OK, folks, looks like I can port my tools to a Mac...

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AuthorTopic: OK, folks, looks like I can port my tools to a Mac...
Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
Profile Homepage #0
Should I bite the bullet and start figuring out REALbasic in order to port AvScript and AvDialogue to Macintosh?

I'm asking for your votes, people. There are pros and cons to both decisions.

PROS
-Mac people can use them.
-Uh...Linux people can, too.

CONS
-I will have to rewrite virtually everything, in essence starting over at 0.1 BETA.
-The Windows version will suffer in functionality. I'm not going to run two separate projects; both platforms will get the same thing.
-The interface will become crap. I can't use tabbed controls in REALbasic, which are the basis of most of AvScript and AvDialogue's interface. So we'll have a bunch of smaller things crowded onto a single form.
-It'll involve a lot of time on my part and probably cost some money so I can buy the product and actually use it legally.

I know others have offered to port it, but I just don't let others mess with code my name could be attached to.

So, I'm asking you. Should I? My main problem is that the Windows version will become less useful, which means the people I'm primarily building these for (PC users) become screwed. I'll do what you guys choose, though.
Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00
Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
Profile Homepage #1
Considering that a sizable percentage of the Blades community is Mac-using, especially among designers, I say you should make everything cross-platform whenever possible.

I may be slightly biased because I am a Mac user. :P

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Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens.
Smoo: Get ready to face the walls!
Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr.

Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me
The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever
Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
BANNED
Member # 4
Profile Homepage #2
The current designers are myself, Stareye, Khoth, Eldiran and Westra. All of 'em are Mac users.
And from the looks of it, this trend don't look like it's gonna be stoppin'.

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Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5091
Profile #3
Why not use a cross-platform toolkit like wxWidgets that works in a decent language? Then you wouldn't have to port anything.

(Don't make your software suck just to port it to the Mac.)

[ Wednesday, November 17, 2004 20:12: Message edited by: Walker, Texas Corpse ]
Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4557
Profile #4
quote:
Originally written by Walker, Texas Corpse:

Why not use a cross-platform toolkit like wxWidgets that works in a decent language? Then you wouldn't have to port anything.

(Don't make your software suck just to port it to the Mac.)

People are starting to catch on. ;)
Posts: 264 | Registered: Wednesday, June 16 2004 07:00
Warrior
Member # 3610
Profile #5
I think haveing a sucky interface would make "ease-of-interface" scripting tools useless. I also think TM's data actually contradicts his argument. Since the only currently published authors are Mac users, perhaps the Windows users are not as ready to go hard core on the scripting as the Mac authors have already demonstated they will.

Incidentally, there are more than 5 designers, some of them have just published things. Now, in the interests of staying level, I should also point out that a large piece of why there are more Mac authors may have something to do with them having 6 more months to design. The fact that most of the published designers were beta-testers supports that supposition.

Now, just looking at your list of pros and cons, there is one, admittedly fairly large, pro (ahm, there is no Linux BoA, so it doesn't really count). On the other hand there are 4 cons. The time and money issue is one you need to evaluate for your self. Crap interface, as I said above seems to make the whole project self-defeating, same thing with making a less functional version.
Posts: 129 | Registered: Tuesday, October 28 2003 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
Profile Homepage #6
Walker:

I don't use wxWidgets and a more portable language because of a few things.

1) Being forced to work directly with GTK blows hard.

2) I don't know how to do GUI programming in C/C++ and can't do something of this depth using Java in a reasonable amount of time. RAD has a purpose. (My knowledge of C/C++ is more or less limited to DirectX, OpenGL, and game logic.)

To do this in C++ would take me weeks. In any flavor of BASIC I can do it in under a day. The first version of AvDialogue took me seven hours, and I haven't spent more than ten adding new features and debugging.

3) I'm way more comfortable doing file access in BASIC languages, because I can do it faster and more reliably.

TM:

You "big-name" designers are less likely to use my tools, anyway. These are mostly for less seasoned designers.

