SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

Hallo,  I'm currently working on new BlitzMax related site to replace the now defunct blitzmax.com, which will be somewhere to provide information about BlitzMax and BlitzMax NG, as well as hosting downloads.

Since BlitzMax and the old site (now archived at wasted.nz) didn't really have much in the way of proper documentation, I'd like to do something to fix that.
So for starters, I'm looking to integrate some of the better tutorials into the site, as well as a revised version of the built-in language reference.

Is there anything else that would be useful to have?
If you want to toss some ideas about, that would be helpful, thanks!

Hi Brucey,

good to hear from you.

I would think that basic stuff is important like:

  * Download here. One place to get all that is necessary to write a simple "Hello world" app in a flash. I was
    thinking of writing a Windows installer for BmxNG, similar Mark(?) wrote for Blitzmax.

  * F.A.Q.

  * Documentation. Language docs ?

  * Feedback / Bugs / Known issues.

  * Nice pictures ?


What about running costs ?

-Henri

I'd like see doc's that allow comments similar to the docs on the bb website where people can elaborate on certain things.
Also some mini tutorials about NG specific things would be nice.   For example, dealing with the new GC, how to compile a dll, a deep-dive into 'bmk' files and details about building for android, importing libs etc.
I can help out on some of the things I have personal experience with.
Also maybe a detailed list enumerating how NG is different/improved from classic Bmax, (constructor args, overloading ect)

I wish a *full* manual reference for start! Some functions/commands of 'vanilla' BMX was not present. I always liked the possibility to add comments/example on the online manual.

Then for tutorials, they can be written, copied, edited etc... just re-organizing it. It doesn't must be done in one night !

When I started with Blitz3D in 2005, the german Blitzbasic community had (and still has) a very good reference for all available commands and a small demo example for each important command. I think this is very important when you want to learn a new language. The examples should be as short as possible to keep it simple. We could need something similar for Blitzmax.

Yes, I'm looking at having something along those lines.

I've committed the initial version of the language reference at https://github.com/bmx-ng/language_ref

This is an export of the bmx manual docs data from the blitzmax website, process through a BlitzMax app to generate .rst files. It's done as reStructuredText format (.rst) which is a nice, clean format for writing docs.

The raw source can then be used to generate pages for the web, etc. with the intention being that it is integrated into the new site.

If anyone wants to help, feel free to fork the repository and PR your updates.
For example code, I'd prefer them to be SuperStrict compliant, please :-)

Thanks!

QuoteFor example code, I'd prefer them to be SuperStrict compliant, please :-)

Right, and of course every examples in the repository is NOT SuperStrict (or even Strict) !


Now looking to know better what it .rst format.
Manual pages can be created 'on the fly' (with PHP or other things) or must be 'static' (defined once and then uploaded to the website?)

Quick observation.

I looked at functions/data/index.rst (in the github repository) and compared with the 'manual' coming with BlitzMax.
In the manual there's a sort of 'general introduction' to what are 'Collections' (List, Maps - but not Array, they are in a separate section), how to craeteaccess to them etc. (see the section Language)
I think a link to a general manual (in this case 'Collections') is needed to understand better what is the general picture.

So examples should/could be linked both to the single command/function (ie: MapInsert)

Another question: How will be organized examples source code?

I mean, in BMax (local documentation) there's (not always) a DOC folder where is the code_example.bmx.
For what I remember (but I can be wrong) it is/was possible to have just 1 (one) source code example inline.
IIRC code_example.bmx name should have the same name of the command - ie: CreateList()

Solutions
1. load every .bmx file you find in the 'doc' folder and consider it as a code_example.
2. specify an order of loading - so simple code first, advanced, etc

..im wondering is there any roadmap (if any) for NG to be rigged by 3D module of some sort..sort of 'officially' supported 3d module..

Quote..im wondering is there any roadmap (if any) for NG to be rigged by 3D module of some sort..sort of 'officially' supported 3d module..

Several 3d modules already work with NG, openb3d does and I believe Minib3d does as well

Thank god I found this. I was horrified to learn the fate of the old site; it's been the only place I could go when I hit a wall.

For a new site, definitely I'd want some code archives a la the old stuff, preferably better organized with a tagging system. Ideally a separate but similarly-designed section for BMax modules.

How many of "the old gang" do we have keeping in touch here? I see Brucey, Yue and Naughty Alien, Henri too; do we have any word from folks like Kryzon, Yasha, JoshK and so on?

Quote from: Brucey on June 15, 2017, 11:26:50
Is there anything else that would be useful to have?
If you want to toss some ideas about, that would be helpful, thanks!

Something documenting the changes in new builds of NG would be nice.

On BMX-NG ( http://www.bmx-ng.com/main/ ) "Bruceys Mods"  links to http://brucey.net/programming/blitz/


Perhaps the following data there should be adjusted(point to Github or new download repository on the site itself)?

QuoteWe're currently in the process of moving most of the modules to GoogleCode. This is great for everyone as it means releases can be better organised, latest source is available via Subversion, and it includes an Issue Tracker.

But from Google Code (https://code.google.com/archive/) we get:

Quote
Welcome! The Google Code Archive contains the data found on the Google Code Project Hosting Service, which will be turned down in early 2016.

any news? seems that this site (syntax bomb) are not much used by old users... i hoper that a new one by Brucey can be an "ufficial" refernce to Blitzmax language

We could really do with a tutorial on what the syntax is for all the new NG language features.