Why did everyone get B4A

[Stulish]

Hi guys,

Just as a conversation piece, why did all the lovely people on here actually opt for B4A?

My story is i have basically programmed with Visual Basic 6 (alot) and touched on others while completing a degree with the Open University (Long distance learning), the others i used were Borland C++, SmallTalk and some other languages that the OU use for teaching specific theory's. I have installed eclipse as i had a shiny new android tablet, but never really got into it for some reason, the UI and development of apps didn't seem as logical as VB6 (i may be a little stuck in my ways), so after having a look on the net i saw B4A and thought i would give it a try and downloaded the trial, and i think within hours i paid for the full 2 year option.

So far i have found it relatively painless moving from VB code to B4A (with help from the community with my stupid questions). And i have managed to actually create usable apps very quickly.

So i just wonder why you guys use if or opted for it? I think i might try looking into Eclipse again in the future and also into creating libraries but at the moment as my signature says 'i am having fun with B4A'

Stu

 

[Penko]

I remember googling "Android Basic programming" or something like that. I really wanted to check the alternatives to Java and hopefully Basic4Android was on the first page. I started reading the documentation and it maybe took me 1 month before I decide to purchase but finally made it and that was a good one, I really continue considering it this way.

Basic is a more structured language to me(I had experience with VB 6 and then .NET) and I like its organization.

Java is not so bad but I take up the Eclipse approach 3 times and fail to proceed further.

 

[mc73]

Java is not so bad but I take up the Eclipse approach 3 times and fail to proceed further.

Finally, a good reason to remove you from my fb friends' list :sign0060:

 

[DermagraFX]

Why? Why? Why??

Well... I used to program PLC's and robots for the automotive and manufacturing industries for a custom automation/fabrication facility. I was exposed to Visual basic programming a little bit while interfacing between machines and control computers, and found it interesting. So I started to play around with VB, then with Palm OS a bit, where I wrote a few minor apps for both windows and Palm.
I stopped for a few years after leaving the industry, until recently when I discovered arduino and started playing with that and arm boards. So my Blackberry phone and tablets were calling to me to make apps for them, so I had a look at Java... What a nightmare of a learning curve. So I quit... then got an Android tab, and thought the same, so hit the java again, and wow! same $hit different pile, then saw B4A and tried the demo version for a week or so, then bought full version.
I still have problems, as I don't know a ton about programming, but it's vaguely familiar and have a slight clue how to get around programming in it.
A couple of simple apps and libraries under my belt so far, a few tutorials also, and I'm on my way. I'll spend some time learning, and one day know enough to be dangerous.
To myself that is...
Maybe even make something useful on the way of an app one of these days.

That's my story... And I'm sticking to it.

 

[NJDude]

Hi...my name is NJDude and I'm an Androidholic

I'll keep it short, I used to be a full time programmer, I don't do that anymore, however I still write code, when I got interested in writing apps I started using Eclipse + Java, l started to lose interest very quickly due to all the stuff you have to do just to create a simple "Hello World", after a little bit of research I found other alternatives, none were really making me happy until I found B4A, I downloaded the trial version and within hours of testing it I purchased the Full version (Enterprise), good investment, great community, great piece of software, now, I'm even freelancing as an Android developer.

The rest is history as they say.

 

[SCIS]

Well, me and some other students from my class decided to make an Android app for their thesis for the programming classes of our school. We started to look around on Google for alternatives of Eclipse because we wouldn't be able to learn Java in 10 months. So we finally stumbled on to Basic4Android, we all four downloaded the trial, toyed around with it and saw that it was quite interesting. We were also very interested in B4A due the fact that it's syntax is based on Visual Basic. As we are learning Visual Basic .NET in our programming classes this year and we also did last year, we decided to pick Basic4Android to develop our app, and at this very moment, it's going great!

Greetings,
SCIS.