And for everyone:

I've started working on it. The CallWizards idea is already gone, though if I ever port/finish AvScript it'll be there. This is going to be slow as hell to do, but I'm working on it.
Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00
BANNED
Member # 4
Profile Homepage #7
I'm not sure that I was arguing for/against porting- I was just putting information out. (Honestly, I wouldn't be entirely adverse to a simple, low-bandwidth JS site to do my dirty work.)

On the other side of the coin, though, most big-name designers from the BoE era are gone or inactive. So people on both platforms will probably need tools to get them started, since so few experienced people are around. (Not that BoE was any better, but I'd like to think that we could start better this time.)

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Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
The Establishment
Member # 6
Profile #8
I'd definitely use it if it works. Take your time, there is no hurry.

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Your flower power is no match for my glower power!
Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5091
Profile #9
Um, wxWidgets doesn't force you to do ANYTHING with Gtk+. It doesn't even USE Gtk+ on your target platforms, so I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. (Ironic.)

I thought you said you were a Python man. Use wxPython; it's extremely mature.
Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
Profile Homepage #10
quote:
Originally written by Walker, Texas Corpse:

[b]Um, wxWidgets doesn't force you to do ANYTHING with Gtk+. It doesn't even USE Gtk+ on your target platforms, so I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about.
The last version of it I checked out required GTK+ installed on even Win32 machines to work.

quote:
[qb]
I thought you said you were a Python man. Use wxPython; it's extremely mature.[/b]
I use Python for web scripting and a scripting language in the game I'm writing. I've never used it for standalone executable programs, and from the problems I had when I tried, I don't plan on it.

And I'm sure you just glossed over that I didn't care to spend weeks doing it, but hey.
Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00
Warrior
Member # 5091
Profile #11
Jesus. Do you have to be so defensive?

In any case, wxWidgets doesn't require Gtk+ on Windows. As far as I can remember, wxWindows was out on Win32 before Gtk+ for Win32 existed.

Regardless, even the Unix port doesn't make you do anything directly with Gtk+. That's why it's a cross-platform library.

wxPython and XRCed together make a very fine rapid development platform. I see no reason why trivial applications like yours would take more than a week or two to implement with them.
Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4942
Profile #12
OK, I am having problems opening AvernumScript. I download it from your site, unzip it to a new folder on the desktop, and I double click on the icon "AvScript v0.2 BETA". I then get a message saying this:

Run-time error '339':

Component 'COMDLG32.OCX' or on of its dependencies are not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid

What is this?

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Wham Bam Shizam
Posts: 247 | Registered: Monday, September 6 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4557
Profile #13
quote:
Originally written by Arenax:


And I'm sure you just glossed over that I didn't care to spend weeks doing it, but hey.

If you're not going to do it well, don't do it.
Posts: 264 | Registered: Wednesday, June 16 2004 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 4256
Profile #14
quote:
OK, I am having problems opening AvernumScript. I download it from your site, unzip it to a new folder on the desktop, and I double click on the icon "AvScript v0.2 BETA". I then get a message saying this:

Run-time error '339':

Component 'COMDLG32.OCX' or on of its dependencies are not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid

What is this?
Means you don't have the correct file library
I posted the place to get the file in the thread for the AvScript

Or I or someone else can email it to you

[ Friday, November 19, 2004 13:42: Message edited by: m's avatar ]

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"Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos was lightning, he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are false'."
Posts: 564 | Registered: Wednesday, April 14 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4942
Profile #15
M's Avatar: I tried opening the link and it didn't work. Could you please send it to whambamshizam@hotmail.com?

Is this a problem everyone encounters?

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Wham Bam Shizam
Posts: 247 | Registered: Monday, September 6 2004 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 4256
Profile #16
Sorry that was not were I got it I could not find it again at the time. But now I have so....
This is where I got it but I am trying to mail it to you as well. :)

[ Friday, November 19, 2004 17:20: Message edited by: m's avatar ]

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"Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos was lightning, he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are false'."
Posts: 564 | Registered: Wednesday, April 14 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
Profile Homepage #17
quote:
Originally written by KernelKnowledge12:

quote:
Originally written by Arenax:


And I'm sure you just glossed over that I didn't care to spend weeks doing it, but hey.

