BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0 version 1.40a released

[Richard Russell]

I have released version 1.40a of BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0 - the cross-platform programming language for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Raspberry Pi OS, Android, iOS and in-browser. The changes in this version are as follows:

1. Environment
   
   Added a 64-bit Windows binary for direct downloading (it was always possible to build it from source).
   
   
2. BASIC Interpreter / Run Time Engine
   
   Integer arrays are now guaranteed to be 32-bit aligned, even if created on the heap.
   
   Minor improvements to outline and filled circle plotting and flood fill.
   
   
3. IDEs and Utilities
   
   Fixed compiler.bbc incorrectly crunching the TOP pseudo-keyword.
   
   Improved the accessibility of touchide.bbc on an Amazon Fire TV Stick.
   
   
4. Libraries
   
   Modified aagfxlib.bbc to improve Bézier curves and arcs which have arrow endcap(s).
   
   Modified pdflib.bbc to support multiple-page PDFs (with thanks to Svein Svensson).
   
   
5. Example Programs
   
   Added truchet.bbc and vampire.bbc in examples/graphics.
   
   Restored functionality lost from sheet.bbc when it was originally ported from BB4W.

This version may be downloaded, for all the supported platforms, from the usual location (the Android and iOS editions should be installed from the appropriate App Store). The GitHub repository has also been updated.

[JeremyNicoll]

... The changes in this version are as follows:

Added a 64-bit Windows binary for direct downloading (it was always possible to build it from source).

Does building it require one to run linux?

If it does, can it be done on Microsoft's WSL (ie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_S ... _for_Linux ) by someone who knows nothing at all about WSL, ie using it with no config changes, if indeed WSL supports configuration?

Or, alternatively, in the free edition of Microsoft's IDE VS Studio - ( https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/ )?

[Richard Russell]

Does building it require one to run linux?

I expect you can cross-compile a Windows application in Linux, but as a Windows user myself I've never been tempted to try that. I always build Windows applications in Windows! The makefiles in the GitHub repository all assume you will be building on the target platform, and that you won't be using any kind of IDE (apart from Android and iOS of course).

[Richard Russell]

Or, alternatively, in the free edition of Microsoft's IDE VS Studio

I should add that you shouldn't try to build BBCSDL or BBCTTY using a Microsoft C compiler because (surprisingly, to me at least) they don't support the 80-bit extended precision floating-point format (long double) that my interpreter relies on. The only compilers that are supported are GCC and Clang (and others which offer a very high degree of compatibility with GCC, such as the Emscripten compiler EMCC).