Making Vb Compilator without runtimes

[devmax]

Hi everyone !

I'm a developer in VB, VC++, PERL, win32asm, scripting and else..

And I'm working on a quite intresting project : un vb compiler. Means it makes .exe files with your VB project but it uses NO Runtimes ( ****ing .dll files like MSVBMV60.dll ).

Here is how it works : it reads easily your project, translate it into asm compiled and then write it in an .exe file. So it makes .exe file, about 3 KB big.

I have already started it and it works very well !!!
But ok.. its really the begining, the only syntax it recognizes is "MsgBox" ;) But it creates .exe files exactly same-look as vb created.

But it's a very difficult project, so i need some really good programmers in vb and asm. ( I could explain some bases of compiled asm to guys who are not experimented )

I was reading the thread talking about program compiled secured or not... And it's talk also about Fusion.. Ths prog is just a package creator, wich include all the dll, so I think my idea could be an easier way to distribute your progz... You're free then to use an encryption protector..

So, tell me if you wanna join me, I haven't find any enough good programmer on IRC,so if you are interrested, please write me by email at izamap@netcourrier.com or on ICQ ( 41300352 ) ..

I'm waiting for you guys..


Don't forget to send me your questions, or if you want more infos..

[devmax]

Oh, and i forgot something : Everything I code is only for free this prog could be a very powerful tool, but i want it to be used by everyone for free, so i'm looking for person in this kinda ideas, i don't want to code for money, just to help people or for fun...

So once again, if you read this, please reply :)

@+

[BitBlt]

Brilliant idea ! but how will it be able to read already compiled objects like ocx's and dll's ? will they be decompiled ?

[devmax]

No, If there are some compiled files ( like custom ocx or something ) added to the project, they will be added with the .exe file, means they won't be IN the file but the file will contain "dependencies" to the custom library.

Anyway, the most used ocxs included in VB can be "translated" into api declarations, so regognized ocxs (like winsock etc.. ) will be placed into the body of the .exe file, and not like external dependencies.

[ExtremePimpness]

i don't think i can help but i want to wish you the best of luck and i wouldn't mind seeing the final product. When it is done i will be more than glad to post it on my soon to be web page www.slammeddesigns.f2s.com with your name by it:D

[devmax]

Oh, you think you can't help because you're too busy or just because you think you don't have enough knowledge ?
if it's that, there is no prob, i can teach you everything i know... but i really want to do this project, and i don't think i'll be able to realize it alone... So if you're quite good in vb, that's enough for me...

Think about it...

[ExtremePimpness]

i am still learning alot in vb but i know some stuff but i am a little busy right now and when i get my web page done i will contact you and see what i can help with

[boyindra]

hello my name is boy indra
i really want to joint you but i cannot promise you much of my time.

i am pretty good in vb and c/c++ (brainbench certified) but i am bad in asm

if u think it's ok, you can contact me at yahoo messanger
my id is boy_indra

[KrishnaSantosh]

Dear Friends,

I'm Much Interested In This Project. I'm Pretty Good At VB6. And Also have Some Knowledge At VB.NET. I'm Quite Comfortable With Win API And Got Some Knowledge Using C/C++. But Im Not That Strong In asm. But I Want To Know asm atleast To Complete Our(Your) Project.

Hope You Dont Mind

[devmax]

No prob, my icq number is 41300352

Let me know if you want me to send you the starting of the project

BTW, I finally solved the matter stopping me in my working : I know now how to compile ressources, so, we're on working very hard now...

I would also be interested in helping where i can in your project. I know assembly.. :)

[ExtremePimpness]

also can you have the program render the asm code files so that you can add or optimize your code, that you made in vb, in asm:D

[ExtremePimpness]

oh and if you can make a small program that will take a modual in vb and turn it into machine code and then convert it back to c++ if poswsible that would be great but that is a future project and only if you have time but if you finish this project that should be a walk in the park:D

[KrishnaSantosh]

There is already a shareware that transforms VB Code
to C++ Code.

