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308 replys and 4.6K views...but — Parallax Forums

308 replys and 4.6K views...but

is there ever going to be an IDE like PBASIC for the Propeller? Really, everyone talks about GUI's and ZIP's this and that, but all the views and replies, still has not produced anything like PBASIC, that made the Stamp and Parallax famous for the last 2 decades. In other words, if you have the "smarts", stop beating around the bush, and develop an IDE that will program the propeller, in basic. Put the Propeller back on the map, and take away some of the thunder from Arduino. I have been working with PROPBASIC, but the 1.48 "playbook" is not completely understandable (a lot left out)...please no offence Bean...but for someone that has been dealing with PBASIC all these/those years the stamp manual is very good. Or maybe, it is just me, and everyone else has a grip on SPIN. However, I do not like using other peoples OBJECTs, I prefer to write my own, understandable code. To use other peoples OBJECTs requires that you carefully interpet that object to give you results that you want in your own "hand written" code. I would rather write my own code, from A to Z to get what I want....that is why I started using PROPBASIC.

Thank you everyone for your reading time. I suspect that this thread will create some controversy. But really, GUI's and ZIP's everywhere. Link after link, one could spend 24/7 looking around....Just need a IDE in basic for the prop...and I do not have that knowledge in any language to do that.

dennO...

Comments

  • We already have SimpleIDE that allows you to program the Propeller in C or C++. The Arduino is also programmed in C++ so we already have an IDE that can appeal to people who are attracted to the Arduino. I don't see how BASIC fits into this at all.
  • An "IDE" (integrated development environment) is a kind of "GUI" (graphical user interface). And a .ZIP file is a container that's used to distribute IDEs (or other kinds of programs). So I think you're a bit confused about things here.

    I gather what you really want is some very simple instructions for installing a BASIC compiler that will be (for you) more convenient than PropBASIC + SimpleIDE. People are working on various parts of such things -- I have developed a compiler, @rayman is working on an IDE that's like PropTool, etc. These are very complicated tools, and they're not going to appear in finished form overnight.

  • msrobotsmsrobots Posts: 3,709
    edited 2018-11-12 03:24
    Oh yes denno, @ersmith is currently working on some wonderful project.

    It is called fastspin, because that was it was started with. FastSpin does to spin-code what @Bean does for basic and compiles it to LMM or COG code.

    But @ersmith seems to be unstoppable right now he also added basic to the compiler. The funny and exceptional thing is that this basic also can include SPIN objects and is able to use them without hassle.

    His basic is more or less alike freebasic and quite complete, he does now integrate a C compiler, but that one is not ready, yet.

    The exceptional thing on fastspin is that you can write parts of your code in different languages and it compiles all together.

    And now the bummer, it does compile for the P1 AND the P2.

    He also has a GUI-IDE build for testing his own code.

    search for fastspin to find BASIC.

    I know. Who would have thought of.

    Mike
    .
  • I get it, denno.

    It seems like the Propeller veered away with spin, had some adventures with C, and then went to BlocklyProp.

    I guess product developers assume that it's easy for everyone to pick up other programming languages, when in fact it really could be difficult for some. But as to why one would choose other programming languages, it's because it ends up just either being much easier and efficient to express certain ideas, or comes from a desire to be more mainstream (C language), or becomes possible to teach one maddeningly short class period at a time (BlocklyProp).

    The Propeller Tool really was the next step in the process started by the Stamps. And unfortunately it had to veer away from BASIC at the time because it just wasn't expressive enough. Real ANSI style BASIC is very string-heavy, floating point, and text-terminal based. None of that is what the Propeller excels at.

    That there is an object exchange with zip files is just more of a sign of the times. That the mindshare is muddled with ZIP files of different IDEs and such is just proof that there is more than one way to accomplish a goal, many in fact. Not much this stuff is going to get printed in books or magazines like the 80's and 90's. It just doesn't happen that way anymore, there's no audience.


    But yeah, you want BASIC.
    I really think from what I'm seeing is that ersmith's spin2gui is becoming something you're going to like.
    Please do try to check it out.
  • The propeller didn't veer away from Spin, it's still there and there are multiple tools that let you use it. PropTool, PropellerIDE, fastspin, etc.

    It also still has C/C++ just fine too. Use SimpleIDE, or the PropGCC command line tools directly.

    BlocklyProp sits on top of the C/C++. When you load/run the program it produces C/C++ and then compiles that and loads the result into the Propeller.

    You also have BASIC and Forth (variants) available.

    I dunno why you would think one or the other is dead just because the others exist.
  • All of you would be surprised.
    I turned up at an event for Hack-A-Day-NYNJ of which I am a carded member, and was wearing the badge that one of you good people sent me several holidays earlier, and the people there had seven kinds of fits.

    And Roy even though you're not the one who sent me the thing, you already know why.

    Especially since the contraption I presented about was one of my Basic Stamp2 and a Netduino 1 at work to solve a big problem in logic ones. (They never did solve the problem.)

    They refused to believe that the Stamp was still with us, did not understand or event want to, understand the reasoning for programming the Netduino 1 in C#, and refused to believe that the Propeller on the Badge was better at everything then their Arduino designs. Especially at blinking the RGB lights that most of us are fond of.

    And this message is sponsored by the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic.
  • It helps to remember that a major portion of Parallax's business is in the educational market. Parallax moved to the use of C/C++ because that's what the market has wanted for years. Blockly provides a great tool for beginners and younger students to get into programming. It could have targeted Basic as its output as well as the C/C++ that it uses, but C/C++ has become more universal and supported.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,643
    SpinEdit might be at a point where it is usable. At least testable...
    I'll make a thread here for it...
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