If you're not going to do it well, don't do it.

...Can you read?

Let's see what I said. I said I can make it in a few days with a RAD tool or spend weeks doing the same thing with C/C++ or something.

Are you guys actively trying to get me not to do this?
Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
Profile Homepage #18
quote:
Originally written by Walker, Texas Corpse:

Jesus. Do you have to be so defensive?
If you're going to be offensive, then, why, yes.

quote:

In any case, wxWidgets doesn't require Gtk+ on Windows. As far as I can remember, wxWindows was out on Win32 before Gtk+ for Win32 existed.

Maybe so--but I've had hell with Gtk+ and was unsure when starting this mess whether it was necessary to port.

quote:

Regardless, even the Unix port doesn't make you do anything directly with Gtk+. That's why it's a cross-platform library.

Fair enough.

quote:

wxPython and XRCed together make a very fine rapid development platform. I see no reason why trivial applications like yours would take more than a week or two to implement with them.

Because I'd have to learn it, and picking up new stuff takes me a while.
Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4942
Profile #19
What do I do with the files once they are done downloading?

PS Thanks, M. :)

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Wham Bam Shizam
Posts: 247 | Registered: Monday, September 6 2004 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 4256
Profile #20
Err just click on the little icon......
It just installs the library which should be some other files as well, and then AvScript will work.

[ Friday, November 19, 2004 17:42: Message edited by: m's avatar ]

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"Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos was lightning, he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are false'."
Posts: 564 | Registered: Wednesday, April 14 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 4557
Profile #21
quote:
Originally written by Arenax:

Are you guys actively trying to get me not to do this?
If you don't want any help/suggestions, than make your program any way you see fit and stop wasting people's time.
Posts: 264 | Registered: Wednesday, June 16 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 5181
Profile Homepage #22
quote:
Originally written by KernelKnowledge12:

quote:
Originally written by Arenax:

Are you guys actively trying to get me not to do this?
If you don't want any help/suggestions, than make your program any way you see fit and stop wasting people's time.

"Don't do it if you're not going to do it right" isn't a suggestion nor help.

So grow up and get a brain.
Posts: 262 | Registered: Thursday, November 11 2004 08:00
BANNED
Member # 4860
Profile Homepage #23
Hilarious.

[ Saturday, November 20, 2004 05:47: Message edited by: Ei Kiinnosta ]

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The Great Mister

kommari@gmail.com[/url]
Posts: 103 | Registered: Sunday, August 15 2004 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5091
Profile #24
Are you the type of person that, when tapped on the shoulder, spins around with a left hook in mid-air? Because that's how you're coming off. Extremely touchy and defensive.

It hasn't been my intention to be "offensive" towards you in this or any other thread. In this thread, I just offered advice (which you requested via email as well); in the only other one in which we have had any contact, we had a disagreement and what I would characterize as a "lively debate" regarding the relative merits of different languages. You're the one who, immediately, accused me of being under the influence of drugs for holding a particular opinion on programming languages. Your baseless ad hominem attacks have only gotten worse.

By the way, if you think that being around in '98 and having your "unbeatable monster" whipped by Thuryl makes you any more respectable than, say, TGM or anyone else, you're sadly mistaken. Perhaps if you had been around since then. Perhaps if you had made any real contribution since. Perhaps if, upon returning, you hadn't presented yourself as incredibly arrogant and irrational.

Seniority requires presence. Even if you had that, it still wouldn't protect you from being seen as an ass if you act like an ass. A little bit of humility goes a long way, you know.

[ Saturday, November 20, 2004 22:47: Message edited by: Walker, Texas Corpse ]
Posts: 180 | Registered: Friday, October 15 2004 07:00

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