Having written part 1 while suffering from a severe bout of quasi-depression because I was unable to get my software compiled with the almost-final-release of the IDE I use, I was all ready to make Part 2 a meandering diatribe about software quality, etc. However, after several hours of scouring my code I finally located and fixed the problem that was causing the IDe to crash. Hence I’m somewhat mollified. The howling gale in my sails is now just a stiff breeze.
\n
\nPerhaps I should talk a bit about my choice of development tools, which seems to make some of my more software-development-savvy users’ eyes roll.<\/p>\n
My current tool-of-choice is a language\/IDE called REALbasic. Eyes start rolling. “BASIC? Surely that’s for 13-year-olds and amateur software developers. Are you saying that AstroPlanner is a collection of code that looks like:<\/p>\n
10 REM Code starts here\n20 LET A1 = 12\n30 GOSUB 1200\n...\n<\/pre>\n?”<\/p>\n
Well, no. REALbasic is a full-blown compiled (not interpreted) object-oriented language with some pretty sophisticated syntactical features. It’s about as close to 1970’s BASIC as an ox cart is to a Maserati. It’s far from perfect, but it does have some compelling advantages (for me).<\/p>\n
When I first started programming AstroPlanner, Mac OS X had been announced, but I was still using the Mac Classic OS (Mac OS 9). The only compiler IDE vendor was Metrowerks, and it was vanishing faster than a puddle in Nevada. I had used it over the years to develop code in Pascal, and that was dropped in favour of the Flavour Of The Day, C++.<\/p>\n
I don’t “do” C or C++. C is a crude, non-object-oriented, assembler replacement language, designed to write low-level code. C++ is an over-engineered object-oriented edifice built on top of C. It’s very easy to write completely obscure code in C++, and difficult to write code at a fast clip. I like strongly-typed OO languages that are designed to assist the programmer.<\/p>\n
I briefly dabbled with Java, a half-way decent language, but my bookshelf filled so rapidly with ever more voluminous books about the frameworks, that I very soon was unable to stay current. Also Sun was not helping by ignoring the Mac, leaving Apple to do all the engineering (that has now changed, and Mac OS X is now the platform of choice for Java development, I’m told).<\/p>\n
I had for many years used Borland’s Delphi for several large and complex projects. A very nice, very stable IDE based around object-oriented Pascal. However, it had one major disadvantage – it was Windows-only. Fine for the (salaried) work I was doing, but not for Mac development.<\/p>\n
Then I discovered REALbasic for the Mac. It was an object-oriented language, with several very compelling advantages (the Pro version):<\/p>\n
The IDE also runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, and compiles to all the other platforms.<\/p>\n
Pretty cool huh?<\/p>\n
So I assimilated this product, mainly for it’s ability to run on the Mac and produce Mac applications.<\/p>\n
Of course, there’s always some downsides (apart from the BASIC stigma), some of which have accumulated over the years:<\/p>\n
However, that all being said, REALbasic allows me single-handedly to create, support and update a complex cross-platform application in a reasonable time-frame. If I was using Java or C++, we’d still be on AstroPlanner V1.1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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