VB is probably not very 'random', and might favor certain numbers without a proper seed.

I'm probably wrong on both counts

It is a simple application at heart, but with the more useful stuff Ive mentioned before, I have a few people quite interested in it so far.

As for how random it is, well it seems adequatelyh random to me so far... although I might look further into how VB handles random numbers so I can improve it further in later versions.

Nah, it's basically (a). I didn't mean to be disparaging about it, especially since you are in fact, a novice, and programming your own stuff can be lot of fun and an excellent way to learn in the process.

You say you're making a C tutorial yet you program in Visual Basic.

VB annoys the hell out of me. If you can program in something better, why not?

C is multi-platform. More people will be able to use it.

I said I USUALLY program in VB...that does not I always I should ONLY program in it.

The reason I am using VB for this thing is because I like VB, and I want something finished FAST, much faster than I could using C. C etc are not ALWAYS the best languages to use, especially if you want to do something simple fast. I want something done right now, that I can gradually improve on over time, without having to worry about the finer details VB handles for me, I have enough C++ projects to worry about.

And at the moment I have no intention of making it cross platform until I learn Qt, THEN I can make a Linux port.

EDIT:
Considering I want to include this into a whole set of other similar apps (such as a character generator app), VB is a good choice for when it comes to programming languages as I am the only developer working on what will be a big set of programs eventually, which would take more time than I am willing to devote to doing it in C++ at this time.

A Linux port can be a later development.

VB annoys the hell out of you, so perhaps you should avoid programming it and let this fellow do whatever pleases him.

Problem solved for you! Stop complaining.

Thanks Tal, but I think I could have handled him .

A lot of people like to handle me

Anyways, program in whatever you want, but I still don't think anyone should use VB.

WHY not exactly? I just want to understand why you think that?

Indee. I'd like to know myself. Besides, I've tested the first Alpha version of this Dice App and it's actually quite good so far.

Either I can't see the entire thread or I am playing devil's advocate but, where did OP say they were writing a C tutorial?

mm

I know nothing of Python but I wasn't aware that perl had a functional COM object. AFAICS, VB is the environment of choice for accessing COM. I think that is why many Financial Institutions rely on it so heavily.

Perhaps I am a newbie also. Could you point me to information on how to use perl script to build a free standing executable?

mm

OP? Do you mean BinaryCode?

He said it around here in another thread

The OP is the first post in a thread, I'm guessing it's the abbreviation of Original Post (?) but I've seen this used on other forums as well.

Original Post or Original Poster.

Confusion... That's what you get if you use too many abbreviations.

"A lot of D&D geeks are Linux geeks too."
- Gustav

I'm a D&D freak, and use Linux
My friend is D&D freak.. and use Linux
My brother is D&D freak... he is also using Linux

Yes D&D + Linux = True

Yes. OP = Original Poster.

Having read that this can be confusing, I will be less lazy and actually scroll to the the Authors name in the future.

At the same time, your link is to another thread, which was not originally referenced in this one. I would not be encouraged to research this.

And still at the same time, BC does seem to have many aspirations. Perhaps learning Pascal would not be a bad Idea. <G>

mm

My life is far more complicated than D&D, and I am less than green with linux.

Does this imply
!D&D & !Linux == FALSE|VB.NULL

mm

Hmm, seems to be a good rule of thumb; someone I know is D&D interested and he uses Linux too, hehe

!D&D && !Linux = !(Linux || D&D)
So in your case
Linux || D&D = True

Meh, I know two people who are into D&D but not into Linux

Me and BinaryCode are D&D geeks... he uses Linux... and I would if I had a working version of it (I had Fedora Core 3 or 4 (can't remember which one) but I lost Disc 4 of it). Sadly Fedora Core 3 is actually better than Fedora Core 4.

Don't mind me, BinaryCode. If you already like VB you probably wouldn't understand.

Yes. Linux is a great OS. I recently got my hands on FC4 and Ubuntu 5.04, which I'm planning to install later today or tomorrow.

Nope. I'm stuck in desktop & Lan/Wan support.
I have looked at the LRP and small utils but haven't the time to take an honest look.

As for D&D, my kids like Dink & Dragonball z.
If that doesn't count, then we still have Sponge Bob. Now he would be a cool villain for a Dmod. Hmmm..
mm

As I said before. FD3 is better than FD4.

Maybe because are just being biased and talking crap Gustav?

Old-school Visual Basic has been largely replaced in function by C# and VB.net. They both have the same disadvantages (requiring the Visual Basic Runtime and .NET Framework, respectively), and they both support rapid development, but the .NET Framework is much, much better than the Visual Basic Runtime environment.

BinaryCode didn't mention which version of VB he was using, but I'm assuming it's VB 5 or 6.

*Edit: Oops, I meant BinaryCode, not Draconic.

I'm only just downloading Visual Basic Express Edition 2005 so I'm not using either. BinaryCode is already using Visual Express Edition 2005. Microsoft is giving Visual Express Edition is free for a year. You can also register it and get $100s of dollars worth of benefits for free. Visual Express Edition uses and requires both the VB Runtime engine and .NET Framework 2.0.

Thousands of dollars worth of benefits actually. And you need Windows Installer 3 to install the .NET Framework.

Thousands? Wow. Installer 3.1 comes with the iso dowmload anyway (I've finished the download now).

Yeah, its just a shame that not everyone who uses the dice app will have that same installer...

Sponge-Bob, eh? Could be interesting, but no Dink villian can top R2D2.