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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Ever need reminding of how good we have it?
| Author | Message | ||||
| PhenixRising Guru  Joined: 07/11/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1667 |
Holy moly, I was intrigued with the inline assembly in BBC Basic for the Pico. Lost interest in matter of milliseconds. I don't know why I get so masochistic when MMBasic has already evolved to be more than I could wish for. Been thinking about maybe a petition to insist on official recognition by RPi, Pimoroni, Pi-Hut, etc. |
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| dddns Guru Joined: 20/09/2024 Location: GermanyPosts: 708 |
I agree. In order to gain recognition I think the documentation issue needs to be upgraded. |
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| Bleep Guru Joined: 09/01/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 707 |
To be honest the documentation is fantastic, you get far less/worse from commercial products, way better than 90% of free stuff, obviously if you are referring to the B releasees then you just need to be patient, or going back through the release thread. Regards Kevin |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8353 |
The documentation is excellent if you are using the release it was written for. :) It's no use complaining about the docs if you are using beta or release candidates as there isn't any. Incidentally, if you have ideas for improving the documentation you *will* be listened to. This isn't a huge megalith like Microsoft, who listen to no-one, apparently. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| dddns Guru Joined: 20/09/2024 Location: GermanyPosts: 708 |
I agree for the content but not for the presentation. And it would be very nice, if it would be always up to date. My suggestion would be a wiki style one. Everybody could write and you could be one of the admins who commit updates and new implementations. A downloadable pdf as snapshot would replace the actual pdf. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8353 |
You can't keep betas up to date. Because of their nature they are constantly changing. If you are attempting to keep track of the changes you have time for little else - I've tried it and I know it's true! You have to keep going back and changing things that you may only have changed a day or two previously. That's why I stopped doing it. As for downloading a pdf, you are assured that it will be out of date at the end of the week. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| dddns Guru Joined: 20/09/2024 Location: GermanyPosts: 708 |
I'm quite sure my suggestion would lead to momentum. A group of people would specialize on keeping it up to date into the last detail. ..Just for fun! The section of nice basic examples could be improved and updated, at least for my taste. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8353 |
I'm sure Geoff will let you set up such a project and might even provide you with the DOC file(s) to work from. However, policing the updates to ensure that they are correct would be up to you. The current system works. We have a "stable" release and the documentation for it follows very shortly after. From that point, if you want a dependable, documented version of MMBasic you use that one. Nothing else. There may be bugs in either the firmware or the docs but there are *always* bugs in something. You have to accept that. Windows users do. :) An alternative might be to set up a wiki for beta and rc changes *only*. It gets deleted when the next new documentation release comes out and the relevant parts have been incorporated. I tried it as a repeatedly updated text file on here, but there was only me updating it, of course. The very best way of all is simply to keep reading this forum. lol Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| dddns Guru Joined: 20/09/2024 Location: GermanyPosts: 708 |
I know.. and look where we are coming from. To achieve that I told my opinion ;) |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8353 |
Personally I never use beta or rc candidates for projects. I need the manual. I simply wait for the next version to be complete if I need any of its features. It's not worth the risk. That doesn't mean that I ignore the others, just that, as I can't regard them as stable, they are unsuitable for anything that will be screwed into a box. I'm quite happy to play with them. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2685 |
of all the people who use a rpi 2040 or pico2 I wonder how they code it. there's no way of knowing. mmbasic is not "officially" recognised. I guess if you don't use mmbasic then python or c. dunno. I can't use python, a lot of people can't use basic  |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8353 |
Raspberry Pi always push Python, or c where speed is required. Python is rather good in a lot of ways and IMHO is closer to MMBasic than it is to c (it's an interpreter for a start). I think Circuit Python is rather cool on the Pico as it's been designed for control operations. I didn't find it too "foreign". I think it would be my second choice after MMBasic. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2685 |
this is how I discovered mmbasic on pico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxmjy1nz6MM&t=511s I was on about younger people who never used basic. it would be like me learning python... well no, it's easier to learn new stuff when you're younger, imho but yeah, companies who make rpi pico boards should support mmbasic as an alternative coding app if there's enough users stan |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8353 |
Thanks Stan, I enjoyed seeing that again. :) I agree. The point is, Python was designed as a language to accomplish tasks, as was c and just about everything else. Not many languages have been designed specifically to teach programming skills. BASIC is one of the few. Of the more modern ones, Scratch is another, but it's aimed at a much younger age group. The idea of teaching "coding" in c or C++ is ludicrous. Even Python is pushing it a bit. None of these is forgiving to the beginner. MMBasic has grown into a happy medium, IMHO, still ideal as a training language but is now able to be used for sophisticated task handling too. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2685 |
I agree Mick but my grandson who is 11 now has been using python and html for a couple of years, doesn't know of basic. people post of devices that have support code but don't know how to use with mmbasic, I have. mmbasic has grown into a lot of stuff basic. |
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| stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2685 |
why has the raspberry foundation not acknowledged mmbasic as an alternative programming language ? |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4163 |
You'd have to ask them. You could wonder the same about other languages e.g. FORTRAN. John |
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| PhenixRising Guru Joined: 07/11/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1667 |
All I know is that when I lurk elsewhere, I see people struggling with tasks that are absolute child's play for MMBasic and I'm talking about where they consider reading inputs, performing some simple logic, writing outputs within 10mS to be "fast". Onboard editor with color coded syntax, just hook up a terminal or go all the way with HDMI+KB+Mouse? I am unaware of anything like it. BUT NOBODY KNOWS IT EXISTS Darned criminal IMO. Edited 2025-12-05 06:32 by PhenixRising |
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