- BB: The future: Is there one?

From: [at]} <Les>
Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 21:06:53 +0100

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I am a biologist by training and inclination. I program for two reasons.
the intellectual challenge and to produce programs which are of use to
myself and my students in recording animal behaviour. I do not earn my
living as a programmer so you are free to ignore my comments.

Comparing the very low uptake of BB with the dominance of C and/or C++
is the wrong comparison. If BB is to have a future on Win/Linux/64 bit
processors then a better comparison is with the FreePascal and FreeBasic
projects.

FreePascal boasts of being 'write once compile anywhere' and is moving
onto 64 bit processors. FreeBasic is available for DOS, Win and Linux.
Both these projects are run by small teams and are very successful.
FreePascal even merited a mention in Dr Dobbs Journal. If you are
tempted to smile at the mention of Basic then check out the syntax of
FreeBasic's control structures. There is a case for suggesting it is
better than for Oberon.

I have never seen a query about 'Freestanding applications' on either
website. It is just taken for granted that you can create them.

One reason for their success is that they have good IDEs (at least on
Win machines) which enable users to make use of their already available
skills. BB does so to a very limited degree. The document centred
approach has its limitations. The case sensitivity and the use of upper
case for keywords is a nuisance. How nice it would be to have an editor
which accepts any case and changes it to upper case automatically.
Perhaps BB has one already and I just have not found it.

Why does BB generate such enthusiasm from its converts? Is it the
framework for designing GUIs? Or is it the Component Pascal language
which gives the user a high level of confidence that programs are
correct and do exactly what they are intended to do?

One last thought. Is the future of BB already with us and called Zonnon?

Les May

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Received on Sat May 20 2006 - 22:06:53 UTC