 

[Penko]

Finally, a good reason to remove you from my fb friends' list :sign0060:

Spam! I admit fail was a stronger word than the needed one. The eclipse learning curve is bigger.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

 

[Roger Garstang]

I hated Eclipse early on, but I think B4A helped understand Android better for me since I like VB and PowerBASIC more. I do develop in C# and have hated JAVA, but with Android they did do pretty good in Eclipse for automation and creating templates to develop apps. I tried Eclipse again after B4A and was doing pretty good...it is a little tedious to do simple things B4A can do with a couple lines. After 2-3 weeks I realized I was actually writing libraries and wrappers to do things, so decided to switch gears and just make the libraries for things I need and use them in B4A. It is working out much better now.

 

[sanjibnanda]

I have learnt java and flash and love them, done many android apps even using flash/AIR with it , never used VB before . Just out of curiosity downloaded trial and found it more powerful and ease of use. Though a newbie at present but wish to be pro in coming times with a huge and unending support from the forum.
Long live B4a community !

Prof Nanda

 

[netchicken]

I wanted to make android apps so started to learn java + android, and gave up on it after working through 200 pages of a manual and only reaching the stage of putting a button on a form.

So then i looked around the net and found B4A and with my background in Vb and VB.net loved it.

Since then I have been teaching a one year programming course and B4a has become a 1/4 of the course. We do vb.net for a term, then B4A, then C# then ASP.net mvc and Windows 8 programming.

There has been debate about it not being industry standard, and also using VB, considered by some an archaic and disparaged language, however the students love it, and it means we don't have to learn java to achieve the same outcomes.

The addition of classes and the great updates will cement it in as a viable alternative to other systems, after-all look at the opposition, mono, $1000 a license and its far more difficult to use than B4a.

 

[Kevin]

Because it's awesome!

I'll try not to bore you all with my whole life story, but....

Back when I was about 12 or 13 years old (I'm 40 at the time of this writing) my dad bought a Commodore 64 as they were very popular back then. I was just reading through the manual and it had a section on BASIC programming. The idea of writing code and having the computer do what I wanted it to do was interesting to me so I started playing around with it. Initially just modifying other BASIC programs to see how things worked.

I never really made anything exceptional at that time but I wrote several silly little programs (a trivia game and label printer, among others). I still have a "rejection letter" from the label printer program I submitted to Compute's Gazette when I was 14 years old. They used to publish reader-submitted code for programs in the magazine that others could then type in themselves. It was a bummer but I didn't let it bother me. Several years later we got our first PC and I remember buying VB3 for several hundred dollars which was a lot of money to me back then. Eventually I moved on to VB5 and VB6 and I have made some money writing and selling Windows software (no Bill Gates, of course) and I enjoy doing it.

In 2004 one of my programs ("Name Dropper", a file renamer but a bit different from others) appeared in PC World magazine. It was a proud moment for me and I made a nice load of cash in a short period of time when that happened.

A couple years after that I stopped programming due to a change in jobs (working longer hours) and having a family. Then a couple years ago my employer supplied us all with HTC EVO 4G smart phones. Not long after that I decided I wanted to make apps for it. I didn't get anywhere with Eclipse and it was very frustrating. Then I stumbled on B4A in all of its awesomeness! Since then I've published a remote control app for DirecTV satellite receivers as well as a couple add-ons for it. I'm still not planning to retire from my real job anytime soon but it has been fun and I'm definitely making some decent money from it! I'm also a shameless Google fanboy and I think it's kind of cool that GOOGLE gives me money every month.

I have no doubt that if not for B4A I never would have made anything for Android. I know there are some other programs like B4A but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a better Android programming package and the level of support and people on this forum are first class!

I have had a few minor setbacks while trying to learn Android and B4A but sometimes I am amazed at things I am doing with Android and it's all because of B4A and how easy it is to write quality apps once you learn the little quirks of Android. :sign0060:

 

[CodeDancer]

It's just too easy!

