PureBasic Forums - English

That's it, the first beta version for MacOS X is now available for public testing !

Recently looking around on the web for a scripting/programming application that I could use in my main operating system (OS X) I came across PureBasic. The fact that it is cross platform is a definite plus. I emailed the following questions to support@purebasic.com but have not recieved a reply. I thought I would post my questions here in the hopes of getting answers.

As a reference point I have been looking at RealBasic, Revolution and SuperCard.

Here my questions in reverse order in the hopes that some will be answered

1) Initially I want to build a application to process text with regex type changes, is this something I can easily do in PureBasic? I also want to create an electronic application form that with gather information and then spit out xml or csv text files. Little processing, just displaying and saving the information.

2) I have mostly done scripting (javascript, php) how complicated is the Pure Basic learning curve?

3) Anyone know the projected launch date for the OS X version?

4) Is it possible to demo with the beta without having bought a license? I noitce there are demos of the other operating systems If it is going to be a couple of months/years before the OS X goes beyond beta I would like to try it to make sure it is worth waiting.

5) The first email went to support in the middle of this past week the second yesterday, should the non-response worry me as far as ongoing responsiveness of support of this product?

TIA

FredD wrote:Recently looking around on the web for a scripting/programming application that I could use in my main operating system (OS X) I came across PureBasic. The fact that it is cross platform is a definite plus. I emailed the following questions to support@purebasic.com but have not recieved a reply. I thought I would post my questions here in the hopes of getting answers.

That is your best bet, to post questions here.

As a reference point I have been looking at RealBasic, Revolution and SuperCard.

Tried RealBasic and hated it - can't say anything for the rest.

1) Initially I want to build a application to process text with regex type changes, is this something I can easily do in PureBasic? I also want to create an electronic application form that with gather information and then spit out xml or csv text files. Little processing, just displaying and saving the information.

The regex stuff is the only thing you'll have any trouble at all doing, and I'm sure there are DLLs available to make that easier. PB has no native regex capabilities, though.

2) I have mostly done scripting (javascript, php) how complicated is the Pure Basic learning curve?

Doesn't sound like you've done much in the way of desktop software so you'll likly get a slow start. PB is fairly easy to pick up, though.

3) Anyone know the projected launch date for the OS X version?

No. Typically PB releases happen "when they happen"

4) Is it possible to demo with the beta without having bought a license? I noitce there are demos of the other operating systems If it is going to be a couple of months/years before the OS X goes beyond beta I would like to try it to make sure it is worth waiting.

The beta is more of an alpha, since some key parts of the compiler aren't working yet. I doubt there will be a demo until the full version is out.

5) The first email went to support in the middle of this past week the second yesterday, should the non-response worry me as far as ongoing responsiveness of support of this product?

I've never tried to get support directly from the author (Fred, BTW), but this community is alive, well and eager to help. Well, most of the time

PB is worth every penny of the $60ish registration fee.. I'm sure OSX will come along but I wouldn't hinge anything on it just yet.

BTW, I am not affiliated with PureBasic in any official capacity so all of these statements are personal opinion!

Don't know if you care, but keep in mind, that PureBasic for OSX uses GTK and not the OSX GUI API.

1) Initially I want to build a application to process text with regex type changes, is this something I can easily do in PureBasic? I also want to create an electronic application form that with gather information and then spit out xml or csv text files. Little processing, just displaying and saving the information.

I would very much like to see PB support XML and Regular Expressions natively but at the minute they just don't exist without the use of a third party Lib or DLL.

2) I have mostly done scripting (javascript, php) how complicated is the Pure Basic learning curve?

If you know these languages, PureBasic won't be too hard to pick up, infact I came from a Javascript/PHP background too.

3) Anyone know the projected launch date for the OS X version?

I would of though at the very least it would be about 4-6 months before a full version is up to date and stable. There still remains alot of coding to do to use the native APIs of MacOS, i.e. the current beta uses GTK/X11 instead of Cocoa as the windows/gadget API and for the multimedia, it uses SDL instead of OpenGL. The MacOS version is obviously a priority for Fred as it is being worked on at this very minute, so who knows.

4) Is it possible to demo with the beta without having bought a license? I noitce there are demos of the other operating systems If it is going to be a couple of months/years before the OS X goes beyond beta I would like to try it to make sure it is worth waiting.

The demos are usually done after the full version has been released.

