Free Programming Language(s)?

[aramis]

I have a confession to make, I ended up going with Microsoft's Small Basic. Despite not having used it in pretty much 30 years, I found I kept thinking of what I wanted to do in terms of Basic and trying to learn something else was made more difficult. Considering I banged out what I wanted in two days in my spare time, I'm glad I went with it.

You may want to look at QB64... it's a compiling version of an extended Qbasic.


Edit: I didn't realize MS had reused the term "smallbasic" for a modern version. It was also the name of a reduced function set of MS Basic on certain CPM machine distributions; so called, because it used a smaller amount of ram.

 

[Shonner]

I have a confession to make, I ended up going with Microsoft's Small Basic.

I had to look up that program to see if I ever used it. Nope. Never send it until now. Looks a lot like the free QBASIC that came with DOS 5, 6, and 7 but with a GUI. But it's still Microsoft's flavor of BASIC with lots of typing/syntax involved. Could be worse though (see VBASIC).

 

[Leitz]

One thing to consider, for those considering languages; "fun".

Programming is like gaming; creative, frustrating, challenging. The more you stick with it the better you get at it. The more fun it is, the more likely you are to stick with it. No matter how "good" or "powerful" the language is; if it ain't fun you're going to have a hard time learning and using it.

To me, Python and C are "better" languages. The have power, speed, and prestige. However, they are not nearly as fun as Ruby. So I've been coding in Ruby for the past couple months. Which is funny because I spent a few years deriding Ruby...

I've spent the past couple days munging JSON data in Ruby for the game I'm in. My character is now a military commander and I'm trying to build my skills and see if I can organize the troops with code. Fun stuff!

So try a few languages, see what's fun for you. Run with it.

 

[Hovtej]

I had to look up that program to see if I ever used it. Nope. Never send it until now. Looks a lot like the free QBASIC that came with DOS 5, 6, and 7 but with a GUI. But it's still Microsoft's flavor of BASIC with lots of typing/syntax involved. Could be worse though (see VBASIC).

I love BASIC. Close enough to FORTRAN (for those Ancients, like me) and can be exported as an executable.

 

[FreeTrav]

Are there any freely available, preferably shallow learning curve, programming languages out there that lend themselves to random generators, such as those used for planets and animals? (So they include random number gen).

Even something as simple as BASIC would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

I've discovered that whatever language you want is probably available free. More of a constraint - and that not a severe one - will be the intended platform of use, either for the development environment or for cross-platform executable generation.

And I don't exclude such archaic or esoteric languages as LISP or APL from the above.

 

[aramis]

Lisp, logo, c, cpp/c++, obj c, dozens of basics...

One is an implementtion of qbasic syntax for modern 64 bit mac, windows, and android, as compiler. .. qb64 it i bou 97% compatibility wih qb7

 

[whartung]

I was big fan of QBASIC back in the day, the one that was bundled with Windows/DOS (if there was a distinction -- this is a long way back).

Structured enough for sanity, but not overbearing, good IDE. It didn't support GUIs, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Today, I'd advocate Javascript. Simply because if you can read this, you have Javascript. Nothing to download, "Notepad" for tooling, easy to share, crazy powerful platform as you advance (from GUIs to 3D graphics).

It has it's issues, absolutely. But for getting started, you can do a lot damage with cut and paste and javascript and the internet. Tooling puts off people the most, I've found.

 

[aramis]

I was big fan of QBASIC back in the day, the one that was bundled with Windows/DOS (if there was a distinction -- this is a long way back).

That was usually the run-time compiling version. Probably either v 3 or 4. There was one version that compiled to standalones...

v7 was the "Professional Development System," which compiled to standalone programs... it wasn't free until after being discontinued. Then, MS put it up for free download.

QB64 will be a "blast from the past" in the IDE... but supporting modern system architectures...

 

[nobby-w]

I've discovered that whatever language you want is probably available free. More of a constraint - and that not a severe one - will be the intended platform of use, either for the development environment or for cross-platform executable generation.
[...]

The one thing that the Open-Source scene does really well is development tools. Because they're programmers - by definition - they use their own development tools, 'eating their own dogfood' as the saying goes.

