Max3D to be Open-Source

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Socoder -> Blitz Max -> Max3D to be Open-Source
Wed, 17 Dec 2008, 20:31
Cower	Bring on the communism!
Thu, 18 Dec 2008, 02:33
Jayenkai	I've always trusted Mark to do a bang-up job.. Apart from Max.. And if he's not doing Max3D, things can only get worse.. .. Although, that's just me being picky. Maybe it WILL be a good idea? -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 18 Dec 2008, 11:25
Cower	I personally think BMax is excellent, so don't know what you're on about.
Thu, 18 Dec 2008, 14:17
Nolan	I love BlitzMax as well. Way better than BlitzBasic in my opinion. This is a surprising route, but also a good one. It's too hard for one man to write a fully functional 3d engine these days, all while keeping up support for previous projects. -=-=- nolandc.com
Thu, 18 Dec 2008, 17:44
JL235	I never liked the editor for BMax, that was pretty basic, and the lack of tools really put me off it.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008, 01:08
Cower	I'm not sure what tools it's lacking since I tend to write my own tools for everything; I'm very fond of having proprietary/specific-purpose tools (versus generic tools that don't meet my specific needs). What are you looking for that isn't currently available? As for the editor, that's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned since all you need is a text editor and that's what you're provided.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008, 01:31
JL235	Why drive when all you need to do is walk? Because it's faster! For you it might be a non-issue, but for me the tools I'd be interested in seeing are editor tools. That's because I agree that pretty much anything else is either very specific (like compiler-compiler tools) or won't meet my needs. \|edit\| I just thought, even if you rarely use them it's still really useful that there are loads of specific tools and libraries built for the mainstream languages for that odd project or occasion that you need it. \|edit\| For example I like to be able to rename any variable, method, function, class or package on the fly and have all projects that use it update automatically. Ensuring that this is all performed correctly takes more then an automated find/replace (like ignoring any other variables with the same name as the one your renaming). If I'm debugging source code and maybe a value is returned from a function, it's useful to be able to right click on that function name and just 'go to source'. Especially when it works across projects. If I want to look the online OpenGL documentation for a function I just type the functions name into the search box in the top right and hit enter. Auto-completion (usually) helps you to type faster (i.e. '.getgr<ENTER>' instead of '.getGraphics()', note I also didn't use an uppercase G in the example either) and it can be useful to have documentation displayed as your typing on the fly. Have all syntax errors found and identified on the fly as I type as this removes (most) of my typos. Being able to generate common sections of source code, like the method stubs for all the abstract methods of a class. Automatically highlighting every use of whatever you have clicked on (namely a variable, method or class) within a file down the side of the editor. All of these things are pretty trivial these days and yes can all be done manually. But these tools allow me to constantly save a few seconds here and the odd minute there. It also means I can think and focus less about these jobs because the automation is (typically) safer then me doing it myself.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008, 01:59
Jayenkai	Sorry, DD.. I've argued this many a time, but I'll never need anything more than a blank text entry box. I started coding on a CPC, where all we could do was 1 line at a time. No jumping swiftly up and down your code.. You do it right, or it's wrong... Text editors are a breath of fresh air. I'm happy with that. As for BMax. I get it, I really do.. And I'd be 100% happy with it, if it weren't for Horizontal Shooter having to be downgraded to it's lowest possible form, just because BMax no longer supports "Draw to buffer" in a nice swift manner. Sure, it CAN do it on some* systems, but B3D can do it on ALL* systems, and that's one hell of a difference... With B3D, the biggest issue is that damn Text/NVidia thing. * Windows! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Fri, 19 Dec 2008, 05:39
JL235	That's just the truth about cross-platform, it's all lies. One change I would put in the BMax editor though is to remove the ctrl+left/right shortcut to switch between tabs. This is already standard (on at least Windows) for jumping from word to word and I use it everytime I type. Back on topic, I can't help thinking this looks like he has given up on Max3D (and maybe Blitz in general) and so decided to hand it over in the hope that the community will keep it allive. That's not necessarilly a bad thing since it might actually get released.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008, 06:18
Phoenix	To be fair though, I'd be really bored with a product if I had worked on it for as long as he has. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he'd want to move on working on real games for a change.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008, 14:33
dna	Incredible. I thought something like this would happen. Everyone else in the business has something of the sort going on. I think he did the right thing but, I would have OS one of the older languages because they have a easier learning curve, for kids. -=-=- DNA
Sat, 20 Dec 2008, 06:26
JL235	dna I think he did the right thing but, I would have OS one of the older languages because they have a easier learning curve, for kids. But they are still selling, so open-sourcing BB would be a bad thing to do. This way if the community finishes Max3D it will encourage more people to buy BMax and so increase his profits.
Fri, 02 Jan 2009, 13:36
Cower	In other news, Max3D is released: www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=82426