Beginning Ring Programming

Book excerpt: Gain a gentle introduction to the world of Ring programming with clarity as a first concern using a lot of practical examples. The first part lays the foundations of the language and its basic features (data types, control structures, functions, and classes). The unique way to rigorously structure Ring programs is also explained. Then, in the second part you’ll discover Ring inputs, outputs, and what is in between. You’ll use the basic constructs of computer logic (sequence, selection, and iteration) to build simple and complex logic flows. You’ll go over the common mistakes that lead to code complexity, by example, and cover several strategies to solve them (refactoring, code cleansing, and good variable naming). Then, you’ll see a visual illustration of how Ring deals with scopes at the local, object, and global levels. In part three, you’ll play with two artifacts vital to Ring programming: functions and objects. You’ll learn how they can be composed to solve a problem and how advanced programming paradigms, such as declarative and natural, are beautifully implemented on top of them. As part of the discussion, you’ll also work on game programming. You’ll learn how you design your game declaratively, in Ring code, just as if you were designing it in visual software. Finally, the author lays out how programming can be understood in a gamified context. You will be told the truth about how gaming can be a better metaphor to achieve mastery of Ring programming. This book is for those who are passionate about writing beautiful, expressive, and learnable code. It has been designed so you can enjoy a beginner-friendly set of knowledge about Ring, and benefit from a one-stop collection of lessons learned from real-world, customer-facing programming projects. What You Will Learn Get started with Ring and master its data types, I/O, functions, and classesCarry out structural, object-oriented, functional, declarative, natural, and meta programming in RingUse the full power of Ring to refactor program code and develop clean program architecturesQuickly design professional-grade video games on top of the Ring game engine Who This Book Is For Beginners looking for a consistent and hackable programming environment with a strong flavor of learnability and expressiveness.