The upshot of this is that there are many, many free programming environments available for download off the interwebs. The quality of these tools ranges up to best of breed. In fact, the market for commercial programming languages is pretty much dominated by platform vendors with a vested interest in having their platform supported by good development tooling. Independent companies selling commercial development tools are getting pushed further into the niches of enterprise and embedded systems development.

If you look at major commercial vendors of C compilers (for example), you will see Intel, Microsoft, ARM, a handful of niche/legacy players and hardware vendors such as IBM or Oracle (nee Sun) who sell compilers targeted at their hardware platforms. Everything else is variants of clang or gcc, which are both free. Most of the commercial players also offer freebie versions of their compilers.

Some systems (python, for example) are only available as OSS. There are no commercial Python tool chains that are not based on one of the open-source variants (CPython, IronPython, Pypy, etc.)

Most of the free systems will also have ports to all mainstream platforms - and often many more obscure ones. You can run Python, for example, on RiscOS, Z/OS, OS/400, OS/2, VMS and quite a range of other platforms as well as mainstream ones like Windows or Linux.

 

[GameDaddy]

I like Python, and currently have Python v3.4 installed here. I also have QT installed so I can quickly build Internet ready GUI's for the Python.

I used to use Microsoft C++. in 2011, with the release of Windows 8 they removed the free C compiler that had been automatically included with Visual Studio, and replaced that with some gimped interface that could only produce code that would run on a Microsoft Surface tablet and on MS Smartphones.

They lost so many developers because of this, that last year, they reversed course, and re-added the C compiler back into Visual Studio, and granted an open source license to developers, so the developers could once again, make what they wanted. Now you can make apps for Windows Linux, Android, and even iOS using one integrated free software dev kit.

Visual Studio Community 2015
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-community-vs.aspx

My understanding is there are Microsoft Azure Cloud libraries available for Visual Studio as well, so you can use the Microsoft Cloud Network[/Ik to build galaxy dominating applications and tools.

 

[dalthor]

I've been playing around with Xojo. It is VERY similar to Visual Basic, but allows you to compile your source code into 32- or 64-bit versions for several operating systems including MAC, Windoze, and Linux.

All this from ONE set of source code! You do need a license to actually build and distribute the project in executable form, but you can code and run in in the IDE with full functionality.

I've been converting my pathfinder tool from Windoze/Visual Basic, as well as fiddling with T5 system generation. So far I like it! I haven't bought a license yet, but have had good success converting my code, and the process is pretty painless.

Copy/paste, and some minor code changes has been sufficient. Biggest difference is in file I/O - that took a bit to figure out.

Here is a very simple example to write out a text file, where <filename> would be something like test.txt, and <data> is whatever you are writing to the file:

// Write a text file

Dim d As SaveAsDialog 
Dim myFile As new FolderItem 
Dim t As TextOutputStream
   
myfile = getfolderitem(<Filename>)
  
if myfile.exists then
  '    DO
  'd = New SaveAsDialog
  'myFile = d.ShowModal     // This will prompt for everything, no defaults
  '    OR
  'my file = SpecialFolder.Documents.Child(<Filename>)  // Write file with no user interaction in the USERS documents folder
  '    OR
  myfile = GetSaveFolderItem("", <Filename>)     // Prompt, and populates filename with value of <Filename>
else
  ' Save to a custom path; userhome is the User’s home directory; no prompting the user at all
  ' The path below equates to “/Users/Ed/Software/Traverse/<filename>” on my Mac
  myfile = SpecialFolder.userhome.child("Software").child("Traverse").Child(<Filename>)
end if
  
If myFile <> Nil Then 
  try
    t = TextOutputStream.Create(myFile) 
    
    ' write the item <data> to file, using uft8 format (note that conversion is optional!)
    t.writeline(convertencoding(<data>,encodings.utf8))
          
    t.Close 
  Catch e As IOException
    msgbox "Unable to create or access the file " + <Filename> + "."
  End Try
End If

Anyway, back to the grind...

 

[agorski]

I've been playing around with Xojo. It is VERY similar to Visual Basic, but allows you to compile your source code into 32- or 64-bit versions for several operating systems including MAC, Windoze, and Linux.