Just another coddled VB6 programmer who couldn't stand being demoted from "expert" to "newbie" and face the time and pain of having to learn Eclipse, Java and Android just to program a phone or tablet.

B4A is very reasonably priced and gets you going in a hurry. Maybe too fast.
You kind of lose that great feeling of accomplishment when you can crank out your first Android app within a few hours (or was it minutes?) of getting B4A.

I do miss the fifty pounds or so of documentation that Microsoft provided for VB6, but I guess the information is there for B4A, if you are willing to look for it and the online community is astoundingly helpful. My first query was answered within a couple of minutes.

I have been porting some graphics applications from VB6 to B4A and have
been somewhat disappointed with the results. Kind of slow and ugly. I suspect that the problem is with the Java/Android platform. Has anyone had better results?


I

 

[sorex]

There has been debate about it not being industry standard, and also using VB, considered by some an archaic and disparaged language

the industry doesn't know you know what

If I code a console (dosbox) application in freebasic I doubt anyone can tell it's not done in gcc, vb6, delphi, freepascal or whatever compiler that spits out the EXE.

Like I said in another thread today it's probably for follow up reasons that they stick to clumsy eclipse and java.

Anyway...

Just like one of the previous posters my roots are MicroProfessor (z80), Tandy TRS-80 (basic & z80), Commodore64 (basic v2 & 6502 ASM), PC (8086/80286/80386ASM, Turbo/Borland Pascal, Q/GW Basic, VB6/VBScript/HTA, FreeBASIC, HTML/JS/ASP/PHP, SwishScript(Flash alt.) and some forgotten ones.

As I'm always in for a challenge I also got interested into mobile programming so I did some research on the net and started with eclipse. Darn thing was slow and buggy so I looked for an alternative.

The first alternative I found was VB for Android which is called NS BASIC and looked like a real VB6 clone and also sticked to the VB/VBScript syntax but exported apps.
The advantage could be the Android + IOS support, the disadvantage the price ($145, and with decent support $99/month) and html5/jquery4mobile output instead of native apps.

Then I got onto this site and saw the chat topic. There's nothing better than asking people who work with it for an honnest answer. (and hope they were honnest )

So they convinced me to try it out and while doing that I kept an eye onto the chat. Seeing all the code posting and advice passing by convinced me even more as it is not always easy to find a product with such support coming from their userbase. Some products don't even have a forum so you're all on your own.

Then I didn't even mention Erel's support and continues improvements to the product.

So a good advice is... When you're stuck with some code join the chat and ask it there. People like NJDude, HotShoe, tds, XVerhelstX, Brax and some others are always there to help. Thanks for that guys!

 

[gulliver]

I'm not a programmer.
The birth of mobile devices with Android has led me to look for a language to develop the ideas in my head.
Unfortunately, doing other, I could not waste too much time to master Java and Eclipse.
B4A has allowed me to realize as neophyte quickly a couple of applications.
What convinced me was the support offered and the enthusiasm of the participants of this community.
I was able to create applications that run, and I am the first to be surprised.

 

[latch]

I started coding 30 years ago in Machine Language(yes bytecode no compiler with minidip switches) on a wire wrap computer my dad build that had a calculator display for screen. Later, BASIC was king and I had a Timex Simclair 1000, and an Atari 800xl(had an assembly cartridge for that), and used Apple IIc's in school.

I college I learned some c++ and Java and liked neither of them but also got VB. Liked that and the school actually paid me to tutor other students. I coded a lot in VB and ported some of my stuff to c and Python. I found b4a while searching for basic for Windows ce and promptly lost interest in coding that WINce thin client I have in my office being ignored.

With b4a, I can concentrate on the logic of the game or app I am working on since I already think in BASIC. I don't waste much time fighting the API to do something simple. If memory serves, I think I read you have to create 3 classes and write 100 lines of code to draw a picture. I have the ADD so by time I got done with half of that, I would lose interest.

