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Difference between programming for Linux and Windows?

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CodeTRUCKER:
BASIC: Beyond All Sense, Incomprehensible Crap. Donald Knuth, iirc, has quote where "BASIC" and "brain damage" go together. Yes, fortunately today's BASICs are less hideous than the original ones, but it's not something you should touch unless you have to (ie., VB required for a job).

-f0dder (January 08, 2007, 09:13 AM)
--- End quote ---
I agree the BASIC on the old C64, TI994A, etc. was arcane, but the Emergence BASIC that Mike has crafted his fine app with and I'm really getting excited about is a whole new animal.  For me, it has made programming fun again.

f0dder:
Fortunately, todays BASICs aren't as bad as the original; you can do relatively structured programming in BASIC today, rather than the intertangle GOTO mess and line numbered source of yore.

There's still problems with the mentality, though. I can't remember the specifics since it's many a years since I had to deal with VB, but if you look at some problems and the recommended solutions - christ. No doubt that things can be done cleaner, but when the general responses on "teh intarweb" (or even a teacher) are kludges, things are bad.

There's also a lack of expressiveness in the BASICs I've seen. This again leads to kludges ("use a DLL"/"write it in inline assembly") rather than working with the BASIC language itself. Either you have a pretty bare-bones BASIC that isn't much interesting, or you have one of those frankensteinian BASICs that includes everything and the kitchen sink - or you have to rely on external libraries, probably written in C.

There's hybrid BASICs, but then you might as well use a better language :)

It might not be total brain damage to learn some programming with one of the more modern BASICs, but you'll have to ask yourself how much of the knowledge you can re-use if moving on. Especially if it's one of the frankenstein BASICs with a zillion library functions to make life easier.

CodeTRUCKER:
The real acronym goes this way... Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. <CT winks at f0dder>

Maybe an exploration into the world of coding would be most instructive and helpful? 

zridling:
Fantastic links and analogies, thanks guys! The last languages I learned was my freshman year in college — FORTRAN and COBOL — and by the time I graduated the Mac hit the market, two years later home PCs were affordable, and FORTRAN and COBOL were worth a warm cup of donkey spit.

But Farmsteader I'm not looking to start programming. I honestly don't have the brain capacity for it. But you're right, I'd love to spend the next two years weaning myself completely off of Windows. Apps like UltraEdit, NewsLeecher, ACDSee, Screenshot Captor, et al. may run quite well under Wine or Codeweavers Crossover. Hardware, drivers, etc., are another challenge. But it was this thought that motivated the question of the difference between coding for them.

I've always thought of the difficulty of switching from the installation and hardware side; that is, until a Linux distro (which, compiling proprietary drivers with Open Source software goes against the whole idea for the most part) can make it as easy to install a program and change hardware as Windows does, then it's still the province of those who have time. If it were simple, I'm sure more software devs would simply port their apps to Linux. But that's not the case as Michael Rainey and I know about UltraEdit!

CodeTRUCKER:
Hey Mike!  Ever had a crack at the *new* UE Studio?  I'm curious as to how it adds, if anything, to the standard UE?

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