Is max a plus update, new version or clone?

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Is max a plus update, new version or clone?

gerald(Posted 2013) [#1]
I just started bmax. I converted simple bplus files to max (change comments, # goto statements, change numeric to ascii mouse/key hits etc.) and they run. Are they closely related? Is t all basic?

I tried a 3d file and it just didn't work. I see that a module will allow 3d downloads (mini3d?).

What are the strengths of max over plus?

Is a command list available for max, as in plus or 3d?

beginners thanks,
Gerald


Yasha(Posted 2013) [#2]
BlitzMax is a separate language and a ground-up redesign compared to BlitzPlus. They're not really all that closely related apart from some superficial similarities in appearance. BlitzMax actually does almost everything differently once you get under the hood.

But the important answer: it is objectively superior in literally every way. There is nothing Plus can do that Max can't do better. (The actual details of what it does better are quite specific; if you already have it, you may as well just dive in and you'll discover them in due course, safe in the knowledge that you can just assume it's the better tool of the two.) It allows you to do many things that you might not have thought to try in BlitzPlus at all, which can make some of them hard to explain.

There is a manual in the "Manuals" tab of this site, once you've registered; within the program, you can view a command list in the panel on the right by expanding the "Index" item (although really browsing commands by category is probably going to be more helpful).


Who was John Galt?(Posted 2013) [#3]
Yup, from a programming perspective Max can be programming very similarly to what you do in Blitz Plus, but that is just the beginning. It gives you a lot more programming options (object oriented, only if you want to), compiles for more targets (Mac, Linux and PC), has a better compiler (code runs faster) and allows better access to modern GPUs (e.g. scaling,rotating,tinting and applying transparency to your sprites essentially comes for free with negligible speed loss, unlike B+).

3D is only available with a 3rd party module (e.g. miniB3D as you say). Someone else will be better positioned to tell you how this competes with the B3D command set- AFAIK, it gives you superior graphics options, but lacks some collision commands.. i think.


Yan(Posted 2013) [#4]
Is max a plus update, new version or clone?
Yes...