How to support PowerBASIC, buy their compilers

[hutch--]

I actually have a reason to own another copy of both PBWIN and PBCC so I bit the bullet, went to,

https://powerbasic.com/bundled-packages

and bought the PowerBASIC V10 Bundle as you get both PBWIN and PBCC for $150 USD. This is no amateur hour "Open Sauce" slopped together project, but a genuine commercial pair of compilers written by an assembler programming master, Bob Zale, a member of this forum until he passed away in 2012.

This IS how you support a software company that produces compiler that you use, buy something from them and in doing so, you help them survive financially.

The registration process is a pain in the butt but you can negotiate through it if you are patient. I am a PayPal man myself. 

If you want decent tools and a support forum, this is how you do it, support PowerBASIC financially and they will be around for a lot longer. 

[hutch--]

Some additional information to dispell some of the myths that raise their ugly heads in the PowerBASIC forum. There are a few that keep posting that this is an abandoned compiler that has not been updated since Bob Zale passed away.

As I have just installed both PBWIN 10 and PBCC 6, one of the obvious things to check was my old versions file dates against the new versions I have just bought. My old versions binaries all date from 2011, before Bob passed away but the binaries in the new versions all data from 2020 to 2021 and that tells you that the binaries are being maintained by the company owner, Adam Drake.

Now fortunately Adam Drake has continued the policy of Bob Zale of not sprouking bullsh*t (no vapour ware policy) and does what any professional programmer does, keeps his software well maintained and up to date.

Now the other great whine we hear from some is that the PowerBASIC compilers are not 64 bit. There is a simple solution for any who need 64 bit code, buy a 64 bit capable package from another vendor. Microsoft Visual Studio C/C++ is the industry standard and the home version is free.

The "Rent A Crowd" brigade have come and gone but for programmers who want to write high quality 32 bit software, the PowerBASIC compilers are up to date, well maintained, reliable and capable of producing high quality, high speed software. All you have to do is know how to write it. 

When you have customers that are still running 32 bit OS versions, 64 bit code will not run on them and here is another strength of PowerBASIC compilers, they will produce 32 bit binaries that will run on Win95 OEM upwards to the current Win10/11 64 bit computers.

[hutch--]

Now that we have established that the two PowerBASIC compilers are well maintained by the vendor, we can now address one of the common gripes by the "Rent A Crowd" brigade, it is not being updated regularly and is out of date.

Lets examine this claim.

1. Full Windows API support. Nothing to update.
2. A decent inline assembler. Nothing to update.
3. COM support already exists in the UI version PBWIN10.
4. A system called "dynamic dialog tools" (DDT) for folks who did not come from the original SDK era in PBWIN10.
5. The console compiler PBCC was originally pointed at folks who came from a DOS background and while it can use the full Windows API including the UI aspects, you need the UI version, PBWIN10 to build dynamic link libraries.
6. Common to both is the very wide range of intrinsics built into both compilers. Nothing to update here.

While there are many more details to the two compilers, with both of them being complete and in no need of further modification, extending the two compilers is done by external means using their sophisticated external library system built into both compilers.

The only necessary ingredient is an endangered species, a COMPUTER PROGRAMMER. The "Rent A Crowd" brigade have come and gone but computer programmers (those who can actually write code) have the capacity with these two compilers to produce high quality, high speed executable code as well as industry standard dynamic link libraries and this is beyond the "Rent A Crowd".