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When will NS Basic for iPhone ship?
NS Basic for iPhone cannot be released due to the terms of Apple's SDK. In particular, the following wording affects the product:
3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable
code by any means, including without limitation through
the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs
or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and
used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by
Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).
Unless this changes, NS Basic for iPhone cannot be released.
What is NS Basic for iPhone?
NS Basic for iPhone is a complete, easy to use BASIC development environment for iPhone
devices, with a look and feel similar to Visual Basic. NS Basic for iPhone provides a full, modern implementation
of BASIC, with proper subroutines, user defined data types
and no line numbers. The development environment runs on a
Windows desktop.
NS Basic for iPhone includes over 150 statements
and functions. Support is provided for file handling, TCP/IP, graphics and more. A full set of standard screen
input and output objects and dialog boxes are included. Applications you create are freely distributable and are write-once, run anywhere.
The environment
features a Visual Designer, which allows you to graphically
lay out your objects, set their properties and write code that responds to and controls them.
What devices does it run on?
NS Basic for iPhone runs on iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
When will it be available?
NS BASIC Corporation is not promising or implying that it will ship a product for iPhone.
At present, Apple's SDK Agreement has specific wording that disallows any product that causes code to be executed, which obviously would exclude NS Basic/iPhone. Until Apple changes their policy on this, the product cannot be released.
Who uses NS BASIC's tools?
Close to 20,000 developers in over 80 countries use NS BASIC's tools to develop apps for handheld devices. The full spectrum of developers is included: enterprise, small business, government, education and personal use. Many of the world's largest corporations use NS Basic.
For Windows CE, it is the most popular third party development tool. For Palm OS, it is the most popular commercial tool.
Who is NS Basic for iPhone designed for?
NS Basic for iPhone is designed to appeal to developers with Visual Basic experience, to developers that do not have the time or background to master Apple's iPhone Development Tools and to experienced programmers that need a RAD environment to quickly produce apps or prototypes. It is not intended to replace the iPhone Developer Tools, but rather to enable more programmers to be productive.
NS Basic for iPhone will also be very interesting to developers who have been using NS Basic/Palm. Most of their apps will run on iPhone devices without change, other than a recompile.
How does it work?
NS Basic for iPhone code is developed on the desktop. The compiler translates it into a threaded p-code file. Once on the device, it is processed by a runtime engine. The engine is ARM Native, yielding excellent performance. System calls are mapped to StyleTap CrossPlatform during execution. The StyleTap runtime is automatically included in the NS Basic installer, so there are no additional license fees or installation steps for this.
Is it like Visual Basic?
The language itself is a subset of Microsoft's Visual Basic, with extensions for a handheld environment. The development environment has a look and feel very similar to VB6, the most widely used development environment on computers.
Is it like NS Basic/Palm?
It is very much the same. Code is 100% compatible, except for hardware dependent features. The same objects (fields, buttons, etc.) appear in both products and work the same way. Each product has extensions to take advantage of the specific features of the platform it runs on.
Where can I buy it? What does it cost?
Pricing and availability will be announced if the product is released.
The demo seems to show apps starting from a Palm OS style screen. Will the final version look like this?
No. We expect NS Basic apps will look more like regular iPhone apps, started from a normal icon in the iPhone launcher.
What will be done to make apps more iPhone like?
There are a number of things we can do. Provide a Helvetica font, add SQLIte support, add gesture events, etc. If the product is released, expect it to have a number of extensions to take advantage of the iPhone.
How fast is it?
Applications written in NS Basic for iPhone appear to run at a similar speed as the built in applications. Apps moved from Palm OS devices run faster than on any Palm OS device.
What support is there?
NS BASIC
provides support by email and on our web
board. We post bug fix updates to our support site on a regular
basis. Check the Web Board for the latest announcements. The
web board is a very active and enthusiastic community.
What languages are supported?
The IDE is currently available in English, German, Japanese, French and Spanish. NS Basic keeps all its messages in a open string table. By translating the string table, versions of
the IDE can be easily produced for other languages. If you're interested in creating a version for your own language,
please contact us.
Is there an emulator?
Yes, we expect there will be.
Will it run on a Mac?
We like Macs here. On Intel Mac, use Parallels or VMWare with a Windows OS.
We have also tested NS Basic for iPhone on a Mac running Virtual PC.
Will it run on Linux?
Yes. It works well on Win4Lib and VmWare.
Who is NS BASIC Corporation?
NS BASIC Corporation's tools are the most widely used third party tools for handheld devices. NS BASIC Corporation has been a leading creator of development tools for handheld devices since 1993. Close to 20,000 developers in over 80 countries use NS BASIC's tools for Symbian, Palm OS, Windows CE and Newton.
You can contact NS BASIC
Corporation by email at info© nsbasic.com, phone at 1 888 NSBASIC
(416 264-5999) or fax at 416 264-5888.
So what does the "NS"
stand for, anyhow?
Nice
& Smart.
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