The future of GCOL

[RichardRussell]

Thanks for your effort, but I'll think I'll stick with the present system.

Assuming that you're talking about GCOL (which is the topic of this thread) the point is that the time may come when you have no choice. Currently OpenGL remains supported in Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and iOS; whilst that remains the case the 'traditional' GCOL operations (OR, AND, XOR, NOT) will continue to work.

But Apple has already deprecated OpenGL in MacOS, and if history is any guide that probably means they will remove it (in favour of Metal) eventually. Similarly it's not impossible that OpenGL will be replaced by Vulkan in Linux, although I would not expect that to happen soon. So even if you choose to avoid the Emscripten / WebAssembly environment you may still have to embrace the revised GCOL specification eventually.

The in-browser edition allows you to test compatibility now, so you are prepared should this happen.

[Ivan]

I was, but I'm not ready to program via browsers, so when I no longer can use GCOL the usual way I'll continue on a virtual computer.

[RichardRussell]

I was, but I'm not ready to program via browsers, so when I no longer can use GCOL the usual way I'll continue on a virtual computer.

Nobody has suggested that you "program via browsers". The in-browser edition of BBCSDL has no IDE and no program editor, so it is entirely unsuited to 'programming' (you can't even save your program to disk if you did). But that's not the point, it's a means for running BBC BASIC programs not for writing them!

Have you considered switching to Matrix Brandy? You would probably find that more to your liking, since it is much more of an 'emulator' than my BASICs are. As such it supports the features of Acorn's BASICs (running on Acorn platforms) much more faithfully than I do. It renders its graphics onto an in-memory bitmap ('surface') so it's impossible for GCOL ever to 'fail' because it's implemented in software.

Matrix Brandy is also much faster than my BASICs.

[Ivan]

I can conclude that I don't understand the concept at all.

Matrix Brandy - when I'm ready I'll give it a try.

[RichardRussell]

I can conclude that I don't understand the concept at all.

If you have a fast PC, and a suitable browser, you can try running David Williams' Tyoob game here, which won 2nd Prize in a SyntaxBomb programming competition. The game was originally written by David in BBC BASIC for Windows, then ported by me to BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0, and now to the in-browser edition.

I hope you can see the value of being able to run a program that way without actually doing any development on that platform. The end-user just needs a browser - no downloading or installation is required - and in principle it can run on any CPU, any OS and any hardware so long as a browser supporting WebAssembly is available.

[Ivan]

I can see the value of coding one program and use it in compatible browsers, but I don't think I will have the need for such a system.

[RichardRussell]

To pull this thread back on topic, I'm pleased to report that jigsaw.bbc (in the examples/games/ directory), which relies on GCOL 1, does work properly in WebGL so in this case substituting ADD for OR is acceptable. I've therefore added jigsaw to the programs supplied with the in-browser edition.