BlitzMax NG and cross platform compatibility

Started by Imerion, February 02, 2020, 00:41:43

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Imerion

Hi everyone!

I have been thinking about learning BlitzMax. I have been looking at the documentation and it seems like a really nice language. I'm a bit curious about how well cross platform compilation and such works though. I will be running it on my Linux Desktop and I suppose there will be no problems compiling for Windows too, even if I'd use some external libraries (like one for 3D graphics). Is that also true for Android?

I have also noticed Nintendo Switch is listed on the BlitzMax NG page, which makes me really curious. To someday publish a game on a Nintendo platform such as the Switch has since long been a dream of mine. Could I do that with BlitzMax NG as it stands today? And how would compatibility with external libraries work then?

Many questions, thanks in advance to anyone who might answer. :)

Derron

To comply for a specific platform you often need to complile _on_ this platform.
Target - Where to compile from
Mac - Mac
Windows - Windows (potentially cross compile via minGW from Linux and Mac is possible)
Linux - Linux (potentially compilation from Windows 10 via Linux shell is possible)
Android - via Android Tools (so Linux, Mac, Windows, ...)
Switch (Dev Kit!) - dunno, not using it, surely requiring some tools and compiles where tools run
Raspi - dunno, not using it


So it is not a "code on Linux and compile to every potential target platform". Other toolkits (Godot) allow this by not compiling native binaries each time but providing "runtimes" (premade .exe, .bin, ...) and the games being more or less "scripts" for the runtime (so runtime just loads code scripts, shaders, assets ... and executes stuff as desired). Or they compile to ".net" or so and then this runs via the Mono project on other OSes too. Surely there are even smarter solutions or options (especially if they have their own "code to binary" compiler toolchain).


bye
Ron

Imerion