Encouragement for those still waiting the PB's parousia:
QuoteWithout getting into quoting many pieces of prior posts, I will try to address most everything here.
I don't mind sharing the roadmap that I am on - because I think I can do that and still hold to what Bob used to describe as "no vapourware".
I absolutely believe in what Bob's vision about the compiler, in fact I found out my plan prior to our acquiring the products actually lines up with part of what Bob wanted to do, according to conversations with Vivian.
Step 1 is to translate the compiler into PowerBASIC itself. After that, I plan to do what I would call a "maintenance release" - in other words, when we get there, fix any and all issues I can find, and make that available to users.
Once that is complete, move forward with future development, which we all know I would be foolish to think that 64 bit doesn't need to be the next step.
I have hit speed bumps along the way - one of which was getting a stomach bug twice (or possibly flu once) in March and missing 3 weeks of work. All is good now, but that makes it hard to even keep up with support emails. The other simply with the sake of being transparent is the translation is a much bigger task than I envisioned it being from the outset.
My near future plans don't really include trying to add much to the compiler - but simply to do what I have described above.
I actually have acquired a URL and had started work on creating a blog prior to getting sick in March and that just fell by the wayside for a bit, and I'm now trying to circle back around to it. It probably won't be WordPress - as I have almost completed a bit of a blogging CMS in PB that will generate the output file(s) for upload. I won't really have a commenting feature on it because I don't want to try to manage the security issues related to that - but I will be pushing that content to social media when I get it launched and can facilitate discussion there, and I may be able to get the forum to pull in the RSS feed here so it would be easy to follow, and talk about.
Oblivion occured on november 6, 2012.
I would imagine the PB source assembly code to be around 10Meg. (2.5 bibles) If it's all manually coded, it would be a laborious task to decode and translate into self-compiling PB. The first task, I suppose, would be to get it through PowerBasic's own Assembler. Working at this level is much more demanding than Applications programming.
Quote from: Charles Pegge on May 04, 2018, 12:00:14 PMThe first task, I suppose, would be to get it through PowerBasic's own Assembler.
I dare say there isn't any other choice. It will be next to impossible to formalize and reconstruct hand-written and optimized assembly even to a comparatively low-level C code equivalent, let alone high-level BASIC.
So, as far as self-compilation goes, he must be talking about recompilation of the PB Turbo Assembler sources using PB's inline asm, which isn't a piece of cake either.
After 6 years, the lack of facts are speaking for themselves, and the long agony of the DDTers is going on...
Forget all about assembler, the only important thing to preserve is the BASIC syntax for those that are mono language.
But wised programmers should never put all their eggs into the same basket.
We were merely speculating on the technical feasibility of making that transformation of the PB source code. One would have to be highly motivated to do it. The translation of the ~10 megs of code would have to be near perfect to stand any chance of success.
It would be a very fitting punishment for malware-producing criminals. 5 years incarceration with hard-coding!
QuoteWe were merely speculating on the technical feasibility of making that transformation of the PB source code. One would have to be highly motivated to do it. The translation of the ~10 megs of code would have to be near perfect to stand any chance of success.
Charles--
Sincerly the chance for Drake to make their way into ZALE's assembly code is equal to NULL.
They bought a name and a dying customer base, but there is no chance for them to attract new programmers, especially in the young generation.
Invoking the "no vapourware" policy is ridiculous, because there is nothing that could stop them from going to Oblivion.
Abandonware is the right word for PowerBasic
PB may need to take a redpill to cure its stomach flu??? ;D