Array problem (working with the book)

Hi, I am working with the book (rewrites from the book) but something not working as it should..

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

public class Patroller : MonoBehaviour
{

public Transform[] arrayOfTransforms;
public Vector3[] arrayOfPoints;

arrayOfTransforms = new Transform[5];

Debug.Log(arrayOfTransform.Length);

}


I am getting 5 errors and I am confused..

 

This code needs to be inside of a method/function:

Code (CSharp):

1. arrayOfTransforms = new Transform[5];
2.  
3. Debug.Log(arrayOfTransform.Length);

For example:

Code (CSharp):

1. void Start() {
2.     arrayOfTransforms = new Transform[5];
3.  
4.     Debug.Log(arrayOfTransform.Length);
5. }

It cannot float freely inside the class.

 

Thank you it looks like it works now. It doesn't say in the book to put that in the void Start()... I will continue now and hopefully everything will be working

 

What book are you referring to? Is it a Unity book, or just C#?

 

Not sure what "book" this is but I know it didn't tell you to type the above in that format. Code has a VERY precise structure and you must follow it.

Before you waste anymore time thinking you can "sorta" type what's in the book, let me explain what you actually must do to be successful with a book or tutorial.

Tutorials and example code are great, but keep this in mind to maximize your success and minimize your frustration:

How to do tutorials properly, two (2) simple steps to success:

Tutorials are a GREAT idea. Tutorials should be used this way:

Step 1. Follow the tutorial and do every single step of the tutorial 100% precisely the way it is shown. Even the slightest deviation (even a single character!) generally ends in disaster. That's how software engineering works. Every step must be taken, every single letter must be spelled, capitalized, punctuated and spaced (or not spaced) properly, literally NOTHING can be omitted or skipped.

Fortunately this is the easiest part to get right: Be a robot. Don't make any mistakes.
BE PERFECT IN EVERYTHING YOU DO HERE!!

If you get any errors, learn how to read the error code and fix your error. Google is your friend here. Do NOT continue until you fix your error. Your error will probably be somewhere near the parenthesis numbers (line and character position) in the file. It is almost CERTAINLY your typo causing the error, so look again and fix it.

Step 2. Go back and work through every part of the tutorial again, and this time explain it to your doggie. See how I am doing that in my avatar picture? If you have no dog, explain it to your house plant. If you are unable to explain any part of it, STOP. DO NOT PROCEED. Now go learn how that part works. Read the documentation on the functions involved. Go back to the tutorial and try to figure out WHY they did that. This is the part that takes a LOT of time when you are new. It might take days or weeks to work through a single 5-minute tutorial. Stick with it. You will learn.

Step 2 is the part everybody seems to miss. Without Step 2 you are simply a code-typing monkey and outside of the specific tutorial you did, you will be completely lost. If you want to learn, you MUST do Step 2.

Of course, all this presupposes no errors in the tutorial. For certain tutorial makers (like Unity, Brackeys, Imphenzia, Sebastian Lague) this is usually the case. For some other less-well-known content creators, this is less true. Read the comments on the video: did anyone have issues like you did? If there's an error, you will NEVER be the first guy to find it.

Beyond that, Step 3, 4, 5 and 6 become easy because you already understand!

Finally, when you have errors...

The complete error message contains everything you need to know to fix the error yourself.

The important parts of the error message are:

- the description of the error itself (google this; you are NEVER the first one!)
- the file it occurred in (critical!)
- the line number and character position (the two numbers in parentheses)
- also possibly useful is the stack trace (all the lines of text in the lower console window)

Always start with the FIRST error in the console window, as sometimes that error causes or compounds some or all of the subsequent errors. Often the error will be immediately prior to the indicated line, so make sure to check there as well.

All of that information is in the actual error message and you must pay attention to it. Learn how to identify it instantly so you don't have to stop your progress and fiddle around with the forum.

Remember: NOBODY here memorizes error codes. That's not a thing. The error code is absolutely the least useful part of the error. It serves no purpose at all. Forget the error code. Put it out of your mind.

 

The book is a:
Game Programming with Unity and C#: A Complete Beginner’s Guide
Casey Hardman

Basically the issue above was just my "reading of the book", because the author gives an example one time and another time he gives the code to rewrite and sometimes you can get confused.

 

Certainly easy to do but it will never be possible to avoid the actual syntax constraints of the language.

Those remain solid. A computer program absolutely must be done PRECISELY the way it was intended.