How to get started programing in Boo

Questions & Answers
1

How do you get started programing in Boo? I checked their site, but how would you get started in Unity?

3

I started learning boo when using Unity. This was my primary reference: http://boo.codehaus.org/

I gave up on learning the compiler extensibility stuff though, since it is very poorly documented. Also, sparingly, I have found some boo specific bugs when using the unity editor, I suppose that this would be less likely with the other languages.

4

DON'T think Boo is similar to Python or that any previous Python experience will help you with Boo.

Boo has a Python inspired syntax. All the rest is the same CLI (Common Language Infrastructure) as UnityScript or C#. That means it's very similar to both of them in terms of functionality and only differs by its syntax and some additional features.

Python is very different from Boo, which is much closer to C# or UnityScript than it is to Python.

So, for all examples you'll see in either UnityScript or C#, you'll be able to translate them pretty much statement by statement, only adapting the syntax. You'll be able to take examples and pretty much do the exact same thing the exact same way - only with a different syntax.

2

As the other posters mentioned there is not very much documentation on Boo YET. From what I heard with the release of 3.0 they will revamp the documentation with examples for all 3 supported languages. However if you know how Pyhton/Boo works translating the existing javascript examples should be no problem. Basically the methods and classes are all the same. The only thing that differs is the syntax. Although I don't know if Boo will be as fast as c# or typed javascript...

5

Boo has a much simpler syntax (pretty much only indents) than UnityScript, and is way less verbose than C# while still offering a lot of the advantages of being statically typed.

Now with the script reference having examples in Boo, there is no reason not to try it out.

If you are new to programming, you are going to struggle anyway, and always be looking at the code reference, so why not use the language that has less brackets and colons and verbosity?

6

In my opionon I prefer Boo I recently started translating some C#, and JS codes into Boo For me its awesome with the python inspired syntax so its easier to read, and for me I can program faster with it, plus it seems easier to learn then the others, I dont see how other people think Oh C# is easier! Yes theres not alot of Unity documentation on it, but you can get by that. If you want to learn some things I suggest finding some C# scripts or creating some (if you can) then having this website http://codeconverter.sharpdevelop.net/SnippetConverter.aspx convert it into Boo for you. Then look at both codes, and examine the differences. In short this is taken off boo.codehaus.org “Boo is an amazing language that combines the syntactic sugar of Python, the features of Ruby, and the speed and safety of C#.” whats not to like about it?

7

Take it from me, Boo is a great great language compared to C#. I work with C# every day and it’s OK, but it has no finesse, beauty or ELEGANCE to it.
Once you’ve gotten your eyes opened for functional and concise languages, there is no way you can go back to a language like C#.

8

If you like doing more with less typing, Boo’s a fantastic little language.
Shame Unity3d decided to drop support for it really.

9

The main resources to learn programming in Boo are

Boo is great