[devmax]

Hey, wait a second, my program isn't a translator, it's a compilator which makes .exe files

anyway, of course first i was thinking about making asm files and then compiling them with an asm compilator, but I saw that any other compilators are using a linker, and this program is made by microsoft and is quite big...
So i've taken the challenge to create directly .exe files from my project...

And else, making c++ files would be very harder because these two languages are very far from each others and it's very difficult to translate from one to other...

Think about it

[Emo]

ExtremePimpness,
I think I have the app you need! Once I found it somewhere (I can't remember where) but it converts VB automaion code into Visual C++!

If you want it, E-mail me and I'll send it to you!
Emog13@hotmail.com

-Emo

Guys... He doesn't need a C++ etc convertor. He REALLY does have a compiler. I have seen the code. I have tested it. STEngineeer and I are loving what he has created here. It's the first Visual Basic Compiler that REALLY does NOT need runtimes. AND, once I get the code on how to create a FORM using an API call, then Devmax, STEngineer and I will be able to complete the cycle.. :)

[ExtremePimpness]

oh i kno that but I wouldn't mind being able to convert between languages other than asm but he said that it won't output any source because it would be more complicated to do:D

Well, it looks like the Compiler might happen. I got code today that allowed us to make a Form without the VB-Runtimes. I gave it to DevMax. We'll see what he does with it. I know i'll be hacking the code I got so that I can make my LCARS programs without those blasted Runtimes. I can't wait to see if DevMax makes that compiler or not. :)

Hi I have been reading some of the comments about this project your Building and I think it's a good idea I have also tryed to make a compiler or shuld I say a interpreter. but never got it finshed I would I am quite good in Visual Basic and not to bad in Delphi but no of no ASM but are willing to have a go. If you think I can aresitet you in anyway please email me at

dreamvb@yahoo.com

Also you might want to have a look at some of my Visual basic websites and projects I have done

http://www.codearchive.com/~dreamvb/

and

http://www.developers-answers.com/cats/prog/index.htm

and last my DM++ interpreter I tryed to make

http://www.planet-source-code.com/xq/ASP/txtCodeId.14628/lngWId.1/qx/vb/scripts/ShowCode.htm

[stjepan]

Hello, I'm very interested about your project. Also, I like the idea about that you want it to be free.
Please, send me a mail - topctc2001@yahoo.com
I'm quite good at VB and I'm sure that I can help.
But, with ASM I'll need some help.

Thanks

[Lord Orwell]

me too. i've also got a great idea. Your compiler could have an extra function that vb doesn't currently have. in-line assembly :)

I've got some motivation for you. I would be willing to PAY for it.
keep us all updated on how the project is coming please :)
lordorwell@earthlink.net

[stjepan]

maybe you're not interested to work with me like I'm iterested to work with you but I think that at least you should give me an answer.
I know that my english is very bad, but I think that I was quite clear in my last post to you.

I'm kidding ...

Really, I'm very interested about your project and I hope you'll send me some more informations - soon !

[shragel]

Sound's Great Could help in VB

[devmax]

Hi guys !!!
Yes of course i'd like you to work with me !!!
But i didn't answer, 'cause i was out for several weeks...

Now, i'll send you all an e-mail to tell you what to do, what t o learn and else....

[devmax]

Yes, i've just send you all an e-mail and some of your e-mail adresses don't work ( like stjepan ).. so please send me all your REAL adresses working @ izamap@netcourrier.com

Thanx...

[Sastraxi]

Hey...

interested in both compilator AND vb-c++ code..
if you could, could you send it to me?

vb.den@gmx.co.uk

[Sastraxi]

(when I say send it to me I mean the vb-c++ thing, I'm sorry but I am currently working on TOW)

[spiffle2k]

hey ya'll
Just thought i'd mention something before you get too far into this project. Although it is an AMAZING idea, if you can get it to work, is it worth the work, will it be helpful?

With vb.Net looming around the corner, it would be useless as:
1) A fair amount of the syntax will have changed
2) It will work different in terms of memory managment etc.
3) It uses a Common Language Runtime (CLR - i think that is what it stands for), this means that any system that has the .Net framework installed will allow any .Net program to run on it. All new versions of the windows operating system will have the framework installed on it and many new software titles from Microsoft will also have this as an extra to install. Therefore an increasing number of PC's will have the .Net framework on so your programs are more likely to run straight away without any hassle. Another plus of the CLR is that companies other than microsoft are developing languages for it such as cobol, pascal, etc (more than 200 seperate companies are planning to utilise this in their new languages) so they will bundle the framework with their software as well.