In 100 lines of b4a I can draw a 1000 textured quads(with different pictures) including degenerate triangles with hardware rendering in open gl in an hour's worth of work. Maybe 2 hours. The choice seems clear. What actually made me want to buy b4a was the vast amount of libraries available. You could rule the world with one phone.

That last statement is hyperbole.

 

[Roger Garstang]

...Timex Simclair 1000, and an Atari 800xl(had an assembly cartridge for that), and used Apple IIc's in school.

Timex sure wasn't thinking about the Sinclair when they coined "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking". I hated that thing. I never could get it to save to audio tape, so had to write on paper and retype my app every time. I had a TRS-80 with 8 inch floppies that worked slightly better- Would save my work, but usually took 10-20 reboots to read the TRS-DOS OS and BASIC interpreter off the floppy right. I wish I had an Atari, that would have been cool.

By the time I really got interested in doing things they had Apple IIe's in school. I had some cysts in my right hand about the same time and had to learn typing with my left hand only for about a year. Typing teacher didn't cut me any slack and to pass I had to type the words I made mistakes on in the final 1000 times. I typed them all once and made an LPRINT FOR loop on the IIe's and let it go during study hall. I then got into the BASICA stuff I believe it was called that was built into the 8088 ROMs and later became GWBASIC. Then QBASIC and QUICKBASIC. Found PowerBASIC in my DOS World Magizine and loved it up until college where I used too many languages to count. Eventually went back to PowerBASIC for Windows after college.

Eventually got into supporting old DOS handhelds for 3-4 years then they upgraded to WinMobile and I taught myself C# mobile development. Just when I got the hang of it and was even flashing my own ROMs from XDA and hacking the registry just like on desktops...Microsoft ditches it. I still do it every now and then since customers need updates, but mostly Desktop PC with PowerBASIC, PHP Web Apps, and Android Development now.

I like coding, but it does get tedious at times. I do a lot of image editing, photography and videography on the side so I don't go nuts. Lots of movies and gaming too, so whatever fills the gap for all 3 is what I like. So far that has been android, and B4A helps make apps quick.

 

[latch]

Timex sure wasn't thinking about the Sinclair when they coined "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking". I hated that thing.

My tape save worked, but the membrane keyboard was my enemy- my sore fingertips hurt my emotions. I bought a real keyboard from radio shack, rewired it(cutting the printed circuit and rerouting), soldered it to the Timex mobo, and screwed both of them to a piece of plywood. This also prevented my 16k memory module from coming loose and crashing the system. A big job for a 12 year old.

 

[Jim Brown]

I picked it up because of how easy, stable, and flexible B4A is when developing apps.
Stuff like the IDE having intellisence, and the designer for laying out the views is a big draw for me.
Also the product is well supported.

 

[jmeuse2]

The brute fact is...

I'm in it to make a million dollars.

 

[newSteve]

Great environment

I took a look at it, forgot about it for a while, came back to it months later and bought it. That was over a year ago. At first I was concerned that it might be a buggy "gave-it-a-shot" development tool, but I was motivated enough that I took a look at the forums. Based on the questions, posts, etc, it looked like they had their act together, so I decided to try it out. I am a VB programmer from way back until now. I love .Net, particularly the development tools. I don't mind the C/Java syntax. I've done a lot of C in the past, I am doing some projects in C#, and I did a little bit in Eclipse for Android, got a program working that searched your Google Calendar notes for the phone number of an incoming call (someone wanted it), but working with Eclipse seemed really cumbersome after having been spoiled by Microsoft. I don't mind Java at all, I actually like it, but would rather do VB syntax. B4A had that same feel as the MS environment, takes care of a lot of the junk for you and lets you focus on developing. I haven't run into any bugs at all (that weren't in my own code). Some things work different than I am accustomed to, but aren't too hard to get used to. I like the designer a lot too. The various options for connecting to your device are fantastic. These guys (Erel, and the others, plus contributors) have just done a great job. I wish I had more time to spend on it, but I'm starting to stay up late to get a bit of coding in.