hap2u
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by hap2u on Mar 1, 2020 12:04:40 GMT -5
Marketing: Perhaps rename your software as Just Basic Free, Just Basic Advanced, Just Basic Professional, Just Basic Browser Server, that way one product is related to another in the mind of the consumer.
Definitely, If one does not exist, create a GitHub style moving cards to Columns project manager, it could be very useful when placed on the Run Basic Browser Server. If possible try to get your Code Language residing on GitHub like Python presently is, it would might improve sales.
Editor changes: create a 20-30 Col Up-Down window to right side of Editor. Click tool bar once and it shows Subs, click again Functions, again Line Labels. Clicking one of the alphabetical listed items causes the Editor to move to that item.
Command Change: I am enjoying your Basic because when I think of a Variable name I do not find it is already being used in your command functions. Please keep the command bloat to a low level.
String handling change: You name the Basic and for a time I used it. A British Basic did not use Mid$, Left$, Right$ commands.
It used String$=Var$(x,y)(5 to 10); Var$(x,y)(t TO (T+3))=String$ , with negatives reversing the left to right action of the string returned.
To much to ask, no doubt, humm, perhaps I could create my own Function to do this!
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Post by sarossell on Mar 1, 2020 17:41:10 GMT -5
Ah, marketing and name changes...Now there's a bog of quicksand...
First and foremost, BASIC is an acronym. It stands for "Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code". Therefore, any version of BASIC on the market that purports to actually BE the BASIC programming language MUST capitalize the word. Those who have failed to do so have shown their not-too-well-disguised-disgust or just plain ignorance of their origins such as Visual Basic, Small Basic and PureBasic.
Then there are those who have just jumped ship altogether; XOJO (formerly Real Studio, formerly REALbasic) and Gambas (named after a shrimp?!)
And then there's brand name familiarity. How many people know that SpiderBasic is the web-enabled cousin of PureBasic? Just as Run BASIC is to Just BASIC and Liberty BASIC.
Frankly, and I genuinely BEG forgiveness for this next statement, I would not be disappointed to see the three products branded more cohesively. While the PROGRAM Liberty BASIC has my heart eternally, the NAME doesn't exactly thrill me. And I can't defend that statement. I'm not thrilled with "Just" or "Run" either. But I'll be the first to also say that I am not normal. Not even close! That being said, if version 5 included a suite of implementations all branded under the same name such as "Modern" for example, I wouldn't flinch. That is, "Modern BASIC Free" (Just), "Modern BASIC Web" (Run), "Modern BASIC Personal" (LB), "Modern BASIC Enterprise. (LB Pro)". I just feel that BASIC has gotten such a bad rep as an outdated bad idea in the first place. People need to know that BASIC is not your grandpa's excuse for not being a .NET programmer. It's a genuine, structured, MODERN friggin' programming language! (Sorry. Where did this soap box come from?)
GitHub does have some useful features. However, I think this group has found the Rosetta Code site more appealing for sharing code. And I can't disagree with that sentiment. It's an awkward site with some odd organizational choices, but it has a more approachable interface. GitHub comes across more like "You want this or what?!"
An optional navigation pulldown or sidebar listing the branch labels, subroutines and functions might be nice. This is one of the many reasons why I exclusively edit with Sublime Text Editor. It has the ability to install packages that perform all kinds of clever stuff like that. It also has a mini-map function that shows the entire source code in tiny print on the right side that allows you to scroll to specific parts of the code. I often use the split screen method to look at the same code in different places. And the code folding function is really nice.
I ran into the problem of variable name/reserve command conflicts back in the day and picked up the very bad habit of preceding all variables and functions with a single letter and period depending on their function. (e.g., v.Variable, f.Function, s.Subroutine, g.Global, etc.) But then again, I also opted for the less popular PascalCapitalization as opposed to the more commonly used camelCap style. That's probably my OCD shining through. I don't care for the lack of symmetry.
