PureBasic Forums - English

This is mainly in replying to the topic:
http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtop ... ilit=chart

that was closed (and i understand that) but my experience could be helpful to someone!

I have used Real Basic Pro edition to create many applications before discovering Pure Basic! RB has nice IDE and comprehensive OO support but programs that require heavy processing and I/O when written in RB are really really slow and cannot be compared to PB (factor 1 to 3,4,5...!!) ... We have done extensive tests before deciding on Pure Basic! We have invested a lot of time/effort in RB before dropping it in favor of PB...

I haven't tested their web-edition. IMHO, i dont think RB is good for serious programing!

Said

I was told to "take a serious look" at rb, but I couldn't get passed the huge runtime required, and the 'canned answers' I got back from support about the size, just felt like lip service...
I went pb and have been rather happy, and definitely don't look back and rethink the decision.

jassing wrote:... but I couldn't get passed the huge runtime required, and the 'canned answers' I got back from support about the size...

When was the last time the size of an exe file prevented you from using it?

I think it humorous; half the coders will tell you "don't worry about code size or space--modern computers are fast enough with enough ram", and the other half will complain about a large runtime even if their computer is not phased by it.

The bottom line is that even with a "large" runtime, who cares? I mean, if the file can be emailed, or fit on a CD or thumb drive, does it matter what size it is?

Tenaja wrote:When was the last time the size of an exe file prevented you from using it?

So you're telling me -- if you're looking at portable apps to squeeze on your usb thumbdrive, given these two choices, you would passover the smaller file?

You're looking for a way to sync the computers time from an internet time server, and you find two choices:
10 meg program
200K program

Both allow the same feature set, options, etc. One loads in less than a second, the other takes longer to load; but both do the same thing.

You'd say "Nah, I already have one that does that, it's 10 megs, but it does exactly the same thing, so I'm happy"?

Sadly, footprint does matter. I can't imagine a portable app that says "This requires the .net 4.0 runtime to be installed" Maybe it doesn't matter to you or your customers; but that's not a universal feeling.

But I liked the way you say "Your opinion is wrong".

I asked them if thier web app would be capable of social networking stuff, and they did not have a clue, they said download the demo and see if it can.

Tenaja wrote:The bottom line is that even with a "large" runtime, who cares? I mean, if the file can be emailed, or fit on a CD or thumb drive, does it matter what size it is?

My opinion:
If you write something "big" (in value), the program/installed size doesn't matter so much anymore, most of the time.
Many programs install 50 to 100 MB or more to your hard-drive and come with several 3rd party DLL's.
If the program is valuable, nobody complains. I've never seen complaints about the size of installed programs
like PureBasic, PellesC, The Gimp, Blender, Cinema4D, Poser, Ableton, Reason, ...
...it's just for small tools/utilities that some people even look at the size of the .EXE.
(sometimes it's true, very small tools with 5MB .EXE are suspicious and could contain a virus or spyware)

If the install is 9GB and you don't have so much free space anymore on your HDD, you get
a new one as soon as possible, if you desperately want/need that software.

Do you decide against downloading a software you want, because it is 70MB?

Developers often use/license 3rd party DLLs if it helps them to get the job done faster and/or better (this may also apply to you).
So even software written with PB can be 50MB or more in size and come with several DLL's when installed on customers/users PC's... not a problem at all, is it?

Tenaja wrote:When was the last time the size of an exe file prevented you from using it?

PLENTY of times. And not just for Windows. I really want to play GTA3 on my iPhone, but the app is 462 MB. My phone only has about 1 GB of space left, so I don't want to waste almost half of that for a single app. Size DOES matter... as any woman will tell you!

jassing wrote:But I liked the way you say "Your opinion is wrong".

Sorry it came across that way; I was kind of trolling. I prefer small and tight code as well as the next coder, but when I have asked for some very simple (to implement) optimizations to tighten the asm output, even our Master Commander says it doesn't matter. I, myself, am trying to get over the angst of wanting the smallest possible (knowing it is very bloated compared to the way I would do it) vs the pc can handle any ol' crap you throw at it. "Much better" does not necessarily mean "as good as it gets".

But in reality, never once in the years since DSL or Fiber Optic internet has the exe file size ever prevented me from downloading it.

I prefer smaller and more efficient programs, but really this is a case by case judgement and other factors have to be considered.

If I am looking at something for a small device with limited storage I would pick the smallest app I could get, as long as I was happy with the User Interface.

But on the other hand, if I liked a program a lot because of its Interface, and it was the easiest/best for me to like using versus alternatives, I would not necessarily care that it was 50% bigger or something.


On the other hand, I'm not going to download a 10MB program to run ping tests or something like that..

It just really depends. But I will always try to get the smallest/efficient program possible, even though I have to force myself to accept the fact that programmers who think that way with their products are a rarity these days.

uTorrent is a great example of this, I guess. It is fast, lightweight, and very efficient. Other programs feel bloated and slow compared to it.

said wrote:This is mainly in replying to the topic:
http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtop ... ilit=chart

that was closed (and i understand that) but my experience could be helpful to someone!

I'm astounded that this other thread hasn't been deleted! Why does the team (or mods!) allow such advertisments to hang around?