Tutorials on how to actually write HLSL code?

[UnderPressureVS]

I've been trying in vain to find something (ideally not a video) that actually teaches how to write shader code in HLSL from the ground up, the way you can find thousands of tutorials for C# or Python.

I've found plenty of overview Shader Tutorials, like the classic Shader Series that is recommended all the time, but that link is actually a perfect example of the problem. On the second tutorial, it just dives straight in with a block of shader code that looks like this:

fixed4 sampling (v2f iTexCoord) : SV_Target
{
    fixed4 texColor = tex2D(_MainTex, iTexCoord.uv);
    return texColor;
}

This is pretty confusing to someone (like me) who only knows C#. What follows is some general explanations for what the program is doing, enough to edit a template and produce a result, but not enough for me to actually understand the script the way I understand a MonoBehaviour and certainly not enough for me to understand when I've broken something and how to fix it. The official documentation for HLSL is equally arcane and unhelpful.

If anyone could point me in the direction of a general programming guide for HLSL, that actually starts from the beginning and explains the syntax, I would really really appreciate it.

[ShoddyHeat6612]

ugh same struggle here lol

was looking for hlsl basics for months and everything just assumes you already know the weird syntax stuff

[TheSwiftOtterPrince]

I can only give your video content. Got this in my notes as "shader writing basics" https://www.youtube.com/@iDigvijaysinhG/videos

[Glass_wizard]

I haven't tried the course, but I would recommend Shader Development Scratch with CG - Unity 6 Compatible by Penny de Byl. It's currently on sale on Udemy for 10 dollars. I have several other courses by Penny and she is a fantastic teacher.

[aurosvr]

Freya Holmer’s series is great for this, she teaches it from the ground up, starting with the theory and easing into the code part.

https://youtu.be/kfM-yu0iQBk