I recall that Sinclair BASIC handled variables in a similar manner; PI$="3.1415926" : PRINT PI$(3 TO) ==> "1415926". However, Mid$, Left$ and Right$ have long been mainstream industry standard commands since they were first introduced back in the late 1970s.
:@)
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hap2u
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by hap2u on Mar 1, 2020 19:58:07 GMT -5
My first programming was done in ZX basic and I came to appreciate the many interesting things you could do with String Splicing. Yes I am in my winter years, the ZX cost a whole $99.00 and had what 4K memory? That can't be right! I code strictly for fun and have never moved much beyond Text Based programs. Not sure I can learn the graphic stuff, but no harm in giving it a try.
I found an old code book and it worked something like this:
"123456789" (2 to 4) returns 3 characters "234"
"123456789" (5) returns the 5 character "5"
"123456789" ( to 7) returns the characters "1234567"
"123456789" ( 5 to ) returns the characters "56789"
"123456789" ( to ) returns "123456789"
"123456789" (0 to 9) returns ""
"123456789" (4 to 0) returns ""
"123456789" (4 to 2) returns "432"
"123456789" (-1 to 3) returns ""
"123456789" (4 to -1) returns ""
0 and -# treated as a nul set
If this were added to LB, rather than replacing the Qbasic stuff, you might be surprised at how fast folks would start to use it.
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Post by sarossell on Mar 1, 2020 21:37:20 GMT -5
Do you know of any modern versions of BASIC that use this string splicing method?
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Post by Carl Gundel on Mar 2, 2020 9:07:10 GMT -5
If this were added to LB, rather than replacing the Qbasic stuff, you might be surprised at how fast folks would start to use it. Thanks for that, but I'm not sure this would do much to increase the popularity of Liberty BASIC. Besides that the examples you provided don't really look much like BASIC to my eyes, and Liberty BASIC already has pretty good string handling IMHO.
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Post by Carl Gundel on Mar 2, 2020 13:10:23 GMT -5
Marketing: Perhaps rename your software as Just Basic Free, Just Basic Advanced, Just Basic Professional, Just Basic Browser Server, that way one product is related to another in the mind of the consumer. Do you think that Just BASIC is better name than Liberty BASIC? Look at the membership numbers for the Just BASIC board on proboards.com. It was created at the same time as this board and this board has a lot more members and more activity. And that is in spite of the fact that Just BASIC is a free product.
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Post by alincon on Mar 2, 2020 13:22:04 GMT -5
Sarosell: An 'optional navigation pulldown or sidebar listing the branch labels, subroutines and functions' has been in LB4 for years.
r.m.
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Post by tsh73 on Mar 2, 2020 13:22:51 GMT -5
Are you OK with posting links here leading to JB forum? I was refraining from doing that. I think that JB just does not get such publicity as it possibly deserves.
As for I think the question not about name, but about them sounding totally unrelated So may be "Liberty basic free" instead.
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Post by tsh73 on Mar 2, 2020 13:24:18 GMT -5
Yeah. That's next button after lady bug icon, or Alt-G
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Post by Carl Gundel on Mar 2, 2020 13:34:01 GMT -5
Are you OK with posting links here leading to JB forum? I was refraining from doing that. I think that JB just does not get such publicity as it possibly deserves. As for I think the question not about name, but about them sounding totally unrelated So may be "Liberty basic free" instead. I tend to promote Liberty BASIC in the Just BASIC forum and not the other way around. Someone recently derided Liberty BASIC, I think on Facebook, because it is a very American name, and this person apparently doesn't like America. But the whole idea of liberty and the Statue of Liberty comes from France. So, you can't win. Liberty is a nice thing, right? Perhaps the name was not considered carefully enough? I chose the name Liberty BASIC because I thought that it's so cheap it's almost free. That was true back in the early 1990's when Windows software was almost always hundreds of dollars.
