Found Footage: NSBasic on an iPhone

Let's face it - my development skills suck like an out-of-the-box Dyson vacuum! Back in prehistoric times when I was a Newton developer, I started by using the standard Newton dev tools but quickly learned that my programming skills were stuck in BASIC and Fortran 77. Pathetic, huh?

Fortunately, a small Canadian firm called NS Basic came out with a development kit based on BASIC that was easy to understand and use. Since then, George Henne and the NS Basic crew have kept up with the handheld world by creating dev tools for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and (soon) Symbian, as well as providing the only remaining Newton development tool.

So what does this have to do with iPhone? NSBasic let us know about a video on their website that shows a small "Hello, World!" app and a stock quote application running on an iPhone. They're using NS Basic/Palm to write the applications, then running them in the experimental StyleTap Platform for iPhone and iPod Touch. While the apps look frighteningly like Palm OS apps, it's cool to see an easy and powerful set of dev tools that even beginners could use to write iPhone apps.

NS Basic is quick to point out that this is not a shipping product, nor do they have plans to port NS Basic to iPhone. Of course, perhaps a lot of interest in the video will convince them of the viability of the iPhone / iPod Touch market...

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Source: http://www.nsbasic.com/index.html

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iPod Family Software Developer Found Footage iPhone

Let's face it - my development skills suck like an out-of-the-box Dyson vacuum! Back in prehistoric times when I was a Newton developer, I...

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MADHard

I've written lots of basic applications for my casio FX calculator and later, for my Palm.
I made a small app to calculate the section and dimensions of a metal o wood beam depending on the span and load. Very useful when you have to give a quick answer right in the working place.
I'd love to have the possibility to transfer that app to the iPhone instead of learning a new language or installing the Palm emulator just for that.
End.

June 03 2008 at 6:03 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

scw

Applications that download/run executable content are prohibited, but I don't see that flying on a hypothetical iTablet, so maybe there is hope...

BTW, VB and VB.Net have been compiled (like C#, C++, Java, etc.) for years - sometimes (QuickBasic,VB) targeting straight machine code.

June 02 2008 at 4:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Clark Goble

Isn't any interpreted language such as Basic against the rules of what can be ported to the iPhone? I have to admit I was hoping for iPython which I use all the time on my laptop. But the announcement of the development crushed those hopes.

June 02 2008 at 12:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Clark Goble's comment

VaughnSC

@ Clark: What makes you think applications written in BASIC are still 'interpreted'?

June 02 2008 at 12:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Clark Goble

Every basic system I've seen is. (VB, VB.Net, etc.)

Is this one not?

June 02 2008 at 12:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Bill Taroli

Well, of course they look like Palm apps. If they're using the Styletap platform (demo, for now) then that's because they're running in a Palm OS emulator. ;) it *is* writing a Palm app. :D

June 02 2008 at 11:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Bill Taroli's comment

George Henne

If this were to become a real product, we'd do a lot to make it more iPhone like. For example, apps would be in the regular iPhone launcher, not in a Palm OS looking shell, and fonts could be used that are more iPhone like.

June 02 2008 at 12:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SpinThis!

I think RealBasic might be a popular alternative to Cocoa/Objective C but the last thing we need is ugly, Palm-designed applications running in a less-than-ideal environment on the iPhone just so all the crappy programmers in the world can use basic on the iPhone. Not to mention you would have to jailbreak just to use this...

It would feel like running Windows on a Mac, except in this case Palm. I can't see this gaining much traction, especially when hobbyist developers can still use web applications. JavaScript and HTML for layout is really the "new" basic...

June 02 2008 at 10:56 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Raphael Salgado

I've used NSBasic/CE for years, and would love to see a native NSBasic/iPhone, but who knows if that will ever happen.

That being said, I've been on REALbasic's forums and people have been asking for the ability to create REALbasic iPhone apps. That I can see happening much quicker since they are already on Mac OS X and have a solid cross-platform solution. Cross your fingers, and I'll have my credit card number ready as soon as they release it.

June 02 2008 at 10:08 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply