Best language to settle with

Started by EdzUp, August 22, 2021, 15:35:02

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EdzUp

Having dabbled with coding for many years (I was a serious coder back when MSDOS was a thing using C/C++ but didn't like windows programming) I'm looking for a good alternative to replacing that. I've got BlitzMax, Code Blocks and Unity but I just want a language that no matter what I want to make I can just go and make it. At present BlitzMax does do most of it but the issue I have for ther is future proofed support etc

Anyone have any other suggestions as I'm veering to going back to dos using Dosbox 🤔

Amon


Henri

Hi EdzUp,

if you are working on Windows target only then I wouldn't be that concerned about future proofing. Whatever works now will work for the foreseeable future.

-Henri
- Got 01100011 problems, but the bit ain't 00000001

EdzUp

@Henri: I rarely look at android as well but I will say that is even less now as they keep changing the store systems for tax stuff etc.

Hezkore

#4
No language will ever cover all your needs.
Use what's best for the current project.
TypeScript is pretty decent for quick prototyping, but so's BlitzMax.
C isn't going anywhere, so as long as you know C you'll be fine, but I probably wouldn't want to use it for big projects.
I've been using D lately, and I think it's a pretty good middle ground and works for most things.
It's also got some really nice language features. (like uniform-function-call-syntax-ufcs and string-mixins)
You can run the D source files as scripts as well, making it very quick to toy around with.
And you can even try it in your browser on their homepage: https://run.dlang.io/
It's well documented and has lots of books written about it: http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/index.html
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. 🚀
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EdzUp

Quote from: Hezkore on August 22, 2021, 17:09:23
No language will ever cover all your needs.
Use what's best for the current project.
TypeScript is pretty decent for quick prototyping, but so's BlitzMax.
Yeah true, I do like using Max have been looking into it more now we have BlitzMaxNG :D

Quote from: Hezkore on August 22, 2021, 17:09:23
C isn't going anywhere, so as long as you know C you'll be fine, but I probably wouldn't want to use it for big projects.
C is good for loads of things but its very convoluted and longwinded to get things going, it was brilliant back in the DOS days when you could write anything with a few lines of code now you need dozens of lines just to get a window on the screen.

MikeHart

What? No AGK anymore? What the engine you we're programming?
If you look for a general purpose language, I would say C# or Python. They are supported and have huge resources available.
Game engine wise I would say Unity or UE. Only them have the wallets and Stamina to survive.

EdzUp

AGK is a good system but one bugbear I had with it was the interpreted nature of it, the engine I'm still coding but after a load of real life stuff it's slow going. Which is why I am looking for a language to fill the void as it were as I just intend to finish the projects I have then just go back to small programming tasks.

MikeHart

Then I would say Python. Has a lib for everything.

EdzUp

I will have a look, thanks MikeHart

Kryzon

I'd love if there was a tiny single framework and language that you could use for both desktop and mobile, but I don't think there is.
I think BlitzMax could've taken that spot if it were developed further. Simple compiler and toolset, no need for huuuge gigabyte downloads like you do with, say, the C# tools.

I wish this was Haxe, but to me the learning curve was very difficult and I gave up on it. I wanted something like BMax that you could get up and running in less than 15 minutes, but when setting up Haxe and getting the sample projects to run I hit little snags at every step of the way.

I'm thinking you won't have one generic solution, but several, each more suited to a different kind of project. For 2D games I'm finding Love2D + Lua to be very fun to work with, but if I wanted to make rich desktop GUI apps I'd need something else (maybe Go and Qt).

MikeHart

Again Python and PyQT for Desktop apps then.
If you don't care about a tool being supported or run by a one man show, then of course you have plenty of tools available. If you want at some security with support, then go with the big guys.

EdzUp

@Kryzon: definitely my sentiments BlitzMax would have fitted the whole thing perfectly but for monkeyX being created for mobile


Steve Elliott

#13
Well if you're talking about general purpose languages for games then C++ and C# are good candidates.  But certainly C++ changes every 5 minutes and gets ever larger and larger (which can be frustrating).  Then of course you need some game engine to learn and bolt on.

IMO for games, languages like the Blitz Languages back in the day and the modern equivalent AGK are ideal.  Because they are simple to learn and you can get things done game-wise, putting art on-screen and sounds playing with ease.  But the Blitz languages are abandoned and AGK could be quicker if it was compiled, plus that command set is awful IMO.  Soo long winded:  ThisIsaCommandToDoSomething() and ThisIsaCommandToDoSomethingElse().  And btw Python is also interpreted, just like AGK!
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Henri

Blitzmax discussions can be found in Discord as well at https://discord.gg/5q57ewKF

'Official' website is here https://blitzmax.org

Android target is currently out of order, because Android development team deprecated the gcc toolchain support (as far as I know). I don't use Android myself , but if I ever go there , I might try to get that working..(I don't consider it too impossible :-))

-Henri
- Got 01100011 problems, but the bit ain't 00000001