It was originally developed for the Mac as RealBasic as the Apple version of Visual Basic, so there are similarities.

It can also create apps for console, web, Raspberry Pi, and iOS.

I've created all my Mac Traveller apps using Xojo and recently developed my first iOS app using it.

All this from ONE set of source code! You do need a license to actually build and distribute the project in executable form, but you can code and run in in the IDE with full functionality.

I developed my iOS app without buying a license, running it in the Xcode simulator. Once I finished it, I purchased the license to test it on devices, compile the app, and submit it to the App Store. From the time I purchased the license to the time it showed up in the App Store was a couple of weeks.

I've been converting my pathfinder tool from Windoze/Visual Basic, as well as fiddling with T5 system generation. So far I like it! I haven't bought a license yet, but have had good success converting my code, and the process is pretty painless.

Copy/paste, and some minor code changes has been sufficient. Biggest difference is in file I/O - that took a bit to figure out.

Their documentation is very good (developer.xojo.com) and folks on the Xojo forum are very helpful.

It's a pretty painless way to develop apps if you're willing to spend the money on a license.

 

[Akeel]

Mac OS?

Hi there,

can anyone tell me if there are any decent Traveller System Generators (like H&E) which will run on Mavericks and later?

I tried running H&E under WINE but it just refused to work... there were a couple of shareware ones but they only ran under Classic - so by the time support for Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) ended those programs were defunct.

I'd write one myself but my programming skills are useless

cheers
Akeel

 

[aramis]

Akeel: Your best bet, IME, is Galactic inside DOSBox.

 

[agorski]

Hi there,

can anyone tell me if there are any decent Traveller System Generators (like H&E) which will run on Mavericks and later?

Not sure of all the features of H&E, but my T5 SectorMaker app should still work, although if there's been any changes at Travellermap since it was written you might have some display glitches. Go to the website in my signature to download it.

 

[JimMarn]

I looked at Xojo and to make stand-alone apps, you have to pay a fee. Not interested in making software to sell.

I did wonder how well it works ? I've written programs in DEC VAX Pascal, Turbo C, and AmigaBASIC. OO software may be too 'fancy' for my uses.

 

[agorski]

I looked at Xojo and to make stand-alone apps, you have to pay a fee. Not interested in making software to sell.

I did wonder how well it works ?

For me, it's a hobby, and I'm willing to spend a little money on a hobby.

Xojo works best on the platforms they've been supporting the longest. By best, I mean most functionality and support for all features. In order, I would rate them:

Mac OS, Win/Linux, Web, iOS.

iOS works fine but since it's the newest platform they support, and there're so many Apple restrictions on what you can do, lots of iOS features have yet to be supported in Xojo and must be done using ugly unsupported Declares.

That said, all my iOS apps live within the existing limitations and I haven't used a single Declare. I think my apps are fully functional, albeit plain-jane in the esthetics department.

 

[JimMarn]

Maybe I have too many hobbies ? I have to think about it. Its not like I would be spending lots of time using it.

 

[Leitz]

Maybe I have too many hobbies ? I have to think about it. Its not like I would be spending lots of time using it.

While a lot of languages can do a lot of things, some are better at various tasks. What do you want to do with your code?

 

[JimMarn]

While a lot of languages can do a lot of things, some are better at various tasks. What do you want to do with your code?

I want to make several programs to help me run games like I had on my Amiga computer. Game time, amount of time spent on the adventure, etc.

I wrote the originals in Sinclair ZX-81 tokenized BASIC, and then converted them to ones on my Amiga in AmigaBASIC.

I took Vax Pascal classes at university. So I can handle BASIC and Pascal. I had two C programming classes, but OO programing goes over my head.

The problem I have had are IDEs with 32x80 pixel windows or IDEs that add lots of things to it that I consider bloat. I prefer full screen. Even my Win 8.1 laptop is 1368 x 768. My desktop, Vista, uses a 39" tv screen. I forget the rez but its over 2000 pixels wide.

Here is the entrance page for the programs I wrote back then, 1980s, for my AD&D game world. I would like to write similar programs for all of my rpg game worlds.

http://crestofastar.drivein-jim.net/articles/436/basic-programs-entrance-page