Is BASIC dead ?

[HenrikOlsson]

Malcolm,
Sitting on 2.6C is just fine and I have no problem with that if it does what you need. What I'm trying to say is that I don't think it "cool" to bitch about MeLabs not putting out any updates (and again, I'm not saying you are) while at the same time saying "I'm sitting on 2.6C because it does everthing I need". If it does everything you need then what do you need updates for?

And, regarding MPLAB...If PBP2.6C and MPLAB 8.92 does what you need why worry about what Microchip might do to MPLAB in the future? Leave it alone, don't mess with it and it'll continue to work like it currently does (until Microsoft messes it up). You won't get "access" to new chips thru a new version MPLAB/MPASM alone, MeLabs needs to add support files to PBP as well (though strictly speaking you COULD do those yourself) so again, if PBP2.6C and MPLAB 8.92 works for you that's fine.

And, just as Richard says, MikroElektronika may supply a host of library files but they are closed, reported to be buggy (and since they are closed you can't troubleshoot them), the support on their forum is not that great from what I've seen (I've go a couple of their hardware products so I visit there sometimes). I'm still thinking of getting MikroBASIC for PIC32 though.....

There certainly are things I've not been able to do with PBP but that's due to lack of know how on my part, not because PBP is limited. With that said, do I think PBP is perfect? Of course I don't I really hope they'll stay alive and keep improving it over the years to come.

And as far as this forum goes, if more people would stick around, participating in the discussions instead of just popping in requesting a solution to a problem or asking for someone else to write code for this or that then the forum wouldn't be as silent and a lot more people would learna a lot more. From reading and from helping others. I sure as hell learn A LOT by trying to figure out other people problems, with PBP that is ;-)

MeLabs have a forum of their own as well. It's pretty silent for sure but Charles is answering posts over there.

/Henrik.

[richard]

I purchased a chipkit-pi (pic32 arduino clone) before christmass , free ide based on the arduino ide and said to arduino compatible-ish .worth a look I thought .
well its not really "compatible " and has very few libs for it . nice colour (might turn it into a micromite )http://geoffg.net/micromite.html

too much like hard work .its firmly into the too hard basket (with the stm32f4-discovery) for now

[mackrackit]

It seems the people complaining about BASIC or PBP are the ones with the least know how. Think back, have you ever heard Bruce, Darrel, or Melanie complain about the limitations? Yes, they would add a little ASM here and there, but that is one of the great things about PBP, the ability to be flexible.

If all you want to do is make one or two gadgets then use an Arduino kit, or something similar. However, if you are into this for the long term you will be wanting to learn PIC BASIC, XC8, or ASM.

Like some here I mainly use PBP 2.6. Mostly because I work in so many remote locations. I need to purchase another licence for PBP 3.0 ( I have one so far). And that is the other point, even if you are using PBP 2.6 and you want to see PBP stay around, pay for the upgrade to PBP 3.0 at least.

So it is simple.

Quit complaining, learn how to code, pay for the upgrade so MeLabs will continue to develop PBP, and contribute to the community, either one of the forums.

[Amoque]

I think that you are correct, Dave, in that those who know least complain most. This does not seem unlikely to me; those who know how, do not see the limitation and, therefore, have no complaint. I am reminded of the occasional request for more developed string functions - invariably someone with expertise describes a way to accomplish the task... but this does not answer the complaint. The complaint, "I don't know how to..." is rarely adequately answered by, "I do [know how]." Similarly, I wonder how comforting it is for inexperienced users to hear, "The answer is on page 262 of the datasheet." I acknowledge the correctness of this answer, I only doubt the adequacy of it. I feel I'm being generous when I suggest that 1 in 10 will find the information and make use of it with enough success to deem the process fun or even repeatable.

Arduino has become very popular over these past few years. I believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that on Sparkfun or Adafruit someone comes looking for help making this module or that device work. A more experienced user says, "Oh just a minute..." and almost instantly a sketch (I believe that's what they're called) appears. Presto - everybody can now use the module without effort or delay. In a world where, thanks to smart phones customers no longer dial a 10 digit phone number, this is an acceptable answer - reference to a datasheet is not. I don't know that most of these people would argue that Aurduino is more powerful - and they sure won't say it's cheaper, but if it does what they want... isn't that better? I think that many of us fall into that same category. Is Darrel's interrupt package perfect? No, but for most of us it is much easier than writing our own... therefore better. So much so - for a novice like myself - that the first time I saw it, I stood up from my desk and applauded!

In short, I do not think that products that come with the disclaimer, "to effectively use this product you must spend months learning to read datasheets and arrange programming syntax" are destined to be as popular as those that offer learning curve the length of the drive-thru line at McDonald's.

[Amoque]

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