techBASIC for iOS

User Reviews

• Great Programming Environment BASIC is back!

  ppuskariNovember 27, 2011

  Pros

  I agree with many of the other reviews so far on many counts. I've used the application for about 3 days already and have managed to use it's free sample code to actually isolate some equipment at work that was causing us some issues with voip interference. The magnetometer app worked perfectly and we were able to find the pesky electric motor in my desk clock as the source of the phone hum. Neat. It could also be use as a quick ghost detector too! Other pros come in the fact it is from the ByteWorks. A longtime supporter of all platforms Apple, they have released this micro programming environment. This is unlocking my creativity once again in BASIC. I've been learning ObjectiveC and let me say, for quick and dirty this just works. No need to deploy, get profiles setup, and coordinate certs etc. Just type it in and go.

  Cons

  The only con I can come up with is that as others have stated, I too have found that a couple of the sample apps seem to not want to quit running from time to time. Very minor issue and will most likely be addressed very quickly.

  Summary

  techBASIC unlocks your iOS device for us USERS to wrtie code quickly and easily. This brings back to mind the days of GS Basic, Byte Works C and Pascal. Great environments and great products with great support. Download the manual in pdf and view on the iPhone or iPad. Support one of the original Apple developer compiler and interpreter creators!

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• Powerfull!

  oraclemasterNovember 9, 2011

  Pros

  Easy to use. Easy to learn. Easy access to iPhone/iPod touch/iPad sensors (someone attached an iPhone to a stunt kite and used techBASIC to record the acceleration and rotation rates).

  Cons

  Use it with the small iPhone screen is not easy

  Summary

  If you know the dear old BASIC and want to access your iPad/iPhone sensor and quickly visualize graphs you must try TechBasic. With this programming environment you can dabble with programming directly on the device and, if you own it, you can use the bluetooth keyboard. The reference manual is complete and contains several examples and the debugger is very usefull.

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• A very nice BASIC environment

  skaratsoNovember 2, 2011

  Pros

  Very easy to use Very easy to learn Excellent function graphing capabilities. Access to iPhone/iPod touch/iPad sensors Share programs among all your devices

  Cons

  No simple way to tell orientation of device (have to use the raw sensor data which is cumbersome) iPhone screen is kind of cramped for development

  Summary

  This is a nice BASIC programming environment reminiscent of the BASIC languages from popular computers of the 1980s. I grew up with Apple II computers and at one point even used techBASIC's predecessor, GS BASIC, also written by the Byte Works. I like that it gives you access to the raw data from the sensors (something that will take me a while to figure out how to use effectively in my own programs). In the several days that I have used the product, I've already been able to create some fun and interesting effects and graphics displays. The built-in function graphing routines are quite powerful. One thing that seems to be missing from this version (1.0.2) is the ability to easily detect whether the device is in portrait or landscape orientation. I could probably figure it out from the raw accelerometer data but it would be nice to have some sort of function that would quickly tell your program the simple orientation of the device. All in all, a great product, with the same consistently high quality I've come to associate with all of the Byte Works' products.

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• Finally the ability to program directly on the iPhone!

  atarimacosxOctober 31, 2011

  Pros

  A great development environment for programs from old console games to new applications which use the built in sensors, or letting you visualize data.

  Cons

  The iPhone screen is still a small area to use for development, but this is workable. The iPad version (which I can't run since I don't have an iPad), would be even more useful.

  Summary

  Since Apple has relaxed the restrictions on programming languages inside Apps, a few different programming environments have popped up in the App Store, but in my opinion, this is the best of those available. This is a good implementation of Basic, so if you like, you can relive all of those programs you ran on computers 20-30 years ago (Which I did, I input a console game I wrote years ago, and with a bit ot tweaking, it ran perfectly). However, it is much more than that. It is a modern programming environment for the iPhone/iPad, that has great built-in graphing/plotting/visualization capabilities. It also is able to access the iOS devices such as the accelerometer, gyro, compass, etc. On top of that, it includes a versatile debugger for the available space. I have only used it on the iPhone, but the iPad version would be even more versatile given a bit more screen real estate.

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• BASIC compiler that reads the iPhone sensors... wow!

  MikeW50October 27, 2011

  Pros

  Easy to use, with a great debugger. Graphs are very easy to manipulate. I wish I could do this in MatLab! I finally have access to the iPhone sensors without writing programs in XCode. I can collect data and analyze it, right in the field.

  Cons

  The iPhone screen is a little small, although you can edit programs on an iPad or desktop and move them to the iPhone.

  Summary

  This program reads my iPhone's sensors, including the accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope and location. The BASIC compiler supports matrices and other advanced math operations. I can create graphs and pan, zoom or rotate them with the flick of a finger. Graphics can be 2D in Cartesian or polar coordinates, or 3D in Cartesian, cylindrical or spherical coordinates. This past weekend we taped an iPhone to a stunt kite to measure the G forces and rotation rate of the kite. What a sight! Hey, this is a real programming language, so you need a reference, right? There's a full reference manual and quick start guides on the web site as PDF that I loaded onto my iPad, and help files built right into the program. And when an error happens, I get an error message right where it occurred, and can use a full debugger to figure out problems. The debugger even has one feature I wish XCode supported: I can tap on a variable and see the whole value, even if it's a huge array. The array value is scrollable, so I can see it all. This is also a great graphing calculator! I can take one of the samples, change the equation, and presto, there's my graph. A swipe or pinch lets me zoom in on important details. And unlike traditional graphing calculators, if I need more, I have access to the complete programming language for creating my equation. If you want to do some programming right on your iPhone or iPad, or want to see what the sensors on your iPhone or iPad are reporting, this is a great way to do it. It's also the best program I've seen for graphing, better even than dedicated graphing calculators.

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