5) The first email went to support in the middle of this past week the second yesterday, should the non-response worry me as far as ongoing responsiveness of support of this product?

Hmm... a hard one to answer. I personally have never had any problem contacting Fred but i think there lies your answer, PB is mainly a one man band. Poor old Fred has lots of work to do and so sometimes mails go unread.

Thanks for your replies. Perhaps I should have posted here in the forum to begin with. It looks like from your comments that I should stop back in about 6 months and see how things are progressing.

If PureBasic (this is just an idle question) rests on the shoulders of one person, what happens if that person becomes bored, decides to take a year off. How do developers cope with the fact that their development tool is not in the hands of a larger company.
FredD

> Don't know if you care, but keep in mind, that PureBasic for OSX uses GTK and not the OSX GUI API.

This will change for the final release.
Right now the GUI libs are just a recompilation of the Linux libs to get someting running, but they
will be replaces with new ones that use the native OS commands like any other PB version as well.

The current MacOSX version is really only there to help locate bugs. So some
interested people can test it.
I doubt that you can use it for any serious development at this stage.

Timo

FredD wrote:If PureBasic (this is just an idle question) rests on the shoulders of one person, what happens if that person becomes bored, decides to take a year off. How do developers cope with the fact that their development tool is not in the hands of a larger company.
FredD

We all know where he lives...

So will round up a possy and track'em down...

we've managed to obtain a few cloning licenses, who remembers where we stored the samples monica collected?

lol.

A little bit of ..

freak wrote:> Don't know if you care, but keep in mind, that PureBasic for OSX uses GTK and not the OSX GUI API.

This will change for the final release.
Right now the GUI libs are just a recompilation of the Linux libs to get someting running, but they
will be replaces with new ones that use the native OS commands like any other PB version as well.

1) Initially I want to build a application to process text with regex type changes, is this something I can easily do in PureBasic? I also want to create an electronic application form that with gather information and then spit out xml or csv text files. Little processing, just displaying and saving the information.

RegExpr dont exist in PB - its a shame - I use them a lot in Unix Shell & AWK programming. Its powerful stuff.

@Karbon The regex stuff is the only thing you'll have any trouble at all doing, and I'm sure there are DLLs available to make that easier. PB has no native regex capabilities, though.

Libraries are OS Specific, so yes a Lib may exist in Windows but it wont help an OSX or Linux User much.

2) I have mostly done scripting (javascript, php) how complicated is the Pure Basic learning curve?

Me too! PB Learning curve is much easier than JS. Its a nice simple top-down Programming Language - not too much of that nasty OO stuff.

5) The first email went to support in the middle of this past week the second yesterday, should the non-response worry me as far as ongoing responsiveness of support of this product?

The forums are the real support focus of PB and you'll find them to be _very_ reactive. Fred (the author of PB) seems to spend sufficient time here. If the community cant help, he steps in...

naw wrote:

@Karbon The regex stuff is the only thing you'll have any trouble at all doing, and I'm sure there are DLLs available to make that easier. PB has no native regex capabilities, though.

Libraries are OS Specific, so yes a Lib may exist in Windows but it wont help an OSX or Linux User much.

one of my regexp libraries is available for windows and linux. if there is the possibility to create userlibs on OSX, the source can be used to compile a lib for osx. if fred is willed to include regexp natively to pb, i can point him to sources that i've used.

oooooh... regexp as an integral part of pure, now that would be nice, something like...
would come in sooooooo handy

FredD wrote:If PureBasic (this is just an idle question) rests on the shoulders of one person, what happens if that person becomes bored, decides to take a year off. How do developers cope with the fact that their development tool is not in the hands of a larger company.
FredD

I use a variety of compilers on a variety of platforms. Really big companies take a long time producing release updates, and when they come out, they suffer the fate of software that has too many hands stirring the pot.

Smallish companies still take a long time to provide deliverables, but they are usually more in touch with their customers, but that does not mean they will follow the customers wishes.

One man shops usually deliver more updates, because it is a labor of love, but they usually need to focus on one project at a time (not counting minor fixes and updates).

I am a relatively recent convert and felt that the price was worth investing in merely on the promise of future platforms.

My suggestion to FredD, if you have a Windows PC, go ahead and purchase the PB product, and start the learning process now. Six months down the line when the OSX version is released, you will thank yourself for it. You might even find an emulation product on your OSX machine would be suitable for programming.