[NTLK] Starting up NewtonScript programming

[Daniel Padilla]

Absolutely amazing,  Matthias.

 Thank you for your hard work.


Daniel


El mar., 31 mar. 2020 23:06, Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de>
escribió:

> So what's new?
>
> A new release of Einstein on macOS is on my site. It's 2020.2 and it fixes
> a lot of connection issues to NTK/Basilisk.
>
> A new release of Basilisk on macOS is on my site and it runs now perfectly
> on Catalina as well. I fixed some communication issues here as well, and
> two annoying crash-bugs.
>
> A brand new Newton package is on my site as well. "NewtonPrefs" makes it
> possible to change Einstein setting from  from within NewtonOS. This is not
> so exciting yet, but will be very helpful when developing for Android
> devices and iPads. It can connect your Android-Newton directly to apps on
> any PC in the network.
>
> So again, everything is available starting now at <
> http://www.elektriktrick.com/Newton_Install_MacOS.html>.
>
>
> --- under the hood ---
>
>
> Reading my text above again, this does not look like four days of
> continuous coding work. I probably could have done this functionality in a
> day or so, but there is tons of new stuff going on under the hood ;-) .
>
> I added a quite complex and relatively complete interface between Einstein
> and NewtonScript. It's now really easy to create a frame or array in
> NewtonScript and send it to some function in Einstein. The other direction
> is just as simple. I implemented the essentials of the NCT, the Newton C
> Tools, inside Einstein, so we can read and understand data inside NewtonOS,
> and we can create complex objects, and send them right back. And for the
> Newton, all this looks just like something that happened in its own bubble,
> so even the garbage collection will work just fine.
>
> So what can we do with this?
>
> 1: more fine tuning: I will use this to have more settings inside Newton
> without needing some external preferences dialog. This makes porting easy,
> because we don't need to learn how to code on the target platform. All we
> need to know is how to set pixels.
>
> 2: quick Flash memory change. I have seen others have two or three or four
> different Flash files so they can have different environments (I have a
> Flash with developer tools, and another one for doodles). We could have a
> liite app on the Newton where we select a different Flash file and tap for
> reboot. Flash change in under 15 seconds.
>
> 3: we can manage PCMCIA cards (PC cards). We can already emulate a network
> card, but how about a 16MB Flash memory? A fax modem? Or even the VGA card
> ;-)
>
> 4: we can take shortcuts. How about a Newton app that can brows Unna in
> its entire beauty and install packages right from there. Einstein would do
> the hard work, internet access, decoding HTML, directory listings,
> decompression, and present the ready-to-install package to the Newton for
> installation.
>
>
> --- conclusion ---
>
>
> The last days were a great trip back into the past. I used ARM Assembler
> code, C, and C++14, learned some awesome details about the implementation
> of NewtonScript (respect to the devs!), learned a lot of NewtonScript
> itself, learned some ObjectiveC (Thanks, Apple :-/ ), and worked many hours
> on an (emulated) Classic Mac Performa from 1993. Wow, what a trip.
>
> It's great to see how many things back then were so elegant thanks to
> their simplicity, but it's also great to see how things improved. Try
> working for hours in an environment that does not support a right mouse
> button and context menus, and you know what I mean).
>
> Which brings me to the last issue. NTK, the Newton Toolkit on Classic Mac
> is - um - tedious, to say it nice. Don;t get me wrong. It's a very capable
> program that does its job well and quickly, but the user interface is just
> horrible to use. Error messages are almost as brief as with the 1980
> Sinclair ZX80 (well, at least the ZX80 would give you the line number of
> the code with the error), and even though there seems to have been an
> attempt at implementing a debugger, developing code without breakpoints,
> live data view, and single stepping is just nerve wrecking!
>
> Looking back at my attempts at this with DyneE5, I feel quite embarrassed:
> NTK is so much more, but at the same time, so limited in the UI. Rewriting
> DyneE5 with my new knowledge would sure be interesting, but before I do
> that (if ever), I promised you guys fresh versions of Einstein for all
> platforms, and judging by current Corona news, I may just have that much
> time ;-)
>
>  - Matthias
>
>
>
>
>
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