JASS compared to other languages ?

[Ommi]

Hey experts !

Im wondering how JASS compares to other programming languages, I mean if I were to learn JASS would it give some sort of a base knowledge to move onto other things.

How complicated is JASS compared to other programming languages ?

and which language is the StarCraft 2 editor in, still JASS or is it using a new or another language ?

I have no background in programming, but a good base knowledge of computers and I know what it is and how it works etc, just wanting to get into it and since I have always loved map making in warcraft I figured that if its a easy and good platform to start off I could actually learn a language and have some fun with it at the same time.

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this has been posted before (which Im sure it has, I just couldnt find anything via the search )

Ommi

 

[tooltiperror]

JASS is not used in the Galaxy Editor, a new language named Galaxy is. It is more like C/++/#.

As for JASS helping, it certainly does in my opinion. It was the gateway for me to Javascript and helped me understanding programming theory, which is just the ideas behind programming that do not rely on specific languages.

JASS is a fairly easy language imho, so I recommend learning it.

 

[Lyerae]

Don't take too much programming concepts from JASS.
While it is a language, it's a pretty weak and limited one compared to some (such as C).

If you plan on doing a lot of triggers, I'd definitely recommend learning it though. It makes things much easier.

 

[tooltiperror]

Yeah, but Lyerae, think of what it teaches.

• Clearing Leaks (If you need to)
• Arrays
• OOP
• If/Then/Else
• Loops
• Indentation Style
• Stack/Popping
• Creating Work Arounds
• Debugging Techniques
• Types and Variable Scopes

 

[Lyerae]

The OOP implementation is very weak and limited.
The rest? Maybe, but not the OOP.

 

[tooltiperror]

Eh, the only real difference is the lack of things like constructors. It's close enough to learn OOP. Really, all you need for OOP is a few arrays and an allocating function.

 

[Jesus4Lyf]

I learned OOP largely off vJass, went on to uni, and now I'm a professional Java developer.
Case in point?

vJass has both constructors and destructors. It's called overwriting create and destroy.

 

[Bribe]

I have to go with Jesus4Lyf on this. I have learned a TON from coding in WarCraft 3.

Just a ton!

Thanks to Vexorian for building so many great plugins that vJass/Zinc emulate an actual scripting language.

JASS is basically functions, variables, types, sets and gets. Vexorian turned that vanilla language into something that puts much more power at your fingertips.

function foo takes nothing returns nothing
    local unit u // the local unit is the only variable able to be declared in JASS.  Without
              // JassHelper, all of your globals have to be made in the GUI "variable editor".
endfunction

vJass introduces you to a whole world of programming. Thanks to what I've learned, Java, C, JavaScript, Flash Actionscript and many others have all become easy to read, even though I've done no work with any of those languages. vJass is a great launching pad.

I prefer Zinc (a pleasurable extension to vJass) because it allows more mainstream syntax.

function foo() {
    unit u;
}

Of course, there is the deprecated cJass, which provided even less verbosity than Zinc:

//Zinc:
function foo () -> integer {
    return 0;
}

//cJass:
int foo () {
    return 0;
}

I much prefer writing [ljass]int foo () {return 0;}[/ljass] as opposed to its JASS alternative:

function foo takes nothing returns integer
    return 0
endfunction

Writing a function that starts with the return type just makes sense. An integer foo actually sounds like "foo" is an object and not a function (it should be considered an object). If you prefer typing "int foo ()" as opposed to "function foo takes nothing returns integer", I like you already.