Android Question Why So Much Disparity in File Size Between B4A900 and B4A901

[Mahares]

B4A900.exe has a size of 7538 KB while B4A901.exe has a size of 11193 Kb. Why such a big difference when 901 is considered a minor upgrade?

 

[Derek Johnson]

Yes seems like that! I don't think we are compromising any important technical discussion though even if it is completely off-topic!

 

[MrKim]

Did you know that Microsoft came out with "Visual Basic for DOS"?

It was a full event-driven UI that ran in DOS (text mode) and used the mouse to place/draw controls on "windows" - that even had shadows! (darker colored text underneath the right and bottom side to give the shadow effect).

It was the next generation of MS Basic Pro - I was a beta tester for it - code named "Esher"

And it looks like you can download a free copy from here:

https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-visual-bas/10-for-dos

Wrote some good stuff with that. Ported it to Windows 3.1.

 

[MrKim]

If we're going there my first computer was a Tandy Model 100. 32K of RAM TOTAL! I wrote a "WYSIWIG" program for it to work with the built in text editor using Microsoft Basic.

 

[jimmyF]

In 1988 I wrote scripts in FRED (Framework programming language) for production scheduling for a lithographer.
Swapped 5.25" drives to edit and/or to compile and run.
I then went out and blew $3995 on a huge 20 MB hard drive that fit nicely in my Columbia Data Systems portable (Ha Ha!) computer.

The good ol' days!

 

[Didier9]

I'd have to disagree with this statement, as you say you have not done it! There are a lot of minor irritating issues to sort out in trying to convert a VB app to VB.NET!

I based my assessment on sample converted code I saw on a forum a long time ago when the issue first came up. My understanding is that the conversion only handles the most basic of Visual Basic functionality. Therefore the amount of customization will vary a lot depending on what kind of code you feed it. I should not have put a percent on that as obviously it will be project dependent.
My personal decision to not upgrade to VB.NET was mostly based on a desire to go away from Visual Basic altogether and towards a multiplatform language. At the moment, B4J seems to be a valid candidate.

 

[Scotter]

All this talk of floppies and old school Basic has me remembering writing games in the Basic that came with the Commodore Vic 20 and then later the Commodore 64. I remember how great it felt to upgrade from the tape drive to the 1541 Floppy Drive! Random access!!!
I remember using poke commands to write to video memory, basically placing a character at a certain spot on the screen grid. Super simple. Hmmm be kinda fun to create a little B4A app that would have some functions to draw stuff to the phone screen sort of emulating that model or even something slightly more advanced like "sprites"!