Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?

NeXT Computer, Inc. -> NEXTSTEP / OPENSTEP Software

Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: NeXTsociety on May 21, 2010, 05:29:09 PM
I know basic is uber low on the totem pole but for non programming type that want to dabble or rekindle the days they played with the Basic language, I was wondering if there was ever Basic for NeXTSTEP.

If not basic, a more "english" based programming language that is easier to learn... kind of like AppleScript on Macs.

tj
Title: Heretic
Post by: Zardoz on June 04, 2010, 11:48:10 AM
:roll:  Have you been turned by Gates or Balmer?
(just joking)

Objective-C is not that difficult with all the good books out there.
You could use the original literature.
I have "Discovering Openstep:
A Developer Tutorial" here by my side. I have it two times. So i could sell you one but I live in Germany.
So it would be not cheap if you are in the US of A.

Don´t you have the Developer CD? I could send you a copy with the book.
wkr
Title: Re: Heretic
Post by: NeXTsociety on June 04, 2010, 12:18:00 PM
Quote from: "Zardoz":roll:  Have you been turned by Gates or Balmer?
(just joking)

Objective-C is not that difficult with all the good books out there.
You could use the original literature.
I have "Discovering Openstep:
A Developer Tutorial" here by my side. I have it two times. So i could sell you one but I live in Germany.
So it would be not cheap if you are in the US of A.

Don´t you have the Developer CD? I could send you a copy with the book.
wkr

I have some C books.  It is just over my head really.  I am sure if I really sat and worked on it for along time I could figure it out but at this point just looking for something to dabble with and the wording used for basic apps just works with my brain better than C.   :lol:  :lol:

tj
Title: Calculator Demo
Post by: Zardoz on June 04, 2010, 02:06:24 PM
Have you ever done the calculator demo from the basic programmers guide?

If you use the NS* Objects and methods you can ignore most of the boring old C stuff. Just use Interface builder and a class where you do all your stuff and let do the NS System do the rest for you.

Even file access is much easier with NS* Objects.
But yu have to get your head around the delegate Pattern.

Just start directly with learning object oriented programming.
C will only stand in the way. I had to relearn programming with Java and Objective-C because of the paradigm shift.

Steve and his coworkers have done most of the work normal programmers did in the 80ties and 90ties. If you stick to their framework you have only the things to programm that are new and from you.

Try it. DON´T LEARN C! Ignore Basic, it´s and was crap.
Title: Re: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Softwa
Post by: cubist on June 04, 2010, 06:54:49 PM
Quote from: "NeXTsociety"
If not basic, a more "english" based programming language that is easier to learn... kind of like AppleScript on Macs.

Is 'English-like' the issue or is it interactivity?  If the latter, give Python (www.python.org) a try.  Interactive mode, a debugger and real software gets written in it as well.
Title: Re: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Softwa
Post by: NeXTsociety on June 04, 2010, 08:04:17 PM
Quote from: "cubist"
Quote from: "NeXTsociety"
If not basic, a more "english" based programming language that is easier to learn... kind of like AppleScript on Macs.

Is 'English-like' the issue or is it interactivity?  If the latter, give Python (www.python.org) a try.  Interactive mode, a debugger and real software gets written in it as well.

I think for me, english like.  I have used OS X with Xcode and applescript to make some apps for work purposes.  Applescript somewhat makes sense to me for using to code an app.  

I will look at python though.

I take it python can be used as the programming language in a NeXTstep app?

Also, is their a scripting language like Applescript on the NeXT platform that works hand in hand with interface builder?

tj
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: bkmoore on June 05, 2010, 02:12:39 AM
I'm sure, if Woz were into NeXT, he could write a BASIC Interpreter from scratch.  :-). But that leads to the question, if there is an Open Source BASIC that could be Compiled on NeXT?
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: aragon on June 07, 2010, 03:45:54 AM
Somebody could try to get wxBasic running on Nextstep.

http://wxbasic.sourceforge.net/
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: neozeed on June 07, 2010, 09:58:02 AM
I bet bywater basic would run...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bwbasic/

we ran that on an RS/6000 YEARS ago... 1993?
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: kb7sqi on June 07, 2010, 11:11:33 PM
Quote from: "neozeed"I bet bywater basic would run...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bwbasic/

we ran that on an RS/6000 YEARS ago... 1993?

I can confirm that bwbasic runs just fine on NEXTSTEP 3.3 w/ the only requirement of needing the addition of the putenv function.  Straight forward compile & seems to run fine.   Didn't even take a minute to compile it.

Take care.
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: neozeed on June 07, 2010, 11:12:33 PM
I was able to build that bywater thing ....

also there is a craptonne of old basic games here:

http://www.vintage-basic.net/games.html

porting them to bywater isn't too hard, it doesn't like a lot of statements being crammed onto a single line....

I "kinda" fixed lunar, blackjack & life in the mix of things... although they are buggy as hell, I just haven't sat down to really 'fix' them.

Anyways here is a quad binary....

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1694005/nextstep/bwbasic-2.5.tar.gz

you'll have to know how to use the command line for all of this...
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: NeXTsociety on December 04, 2010, 07:02:10 PM
To reopen this, can Python be used in NeXTstep? Would like to learn the interface builder to make the GUI of an app but use Python as the language for the coding. Tj
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: cybercow on December 04, 2010, 08:18:24 PM
I understand yor concerns, but even if possible to do it, the knowledges needed to setup and build such pythonish development environment would certainly overcome the time needed to learn Objective-C from scratch ;)
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: NeXTsociety on December 04, 2010, 08:40:29 PM
Sounds like learning C then is the easiest then for this beginner. Tj
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: cybercow on December 05, 2010, 04:32:02 AM
Possibly, i see you want make simple windowed apps with IB, so the Objective-C is your friend, because you will be dealing with objects :] as the core concept/power of NeXT system. Take care that Objective-C is a superset of C, meaning that you will mix them all the time.

Furthermore once you get the basics and start to drive that way, you can easily empower your possibilities and switch to pure Cocoa / Cocoa Touch and OSx / iOS development (and even earn $$$), strange by true. This is the "ahead of it's time" effect everyone is talking about, and you get it as a  "free bonus" :] (not meaning you can't start also directly there, but your ideas will be more clear ...)

You possibly want to start with this reading:
http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Developer/Object-Oriented_Programming.pdf

I found this book so extensive, and informative, is the bible you must have all the time you develop for NeXT / OPENSTEP and it's derived platforms.

Extensively, when you feel ready, you can explore also other documents in the same place: http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/Developer/

Have fun! and happy starting :]
Title: Is their such thing as NeXTSTEP Basic Programming Software?
Post by: Stealthii on December 05, 2010, 08:20:29 PM
I share Tj's enthusiasm.  As a modern Python developer, I was interested to see what versions of Python worked on NS/OS around that time.  Turns out Python 1.5 was at one point working and used on OpenStep systems, around 1999.  As this is by far quite an old version of Python I wouldn't stretch to a recommendation of you using it, unless you already are quite a Python amateur and don't mind losing the ability to use many assignment operators, plugins and extensions.  I'll look at the complications later of having a more modern Python interpreter run on NS/OS, until then Objective-C is definitely worth learning ;) (http://www.python.org/community/sigs/retired/objc-sig/)

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