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Post by Carl Gundel on Mar 2, 2020 13:58:56 GMT -5
GitHub does have some useful features. However, I think this group has found the Rosetta Code site more appealing for sharing code. And I can't disagree with that sentiment. It's an awkward site with some odd organizational choices, but it has a more approachable interface. GitHub comes across more like "You want this or what?!" Perhaps I'm just thick in the skull, but isn't GitHub a place where people promote their open source projects? Rosetta Code is great for mixing with programmers that use other languages, and you all have been doing a fantastic job with it!
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Post by Carl Gundel on Mar 2, 2020 14:00:34 GMT -5
GitHub does have some useful features. However, I think this group has found the Rosetta Code site more appealing for sharing code. And I can't disagree with that sentiment. It's an awkward site with some odd organizational choices, but it has a more approachable interface. GitHub comes across more like "You want this or what?!" Perhaps I'm just thick in the skull, but isn't GitHub a place where people promote their open source projects? Rosetta Code is great for mixing with programmers that use other languages, and you all have been doing a fantastic job with it!
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Post by sarossell on Mar 2, 2020 14:36:11 GMT -5
Yeah. That's next button after lady bug icon, or Alt-G
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Post by sarossell on Mar 2, 2020 14:41:26 GMT -5
GitHub does have some useful features. However, I think this group has found the Rosetta Code site more appealing for sharing code. And I can't disagree with that sentiment. It's an awkward site with some odd organizational choices, but it has a more approachable interface. GitHub comes across more like "You want this or what?!" Perhaps I'm just thick in the skull, but isn't GitHub a place where people promote their open source projects? Rosetta Code is great for mixing with programmers that use other languages, and you all have been doing a fantastic job with it! GitHub would be fine for showcasing code like we do with Rosetta, but it wouldn't have near the sense of community with the other languages nor the relative ease of contributing. Now, if the source code for Just BASIC was made available, that would be an ideal project for GitHub. It does have a wiki built-in as well, which can be handy.
:@)
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Post by sarossell on Mar 2, 2020 15:12:31 GMT -5
Perhaps the name was not considered carefully enough? I chose the name Liberty BASIC because I thought that it's so cheap it's almost free. That was true back in the early 1990's when Windows software was almost always hundreds of dollars. It was the name "Liberty" that caught my attention in the first place, way back in the 90s. Gfa BASIC? Huh, the manual's in German. GW BASIC? Boring. True BASIC? Who they kiddin'? Liberty BASIC...Huh. What's that about?
I'm just concerned that the brand may have become somewhat diluted with Run And Just. With version 5, you may have an opportunity to become newsworthy as the "new kid on the block" taking up the "torch" dropped by Visual Basic and bringing a whole suite of cross-platform compatible options under one unifying brand name. And if you're looking for press to expand your customer base, go big or go home with a catchy all-around name that tells new customers, "Hey, BASIC is the new Java. Only it doesn't suck!" For that, perhaps a more current name choice would be in order. Not necessarily trendy (TikTok BASIC? NO!), but certainly relevant for modern, 21st century programming in a word of C++, Python and Swift UI.
I've mentioned "Modern BASIC" (MB) before. Something to consider. You could offer package deals that sound more cohesive and contiguous from an educational market to personal to business, all under one bran name:
Modern BASIC Student Edition (Just) Modern BASIC Web (Run)
Modern BASIC Personal (LB) Modern BASIC Enterprise (LB Pro and Run).
Another idea that crossed my mind was to step off "version 5" altogether and combine the key word "BASIC" with the current date for version control; "BASIC 2020", "BASIC 2021", etc. Customers would instantly know that BASIC is not only still a thing, but apparently very current. Of course, you'd have to commit to at least a yearly update schedule (unless you're comfortable pulling an Encom by just putting a 12 on the box. {wink}{Wink} ...TRON: Legacy? ...Anyone?)
Jus' spit-ballin'. I'm sure whatever you decide will be brilliant. I just can't wait to see it.
:@)
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