Hi Polarwolf and welcome here.
I will try to give you some fast info that maybe some other thinBasic user will be able to integrate.
First and most important
thinBasic is an interpreted language not a compiler. PowerBasic and PureBasic are compilers. It means they produce real 32bit code.
thinBasic does not produce any 32bit executable code but read a text file (your source code), parse it and interpret it on the fly.
What makes ThinBasic special?
Well, this is very personal question. thinBasic can be special in different ways for different users. I think everyone of us should reply to this question. And if nothing special, maybe thinBasic is not the right tool. But I'm sure if one programmer or just someone loving programming spend enough time with thinBasic and thinBasic community, everyone will be able to find something special.
Should I switch from PB to TB?
I think NO. PB (here stand for PowerBasic / PureBasic) is very special and good product.
thinBasic is something else maybe used in conjunction with PB or for some special projects.
WHY should I switch?
You do not have to switch but use the best tool for every specific project.
There can be projects where you absolutely need a compiler. Other where an interpreted language like thinBasic can be used.
Is TB realy that much fast then PB?
An interpreted language cannot be fast as a an executable application generated by a true compiler.
That said, thinBasic is very fast compared with other interpreted languages. You can have a look inside "\thinBasic\SampleScripts\general\Speed\" directory. There are some benchmark scripts that can give you an idea about how fast is thinBasic. Also you will find some posts here in community forum talking about thinBasic execution speed. We worked on execution speed a lot.
How big are the EXE's from TB and do I have to give any additional file?
Even if thinBasic is an interpreted language, Roberto has created what we call Bundled Exe.
Bundled Exe are executable produced by thinAir IDE that are very similar to ZIP compressed files. They contains the main thinBasic engine plus the original script (usually obfuscated) plus additional files the programmer decide to add in there. When Bundled Exe are executed, all files included in there are exploded on disk and a special process is in change to start the main script. At the end, Bundled Exe behave is similar a standard exe.
Usually executable created by thinAir are not bigger that 300/400 Kb but if you have used many modules or you decide to put images, sounds, or other files or even directories inside them, size will increase proportionally.
What exactly is TBGL and who develops it?
thinBasic has a modular structure.
It means it has a Core engine in charge of the main parsing process plus all memory handling, variables, program flow, ... Around the main Core engine there are many additional modules (special DLLs) that implements the main thinBasic language adding many new keywords. There are modules for: file handling, user interface, console, math, ... and OpenGl. TBGL is one of the many modules specifically designed to implement OpenGL and a lot of additional stuffs like bone system, entity system. TBGL is developed by Petr Schreiber.
Modules can be developed using different languages and compilers: PowerBasic, C, C++, ASM, FreeBasic.
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Well, for the moment I think this can be enough. Hope other will add more.
Ciao
Eros
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