PureBasic Forums - English

Hi all,

I just found PureBasic, and have some questions.

1.) Is PB compatible with other languages? Is it like VB or Qbasic ?
My concern is the language. Can I use the knowledge I learn from using PB to work in other programming languages or is it proprietary?

2.) Why is PB the best programming langauge and environment?

3.) Does anyone know the cost is US dollars?

4.) Is there a Pro version and a standard version? If so, what are the differences?

5.) Does PB support DDE calls or anything like that?

6.) Can I use PB to create complex calculators or conversion tools?

7.)What documentation is available? Are there any books in publication?

8.) Can I use PB to write programs to parse data files (strip out and clean up)?

9.) My last question; in your own words, I would like to hear why you think I should buy and use PB? In other words, please sell me on PB.
I am not a programmer by trade, but I do have desire and interest.
Is there anything about PB that makes it unique or the best choice?

Thank you very much for taking the time to educate me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
Greg

1.) Is PB compatible with other languages? Is it like VB or Qbasic ?
My concern is the language. Can I use the knowledge I learn from using PB to work in other programming languages or is it proprietary?

Definitely Yes, learn programming in PB and later on you will have easier access to for example C. But this still depends on the person. The BASIC dialect in PB however is not compatible with other BASICs, but who cares

2.) Why is PB the best programming langauge and environment?
It's fast, produces small executables and it's very cheap.

3.) Does anyone know the cost is US dollars?
-

4.) Is there a Pro version and a standard version? If so, what are the differences?
No, buy once, get all forever

5.) Does PB support DDE calls or anything like that?
Don't know what you mean by this.

6.) Can I use PB to create complex calculators or conversion tools?
Yes

7.)What documentation is available? Are there any books in publication?
No books but excellent online archives and a windows help, also this forum loves to help people in need.

8.) Can I use PB to write programs to parse data files (strip out and clean up)?
Yes

9.) My last question; in your own words, I would like to hear why you think I should buy and use PB? In other words, please sell me on PB.
I am not a programmer by trade, but I do have desire and interest.
Is there anything about PB that makes it unique or the best choice?

Just do it (Nike sell's almost everything with this you won't regret it.

Hi

3.) Does anyone know the cost is US dollars?

About 69.79 USD



Best regards
Henrik.

... and worth every penny!

*Is PB compatible with other languages?

no

*Is it like VB or Qbasic ?

It is a Basic, but it has many diffrents to VB and QBasic.

*Why is PB the best programming langauge and environment?

Download the Demo and try it.

*Is there a Pro version and a standard version? If so, what are the differences?

No (Ok, in Germany exist a boxed version; But this version is old and is not updateable.)
Btw: Updates are free.

*Does PB support DDE calls or anything like that?

What is DDE?

*Can I use PB to create complex calculators or conversion tools?

What do you mean with conversion Tools?

*What documentation is available?

The help-file and this forum (but i think, you don't need more)

*Are there any books in publication?

no.

*Can I use PB to write programs to parse data files (strip out and clean up)?

You can open every file, but what do you mean with "strip out" and "clean up"?

*My last question; in your own words, I would like to hear why you think I should buy and use PB?

Answer this question by yourself: Download the demo. This demo can nearly everything (for example: All API-Calls are blocked, you have a limit of lines and you can't create any DLL).
Run the examples and you see, what PB can.

*In other words, please sell me on PB.

I learned one thing: Persons in shops who sell things, what that you buy a product, not to inform you (and when the person get % on all solled products, he want that you buy the expensived products).

*I am not a programmer by trade, but I do have desire and interest.
Is there anything about PB that makes it unique or the best choice?

It is a simple to learn BASIC-Variant.

I have been running PB for 5 months with an absolute pleasure.

Hi everyone,

Thank you for answering my questions.

I wanted to explain DDE. This is an old Microsoft technology for linking to a supported program and pushing data. It was called Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) This could be used to send key strokes to an application or to read data from an application.

What I meant by clean up and stripping in my question about parsing was to be able to open a flat file (print report) and strip off the header information and move column headings to the front of a line. Basically, I want to be able to arrange data in a flat file so it can be imported into a database as a fixed length file or a space delimted file.

I am not sure if that make sense, but I wanted to try and explain myself better.

Again, thank you very much!

-Greg

einander : I have been running PB for 5 months with an absolute pleasure.

Me too. Pure Basic feels like a step from conventional BASIC towards a kinder version of C. It encourages you to go beyond old BASIC and use the full power of C, the Windows API and the full speed of In-line Assembly. It does all this in a very compact, efficient and (a mostly) cross platform sort of way.

Henrik :

Hi

3.) Does anyone know the cost is US dollars?

About 69.79 USD

Henrik went all the way for you Greg, but teaching a man(?) to fish(?) : http://www.xe.com/ucc

Pure Basic is easily up to the tasks you describe.

Greg,

Just a few points:

1) Language compatability.

Purebasic's syntax is not compatable with other languges. However, you can produce DLLs, which means that you can write libraries in PB and use them in VB, Delphi and most other languages.

Features for Creating more sophisticated COM components have recently been introduced and look extremely promising.

You cannot, however, cut and paste PB code into another. While the syntax will change the principles remain the same. You may find that PB prepares you for C and other langauges more than most basics do.

5) DDE Support

Purebasic offers unequaled support for the Windows API.

To use API calls in VB you have to clutter your code with declarations.

There are a number of DDE functions in the API that you can use to handle DDE.

The documentation here is aimed at the VB programmer. Converting the example to PB mainly involves deleting all the clutter.

http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/d.shtml

Purebasics API support is one of its unique selling points. Only C programmers enjoy the same level of access.

> PureBasic feels like a step from conventional BASIC towards a kinder
> version of C.

Very true! I stopped using Visual Basic when I bought PureBasic,
and my apps feel "half Basic and half C" due to extensive API use.
It also makes converting code from C to PureBasic much easier.
However, you don't have to use the API, so don't let all this talk
about "C" scare you off -- it's still a BASIC language if you want.

As for manuals and documentation -- it may be a bit lacking at the
moment, but nothing beats these forums for help! I think it's better
to get real human responses here, usually with examples, than just
trying to figure something out on your own from a book...

Just buy PureBasic -- you won't regret it.

@ghopkins,

Yeah the file manipulation is good with PB. It has one or two functions that have extended abilities above other languages. But, a few are lacking, so I wrote my own replacements for that very easily simply using the PB language itself. So now I can parse plain text or even complicated text very easily.

File parsing... using DDE... sounds like someone has plans to write a program to interface with a game to display information in game. But, just my thought =).

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. Actually, my question regarding DDE was more for poking a frontend software application in order to get information provided by an API. I had initially done this using MS Excel and the old macro capabilities. I was just trying to avoid the expense of purchasing the API developer kit ($5,000 USD) and having to learn to program in C or C++.

I had never given thought to the gaming aspect. Hmmm! Very interesting. I guess that would mean beefing up my very limited programming skills. I usually look for the softer, easier way, as with the DDE solution. Ah, food for thought!

Thank you so much for your response.

Best regards,
Greg[/quote]

I've been using PB for about a year or so. I feel nothingelse compares.
The main reason I feel this way is because the compiler itself is so highly optimized. Add to this that it will export .asm code on request for you to examine for "flaws". If you should find any, just email fred and its usually fixed in about a week or less. Nothing compares to that level of customer support.

The other stuff is bells and wistles

And, don't forget the Linux support.

This is still going on? hehe,

Had PB for a bit over 2 months now (I believe). I havent used it much due to much left to be desired.... but, it's moving along nicely with features and bug fixes (big plus!). Hopefully it'll be mature enough by the end of next year for some serious cross-platform (windows/linux) game coding

Shannara wrote:This is still going on? hehe,

Had PB for a bit over 2 months now (I believe). I havent used it much due to much left to be desired.... but, it's moving along nicely with features and bug fixes (big plus!). Hopefully it'll be mature enough by the end of next year for some serious cross-platform (windows/linux) game coding

Yeah, it's still going on. I appreciate your honesty. I have yet to purchase a perfect piece of software. Even Microsoft isn't perfect, but we knew that! :roll:

It's good to hear there has been progress, but better to hear there is a long way to go. I program for a hobby with some work as necessary for my job. I have spent weeks trying to find my mistake, only to realize it was the compiler. That can be very frustrating.

Sounds like I should wait until the PB product matures a bit more. Thanks again.

-G