How does Monkey compare to BMax...
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/How does Monkey compare to BMax...
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| ...when it comes to creating apps for PCs and Macs? I guess it translates the monkey code into C++ code, which should make it reasonably fast? Is monkey lacking in any particular area of games programming when it comes to PC and Mac (looks like Linux is not supported...) Thanks in advance, Russell |
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| You can get Linux to work: http://www.monkeycoder.co.nz/Community/posts.php?topic=3415  Because Monkey is young and BlitzMax is old (not in a bad way), Monkey hasnt got a lot of external libraries yet. I enjoy coding in Monkey, but if I were to release anything on PC or Mac I would still use BlitzMax. (Oh and you could use MonkeyMax, to convert Monkey code to BlitzMax code too :P) Last edited 2012 |
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| Thanks! In a way, it's good to know that many of the external libraries are not there yet because that means that BRL/Mark are/is doing a re-write on those rather than just a tweak/recompile (which probably would be more trouble than it's worth anyway...). MonkeyMax could come in handy! Does it convert the other direction, too or do we have to wait for MaxMonkey? ;) (For me, the latter would be more useful). Anyway, thanks for the quick reply! Russell p.s. If I remember correctly, Monkey was originally called BlitzMax 2, and BMax updates (other than bug fixes) have slowed down considerably. I honestly have no problem whatsoever with buying Monkey if BlitzMax is nearing the end of its life cycle (Hey, we can't expect Bmax to get continuous new features and free updates forever. Mark is trying to make a living here!), but it would be nice to hear what's on Mark's agenda for BMax. I like the changes/additions Monkey has added to the language and so look forward to seeing some of the features that Bmax is currently lacking (like a professional IDE on par with Visual Basic [or even PureBasic for that matter!] with truly helpful context-sensitive help and other features people have been asking for over the years - which I won't name here :)). Anyway, here's to the (hopefully) bright future of Monkey! |
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| I think it's pretty clear what the future of BM is: There will be updates that ensure compatibility with the current platforms/groundbreaking bugs. Blide (BM) and JungleIDE (monkey) are the most professional IDE's that are out there although I don't use them myself. But from what I've heard they are definitely worth their money. If you don't want to go into mobile development although, there is no reason to buy monkey. BMax is imo the better choice for desktop development, as therevills said. |
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| do we have to wait for MaxMonkey? Because Monkey really is a subset of BlitzMax MaxMonkey would be next to impossible. The only way I see it working if you write a limited module that is compatible with Monkey and only use that one module (oh and Monkey doesnt support multi-dimensional arrays, just arrays of arrays). I honestly have no problem whatsoever with buying Monkey if BlitzMax is nearing the end of its life cycle I wouldnt say BlitzMax is nearing its end of life, and I agree with Skinkiro1 since the core language is stable future updates will be compatibility ones like the recent MacOS release (released only 2 weeks ago). Mark did call Monkey, BMX 2 at one stage, but he also called it a light version of BlitzMax: I am currently working on a 'light' version of BlitzMax designed to run on a wide range of target platforms. For now, let's call it 'bmx2'. http://marksibly.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/hi-ok-heres-plan-i-am-currently-working.html And Bmx2 is NOT, erm, BlitzMax 2! bmx2 is just the code name for the next BRL programming language. http://marksibly.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/update.html Last edited 2012 |
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| @shinhiro1: I understand that professional IDEs are available, but I was meaning that a professional programming environment should be standard issue, included with BlitzMax and/or monkey. Have a look at the (free and open source) Lazarus programming environment for free pascal to see what is possible. Just a thought: I wonder if Lazarus' IDE could be adapted for use with BMax and included with the distribution and so on? By the way, it seems that BlIDE is the only IDE that is still actively developed anymore :( @therevills: I agree that Bmax is quite stable, but I'd like to see some features added that have been requested over the years (to the language and to the IDE, etc) such as macros, enumeration, adding an executable icon from within the IDE and more. Anyway, I'll probably wait for monkey to mature a bit more and just continue with Bmax for now. Take care, Russell |
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