misc, Alternatives to REALbasic Reviewed

This month's MacCompanion has an article reviewing Basic compilers on
the Macintosh:

http://www.maccompanion.com/archives/June2006/Columns/AccordingtoHoyle.htm

This article is essentially covering alternatives to REALbasic, since
REALbasic itself was covered in the January issue:

http://www.maccompanion.com/archives/january2006/Columns/AccordingtoHoyle.htm

The article did not include PureBasic.

http://www.purebasic.com/

Hi Dave,

I'm the author of the column mentioned here. I did not include
PureBasic because I was not aware that it supported the Mac at all.
The second sentence into its introduction includes the parenthetical:
"(Windows, AmigaOS and Linux are currently fully supported)", which
left me with the imporession the Mac was not supported. PureBasic's
FAQ reinforces this with the statement: "PureBasic currently runs on
three different operating systems (Windows, Linux and AmigaOS) and a
single licence cover them all. Even if PureBasic is ported to other
OSes (OpenBSD, MacOS X..) you will have free access to them."

Interestingly, the download page does seem to now include a Mac OS X
demo version; however, given the statements above, I would not be
inclined to think that it is ready for review as of yet. In any case,
I will keep my eye out for it for future articles.

Thanks,

Jonathan Hoyle
macCompanion

Jonathan,

Try this link.

http://www.purebasic.com/introduction_macos.php3

> "PureBasic currently runs on three different operating systems (Windows, Linux and AmigaOS) ..."

Amiga's were great back in the day, but do people really still use them
for much? I thought the company was basically gone long ago (and if I
remember correctly, I thought they sold their licenses to someone that
didn't do much with it, but maybe I'm wrong)? Unless I'm missing
something, other than nostalgia, it seems a bit odd to keep a compiler
up to date with AmigaOS, especially in comparison to implementing a Mac
version.

Chad

I don't think they keep the AmigaOS compiler up-to-date but they also don't
keep the web site up to date. You need to wander about their site to get a
sense of where they are now. The second link, below, gives a history of
releases. I think the last AmigaOS release was in 2001. Since then they have
concentrated on Windows, Linux and, most recently, MacOS X. Their forums
(3rd link) will also give you a feel for the current state of affairs for
each OS.

http://www.purebasic.com/index.php3
http://www.purebasic.com/news.php3
http://www.purebasic.fr/english/

The KBasic project looks promising. I am going to see what they might be
willing to accept in the way of help. I like the use of Qt and the
general appearance of apps. The Web site needs a redesign, but that
isn't what I care about as a programmer. (Still, it does leave an
impression with potential users.)

I'm glad there is competition.

- Scott

I have been trying KBasic on the Mac. There are some issues with
rendering, linked to Qt I think. The install was smooth and the ability
to convert VB6 apps is interesting.

It's not as clean as REALbasic, yet, but I think it has some promise. I
like the fact it is nearly VB6 complete. However, the rendering issues
make the IDE a bit difficult on OS X, still.

The developers seem to listen to issues on their forums, and corrections
are made to the tools.

Not too bad. The price is less than 50 euros, which is great for a
cross-platform tool. We'll have to see how the database pieces come
together -- then the price would be amazing.

- CSW

For commercial software, you must license Qt from Trolltech. You can
check their site for details but it's several thousand dollars per
developer.

Actually, the same agreement with Trolltech has been made that Borland
had for Kylix and the CLX component tools that Delphi 6-2005 supported,
which were all Qt based, even on Windows. (CLX was deprecated, is my
understanding, since people were already committed to the VCL controls
for several reasons.

KBasic is working out the details, so I will have to verify what the
final licensing issues are. I do know that it was very expensive to get
the license for a compiler. (And I do mean very.)

As it stands, the compiler requires the Qt libraries on Linux. I will
have to examine the OS X package to see how the libraries are being
employed.

I'll pass along what I learn. It is a serious issue for anyone
interested in commercial development. This is one reason I am pushing
for the inclusion of SQLite and/or any BSD-style licensed database
drivers. MySQL is expensive and not always needed.

As I said, KBasic on OS X has some issues, as it stands, so it is like
Extreme Basic -- an interesting theory yet to be finished.

- CSW

In article < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >,



interesting to notice that the author of extremebasic is the same that
realbasic some years ago... !

--
Jean-Yves.

In article < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >, Scott Wyatt



Scott-

I am using Mac OS 10.4.6, but have no knowledge of UNIX. Can you give me
a few basic steps to installing a UNIX application on the Mac?

I realize there can be "issues", but they might be solveable if I only
knew how to get started!

Fred

XXXX@XXXXX.COM (Fred McKenzie) writes:



Take a look at fink:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/

And for the graphical interface:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8128

I think that's what you're looking for. At least it will get you started.

-Stephen
--
Space Age Cybernomad Stephen Adams
XXXX@XXXXX.COM (remove SPAM to reply)

Their Help section states very clearly that you can only use Kbasic for
free software and that if you want to use it for commercial software,
you must purchase a Qt license from Trolltech. These licenses are very
expensive.

It is certainly possible that Kbasic will make a deal with Trolltech to
avoid this problem but I seriously doubt it. When we were adding Linux
support to REALbasic we considered both GTK and Qt. The Qt licensing
does not allow it to be used for any thing that generates software. We
verified this with Trolltech and it did not appear they were interested
in providing such a license.

Kylix (from Borland) was a unique case because Borland at the time was
an investor in Trolltech and the Borland CEO sat on the board of
Trolltech.

Not just "free software"...it must be software published under the GPL
license agreement (which requires you to supply source code, etc).
According to my reading of the Qt license agreement, even building
freeware requires a commercial license, if the freeware is not GPL.

Building a standard GUI application, the least expensive option is Qt's
Desktop Light license, which runs about $2000 for one platform (e.g.
Mac OS X only), $3000 for two platforms (e.g. Mac & Windows), and $4000
for three platforms (e.g. Mac, Windows, Linux). (There are discounts
available for academic, educational and startup/small businesses.)

See: http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/pricing

Jonathan Hoyle
macCompanion