What are some scripting terms that can help you understand code and instructions?

Hello,

I want to become a better script on the platform. Therefore, Im going to start asking more questions on the forum that can help me expand my knowledge.

What are some scripting terms that could help me with my learning? Like methods, arguments, etc…

you want to try and learn everything on this page

https://create.roblox.com/docs/reference/engine

and some of the most important things to learn are

  1. Variables Variables | Roblox Creator Documentation
  2. Tables Tables | Roblox Creator Documentation
  3. Control Structures Control Structures | Roblox Creator Documentation
  4. Functions Functions | Roblox Creator Documentation
  5. Scope Scope | Roblox Creator Documentation

this video here might also help with learning the basics

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Not sure what you mean by scripting terms, but start off simple. Create a fun little project like a simulator. It’ll help you understand basics and like @5uphi mentioned learning from Roblox Engine API Reference | Roblox Creator Documentation is also very useful.

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That seems like a lot of hours that I would have to use to read this, Is there anything that I should specifically focus on?

Or a section?

You could start of here for learning methods: Methods
Not sure what you mean by arguments? like:
local function(thing1 --this? , thing2) But like I mentioned earlier, start off with a small fun project, progressively you will get better with practice.

You could also learn OOP: All about Object Oriented Programming

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some terms like: parameters, loops, iterate, assign, get, set

What do they mean?

Most of these replies are just… wrong. Or maybe it’s your question that was malformed from the start. Anyway:

You aren’t going to be a better scripter by trying to memorize random words associated with programming. These words people are throwing at you are things you learn in time as a programmer. You don’t need to know all these words by heart to be better as you have the best tool to help you remember: The documentation.

The documentation exists so you can use it as a reference, a tool to help you quickly lookup and understand what something in the Roblox API does.
Currently, the Developer Hub is the main documentation tool but eventually it’s going to be replaced by the Creator Documentation. The Creator Documentation is not exactly in its best state right now, with lots of room for improvement.

If you want to gain more experience though, I do have a couple of recommendations:

  1. I like the fact you said you want to ask more questions on here and that’s great! But there’s also something else you should consider doing as you gain more experience: Helping other scripters when you know what you’re doing. A lot of the time when you’re helping others you will also gain some knowledge in the process. If you happen to realize you spread misinformation after helping someone, this is fine as long as you make sure you let them know about the misinformation.

  2. Work on small-scale projects that you might find as smaller components of existing games that may or may not be on Roblox. Figure out whether you want to specialize in some aspect of scripting games on Roblox (GUI manipulation, etc) or if you want to specialize in helping other developers make games on Roblox (plugin development, open sourcing personal work of your own for the community, etc).

  3. Don’t try to learn everything. You never will. As a scripter, the more you look into things, the more you’ll realize there’s always more to learn, especially as more updates occur to the API. Don’t think of scripting as something you can master after learning a few things. This is not a game where you can advance levels to become “advanced”- this is the real world where we’re just programmers with various levels of experience, nothing more of the sort.

A good resource you could also learn a couple higher level concepts from is this Programming in Lua book, Lua being the language Luau (our scripting language) is based on.

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I’ve heard of OOP, but I don’t understand why people use it and how it can help you.

The only function I would use is __index. Other than that, Im very confused on why use the other functions and why use OOP in your game at all.

I highly recommend reading my reply. You’re being misguided by these other replies. You don’t need to learn this OOP paradigm @uisouls mentioned at all, at least not right now.

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Why would I not need to learn it right now? I know the basics of scripting, but Im just stuck on where to expand.

A bit confused on how this can help, isn’t luau a modified version of lua?

You have to stop thinking in the shell of Luau and its syntax- your goal is to expand your knowledge and become a better programmer, right?

Clarification on that book
I mentioned the Programming in Lua book as something you can use to learn some higher level concepts that can apply to anything you’re working with, including Luau. Maybe this isn’t something you should read right now but when you gain more experience, you might find some concepts about Lua that’s useful.
Sure, Luau is really its own language now but the things you learn in one language can apply to another. Especially when most of Luau IS Lua, hence why it can help.

Clarification on OOP
I mentioned you don’t need to learn this paradigm right now because there’s far more important things you need to know before it + it’s beyond the scope of your learning as a beginner.

Back on topic
Your main focus should probably fall into one of those three recommendations I mentioned.

Find something you want to specialize in Roblox programming, create some small-scale projects based on features of other games, help other scripters who are just getting started as much as you can if you have the time, and try to take your time.

I don’t think I need to re-explain these, since you can just look up above at my first reply. You might feel stuck but really everything you need is right in front of you- The documentation (links provided to both earlier)… The “basics” you’ve learned can be applied to many things depending on what you want to do.

Is there any game you like playing right now? Try recreating a small feature of that game with some scripts. Do you feel like you want to help other developers to gain knowledge? Look into the scripting-help category, Roblox Development Assistance Discord Server, scripting helpers site, etc. Do you want to make tools for other developers to use? Look into plugin development.

Do not think of these things as “tasks” to complete to be a full-on scripter, remember everything I’ve said in my initial reply. Just keep doing what you want to do, you’ll find you learn all of these words along the way. For Roblox scripting, I wouldn’t recommend much YouTube tutorials but you can try learning general programming concepts to apply to your projects. Whatever you want to learn can also apply to projects you might make for a website, desktop app, not just a Roblox game.

All depends how far you want to go, but start on small projects. When you’re stuck on your small projects, you can use Google or ask for help directly here to search for specific PARTS of your problem (never search for the problem directly). Like if you want to make a system to arrest players in a game, don’t google “how to make arrest system”. Google the individual components needed (like how would I make a handcuffs model, how would I make a player be on a cop team, etc). Break down your problem into smaller parts and figure out those parts individually. Yes sometimes you might need to copy code that is too complex to understand for you, but don’t rely on this for every problem you want to solve.

Please let me know if anything I said here was confusing, I will happily clarify. This reply of mine is slightly less organized :wink:

Thanks for the reply but Im slightly confused…

What’s classified as a beginner for a programmer? I have a good gist on the basics of luau, the services, and I know a bit. as I said ealier,

I mean, you’re still just getting started. That’s what a beginner is. Someone who is just getting started. It’s not really about how much you know that made me refer to you as a beginner, cause at any point in one’s programming career one can feel stuck. Lots of programmers of different skill levels do.

You don’t need to worry yourself- The important thing is to focus on learning and taking your time since this is not a race for skill levels. It’s just about you… programming! The more you program, as a side effect, the more you’ll know.