Comments on REAL Software: The Compiler: Better, Stronger, Faster

The LLVM-enabled version of RBScript should ship i...

2010-05-11T09:01:38.506-05:00

The LLVM-enabled version of RBScript should ship in the next release of REAL Studio. We have not yet announced a time frame for moving over the main compiler. However, it will likely be done in stages starting with Mac OS X or Linux. Windows will be last because it will require the most work due the fact that we will have to write a new linker for it.

Whats the current status of the move to LLVM. When...

2010-05-08T03:04:53.872-05:00

Whats the current status of the move to LLVM. When should it be available?

Not at all. This won't affect OS API calls.

2010-04-13T20:11:41.582-05:00

Not at all. This won't affect OS API calls.

My programs use many Windows API calls. Will I ha...

2010-04-13T16:52:12.998-05:00

My programs use many Windows API calls. Will I have to stop using these?

Given that the REAL Studio IDE is written with the...

2010-04-09T23:52:55.483-05:00

Given that the REAL Studio IDE is written with the REAL Studio IDE, I feel like we should have a better edit field control ;)

With it's new terms of service in iPhone OS 4.0 it...

2010-04-09T04:53:07.831-05:00

With it's new terms of service in iPhone OS 4.0 it seems Apple is now making it impossible to use any other development language and/or meta-layer than C, C++ or Obj-C to build iPhone OS apps.

What has REAL to comment on this. Are they still in business for iPhone apps or are they just as screwed as Adobe (Flash, CS5), MonoTouch, Titanium and probably a bunch of others.

Hi Geoff, I really appreciate your comment. It's ...

2010-03-13T18:10:45.763-06:00

Hi Geoff,

I really appreciate your comment. It's very interesting what you say and it's very interesting to have direct communication with the CEO of RealSoft.

- If shared libraries and DLLs can be done in pure RB, I expect as wonderful success not only to developers, but to you. The fast development and easy of use of RB will make a programmer's dream. IMHO, I will prioritize this as much as possible. We need urgently to have as much 3rd party classes to avoid reinventing the wheel as much as possible. And that means money to 3rd parties. Kudos if it can be done soon.

- I Agree with you about the inherent OS limitations of thread safe code. In my projects, I use Client / Server approach done with console projects that communicates with GUI via IPC, JSON, XML, etc.. Most server software I see is written in Java, Python, and other not native code compiled language. A few in C++ following the same approach (I am writting a MMORPG solution in RB). CriticalSections and Mutex are needed, but surely you can get some clever way to aid the developer in avoiding deadlocks. Your team is smart to make it easier... I guess debugging would need to be improved, but it would be a perfect solution for this kind of applications IMHO.

- RBScript is not what I would define an scripting language, since we can not call objects directly outside it. In my opinion it should be deprecated in favor of an open scripting language that is not so based in RB, if DLLs and Shared Libraries are finally a dream come true. Customers could use their skills on these scripting languages to customize our applications. Apart that RBScript has been something not very clear to me, and quite limited.

I appreciate your comment and willing to contribute with ideas and feedback to RealSoftware. If my MMORPG server can be done in RB and not just prototype it, I will keep some ancient C++ dinosaurs mouths...

Kind Regards!

LLVM will help us to be able to build shared libra...

2010-03-13T09:46:24.541-06:00

LLVM will help us to be able to build shared libraries, DLLs and plug-ins but it's not the only piece to that puzzle. But I agree with you that if you could create plug-ins, it would greatly expand the 3rd party market.

As for pre-emptive threads, that's complex. Any part of your code that does anything related to UI will not ever be thread safe. That's an OS issue, not a REAL Studio issue. So the best we can do is work to make the rest of the framework thread safe but then users would have to some how be made aware when they attempted to use something that is not thread safe. Additionally, there are lots of things you must be careful about in your own code when using threads. What people want is to write their code the normal way and just have it work in a pre-emptive thread but that's not how it works in any language. For example, you can't go changing a property value in a pre-emptive thread the way you do in a regular code because some other part of your code could also be running and attempting to do the same thing. So there's a lot more to think about.

Regarding LUA or any other scripting language, LLVM does not help with that at all. The front end of the compiler is what makes the REALbasic language possible so supporting LUA would require writing another front-end to our compiler. The question is, what would you gain from that?

