BASIC was one of the first popular languages to fully embrace strings. (On the other hand, there weren'y really any 'popular' languages before BASIC. Technology wasn't there, yet. Many in use on many systems - for the students and pros.) But then it (BASIC) was ripped and thrown on the trash heap by a few people in the language world. Development stopped.
The rise of C, and its ignoring strings, left a delimma: how to do it 'right.'
Lots of attempts since then with only a few elegant answers.
Because of the flexibility required for strings they will always be slow until hard-coded into the architecture of the particular system they will be used on. FB is multi-platform: not going to happen. There just isn't an easy answer.
What are you using FB for and what features do you use most?
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speedfixer
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Re: What are you using FB for and what features do you use most?
And now with unicode, strings (and working with unicode text files) don't get any easier!
Many/most currently-used languages do have string facilities of some sort that simplify and ease string operations compared to C, and may be comparable to BASIC's strings. There will always be a certain amount of allocating, freeing, and copying of memory when dealing with strings. I don't think anything special from the operating system is required. FB's strings are just about as fast as you can get on any platform, which is to say pretty good.
Many/most currently-used languages do have string facilities of some sort that simplify and ease string operations compared to C, and may be comparable to BASIC's strings. There will always be a certain amount of allocating, freeing, and copying of memory when dealing with strings. I don't think anything special from the operating system is required. FB's strings are just about as fast as you can get on any platform, which is to say pretty good.
Re: What are you using FB for and what features do you use most?
Indeed, Basic programmers didn't receive the valuation they deserved at the time.speedfixer wrote: ↑Feb 24, 2022 18:25 ... But then it (BASIC) was ripped and thrown on the trash heap by a few people in the language world. Development stopped. ...
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Here's my programming history:
Early 80's: Basic integrated in micro computers: Philips P2000T, Acorn Electron, MSX, MSX-2
Late 80's: GWBasic, QBasic, Turbo Basic
Late 90's: Various programming languages in industrial automation, for example: ladder, function diagram, statement list
Late 10's: SCL (got a lot in common with VB / FB)
Today: FB combined with SCL in order to get plcs communicating with pcs, therefore creating reports to the office in .csv format, so they can import it (automatically or by hand) in their ERP systems (still in development)
Also I'm working on a project in FB to translate big books like the Bible in .csv format