6 ms·

I'm curious to hear about the people who are using the commercial Basic versions (PowerBasic, PureBasic, etc). It is interesting to me that there is still a mar

by jetti 7y ago

I'm curious to hear about the people who are using the commercial Basic versions (PowerBasic, PureBasic, etc). It is interesting to me that there is still a market for paid compilers for general purpose languages.

WaltPurvis 7y ago
There is a Basic-language IDE called Xojo that has a pretty dedicated user base. https://www.xojo.com/ https://www.xojo.com/ I used to use it extensively (back when it was called REALbasic) and still occasionally dabble (i.e., tweaking apps I made awhile ago), but it's gotten much too expensive for hobbyist or "scratching my own itch" kinds of projects, which is a shame because I still love the language.
- jetti 7y ago
  What kinds of projects did you use REALBasic for?
  - WaltPurvis 7y ago
    Dozens. Database front ends. Small utility apps. Graphical interfaces to manage workflows where the actual work was done with scripting languages. Almost every app I did was for either the Mac or Windows, but perhaps the main value prop of REALbasic/Xojo was how easy it was to write one app and have it run on both Mac & Windows. For small applications, it really did Just Work, which seemed kind of magical.
    - appstorelottery 7y ago
      Wow! The memories - I wrote an OpenGL game in Realbasic for the Mac 15 years ago... the trouble with Real Software was that they changed the language and broke backwards compatibility... that turned me off big time. Back in the day I used Amos on the amiga and Microsoft QBX on the PC to write though-the-window display software for real estate agents (this was 26 years ago). The issue with basic in those days was libraries - doing system level stuff (e.g. using Super VGA graphics required a paid 3rd party library)... ahh the memories... these days i’m C++ / C# / PHP / etc. although the most fun I’ve had recently has been with 8088 assembler... Back in the day basic was frowned upon - but I think these days the stigma is pretty much gone...
pjmlp 7y ago
So much that people actually pay for them for embedded development. https://www.mikroe.com/mikrobasic-avr https://www.mikroe.com/mikrobasic-avr https://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal-avr https://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal-avr They also have support for PIC, ARM, 8051, dsPIC, FT90.
- jetti 7y ago
  Interesting. The Pascal one doesn't surprise me as much as I'm familiar with Delphi but I wouldn't have thought about Basic being used on embedded
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Before Arduino, Basic was quite loved among hobbits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Stamp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Stamp http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/pbasic http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/pbasic ic0nstrux (nee XGameStation) also had Basic support for their DYI games console http://www.ic0nstrux.com/products/gaming-systems http://www.ic0nstrux.com/products/gaming-systems

by jetti 7y ago

WaltPurvis 7y ago

There is a Basic-language IDE called Xojo that has a pretty dedicated user base. https://www.xojo.com/ https://www.xojo.com/ I used to use it extensively (back when it was called REALbasic) and still occasionally dabble (i.e., tweaking apps I made awhile ago), but it's gotten much too expensive for hobbyist or "scratching my own itch" kinds of projects, which is a shame because I still love the language.

jetti 7y ago
What kinds of projects did you use REALBasic for?
- WaltPurvis 7y ago
  Dozens. Database front ends. Small utility apps. Graphical interfaces to manage workflows where the actual work was done with scripting languages. Almost every app I did was for either the Mac or Windows, but perhaps the main value prop of REALbasic/Xojo was how easy it was to write one app and have it run on both Mac & Windows. For small applications, it really did Just Work, which seemed kind of magical.
  - appstorelottery 7y ago
    Wow! The memories - I wrote an OpenGL game in Realbasic for the Mac 15 years ago... the trouble with Real Software was that they changed the language and broke backwards compatibility... that turned me off big time. Back in the day I used Amos on the amiga and Microsoft QBX on the PC to write though-the-window display software for real estate agents (this was 26 years ago). The issue with basic in those days was libraries - doing system level stuff (e.g. using Super VGA graphics required a paid 3rd party library)... ahh the memories... these days i’m C++ / C# / PHP / etc. although the most fun I’ve had recently has been with 8088 assembler... Back in the day basic was frowned upon - but I think these days the stigma is pretty much gone...

pjmlp 7y ago

So much that people actually pay for them for embedded development. https://www.mikroe.com/mikrobasic-avr https://www.mikroe.com/mikrobasic-avr https://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal-avr https://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal-avr They also have support for PIC, ARM, 8051, dsPIC, FT90.

jetti 7y ago
Interesting. The Pascal one doesn't surprise me as much as I'm familiar with Delphi but I wouldn't have thought about Basic being used on embedded
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Before Arduino, Basic was quite loved among hobbits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Stamp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Stamp http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/pbasic http://learn.parallax.com/tutorials/language/pbasic ic0nstrux (nee XGameStation) also had Basic support for their DYI games console http://www.ic0nstrux.com/products/gaming-systems http://www.ic0nstrux.com/products/gaming-systems