Clever move and hopefully will attract lots of new...

2010-03-12T21:09:03.802-06:00

Clever move and hopefully will attract lots of new customers. Just three things I am really dying, and would like to know if with LLVM can be done with RealStudio.

- DLL / Shared Libraries written in RS?
- Preemptive Threads (Make RS console safe 100%)
- Use LUA or other scripting language with Objects?

IMHO, what RS lacks are 3rd party libraries written in comparisson with the rest of compilers. With a faster a reduced code size, and these features... I see a long long future to RealSoftware.

The goal is not to take a desktop app and run it o...

2010-03-12T11:07:41.387-06:00

The goal is not to take a desktop app and run it on an iPhone. The goal is to provide developers with a way to build iPhone apps as quickly and as easily as they can build desktop apps today and use the skills they already have to do that.

The issue with iPhone is not just the processor su...

2010-03-12T10:27:36.080-06:00

The issue with iPhone is not just the processor support but also all the differences in API and controls used. I find it challenging to even think about a desktop app that would run on iphone as well.

The speed and optimization is very much welcomed by the game developers, combined with the current OpenGL support. I assume LLVM will also make it easier (or possible) to truly utilize GPUs and other DSP chips. If the LLVM works with Cray it should be ok for rest of us as well...

I guess better late than never.

2010-03-07T16:55:20.009-06:00

I guess better late than never.

Awesome news! This is what RB users have wanted f...

2010-03-06T20:32:35.599-06:00

Awesome news! This is what RB users have wanted for a long time and now it is finally taking shape. Thanks!

Great news for 2011!. Cocoa and single executable ...

2010-03-04T18:29:09.161-06:00

Great news for 2011!. Cocoa and single executable are very expected. After that will be a seamless controls pallete beyond the native ones. Something that guarantees that a button, a radio button, a scroll bar, a text box, etc, the entire UI design, will look the same as planned on all platforms. I really wish a write once, run everywhere without changes paradigm.

Thanks for answering my question, to my layman's e...

2010-03-03T17:14:08.871-06:00

Thanks for answering my question,
to my layman's eyes at least, it looks like a great move.

I wouldn't say in the near future (if by near futu...

2010-03-03T08:58:21.169-06:00

I wouldn't say in the near future (if by near future you mean, this year) however, it is another step towards supporting smartphones in general.

Does this mean that iphone apps developed with RB ...

2010-03-03T08:21:00.311-06:00

Does this mean that iphone apps developed with RB are in the near future??? This would be great and negate having to learn Objective C.

We will only have to support one platform for the ...

2010-03-02T16:23:59.964-06:00

We will only have to support one platform for the compiler (that platform being LLVM) however, we will still have to support 3 platforms for the framework (Mac OS X, Windows and Linux) which is a much bigger job. And for the compiler, it's really just 2 platforms (PowerPC and x86) though their are 3 different linkers (one for each OS).

The only downside is that it's a lot of work to make this change but once made, there are a lot of benefits.

So REAL will only have to support one platform rat...

2010-03-02T16:20:19.107-06:00

So REAL will only have to support one platform rather than the current 3 and yet users of RB will be able to target more platforms than ever with higher quality code.

Are there any downsides to this?

Now THIS is exciting news. If I have a complaint a...

2010-03-02T12:13:26.629-06:00

Now THIS is exciting news. If I have a complaint about REALbasic, it isn't that it doesn't support Cocoa yet, but that the apps it compiles are so huge in comparison with similar apps built with other development tools (particularly when the apps don't do very much).

Smaller and faster are definitely better.

Very exciting news! We look forward to apps that ...

2010-03-02T09:06:38.666-06:00

Very exciting news! We look forward to apps that are smaller and faster. A single executable for Windows is an added bonus. Good luck with the transition!

Great news! LLVM looks to be a very good choice. P...

2010-03-02T07:28:18.928-06:00

Great news! LLVM looks to be a very good choice.
Personally I don't much care about iPhone apps but faster, smaller code will be wonderful, as will the road back to single executables.

Anonymous + 1 !

2010-03-02T04:08:40.976-06:00

Anonymous + 1 !

iPhone Real Basic apps here we come!

2010-03-01T22:23:34.534-06:00

iPhone Real Basic apps here we come!