What did I hear you say? Wot about if i need to setup my own dll's etc, I've still got the 'DLL hell' to overcome. Well now you don't have to go through all the hassle of registering the components, you can just use a simple xcopy command and the CLR will take care of the rest. It registers it and can even handle multiple copys/versions of the same component without anything going wrong.

So all in all I don't reckon its worth it as within the next 2-3 years the .Net thang will eventually take over and the majority of programmers will be using it rather than the old VB (it could even be within the next year, although i doubt it). The only reason I can find for doing the project would be for your own personal satisfaction, in the fact that you will learn a hell of a lot while learning it.

Tell me if i'm wrong i don't mind admitting it, or if you just plain disagree then just tell me to p*** off, :)

c ya'll

[Lord Orwell]

Personally, i think its a great idea due to the fact it will be very fast. Just think: Not only will it compile vb code smaller and faster than any current vb will, but it won't have the limitations of the current vb either. You could subclass any window with the api calls, etc. because assembly allows that.
vb.net doesn't have any changes in the syntax. It is just stricter on what it allows.

And as for vb-net, I don't plan on shelling out 1/2 a month's pay any time soon for more bloatware that will slow my computer down even more. I still use vb 5 and it does everything i need it to do. Every function that vb6 adds can be emulated easily in vb 5 with a line or two of code. And who uses them anyway? Is strrev really necessary?
Anyway that is my point.

[DavidHooper]

hello lads. any updates on the amazing compiler? how would it interface with existing vb environment - an option to compile with your compiler or the original?

how many poeple don;t have the runtimes do you think?

[devmax]

Hey guy, the amazing compiler as you call it is being called 'VBMaX'
latest updates are only sended to workers right now, because i send only source code, and it has to be perfected..
The interface is a little dialog that ask you to browse for a project then it compile it..
If you have some suggests, i'd like :)

[Lord Orwell]

it would be a fair bet the nearly everyone has the runtimes.
the problem with the runtimes is that they are runtimes, not real .dlls
older vb when you compiled it compiled to pseudocode and ran an interpreter. Newer vb versions (5 and 6) have the option to compile to native code, but they still use the pseudocode runtimes. This is one of the main reasons that vb is about 1/6 as fast as c in most applications.

His vbmax compiler will compile to tight assembly which will in theory be even faster than c.

I am all for speed :)

I wish everyone luck who works on this project http://www.vbforums.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

[devmax]

Of course assembly is faster but remember...
For a BIG project, i mean MDI applications VERY big, using a lot of components, i don't think it's very worth using vb with my compiler, cuz for this, there is another VERY GOOD way : Delphi, the latest versions are pretty good tu use and kewl looking...

By the way, for all your little app you want to send to a friend i think MY compiler is the best way :)

and thanx a lot for your sponsor lord orwell, and others :)

[PsychoMark]

I've read this thread before, but now I'm seeing actual progress...

I think it's a great idea! It would be even better than VB.Net. I always thought VB.Net wouldn't need any runtimes anymore, but now I've heard that it needs the ".Net Framework", yeah right, just a fancy name for the same runtimes but shared between languages. I think compiling VB5/6 into straight ASM would be MUCH faster and doesn't rely on the "Framework".

Sorry, I can't help you on the project itself, basically because I don't have the time. But I just felt I needed to let you know that it's a great idea, and if it's (completely) working and freeware too that it would kick C++ and .Net's a$$!!

[DavidHooper]

...how's it going? (sorry, no pressurising intended!)
what features have been implemented? i totally agree about the net framework, a fancy name for runtimes in disguise. i've bookmarked this thread as well!

[devmax]

Hi guys !

So here's how it is going :

i'm working hard on the project...
But i got a lot of communication-matters with all peoples who wanted to work with me...

Actual features :
-Little debug function ( just show what the app is doing and so you see what happened is it doesnen't work)
-adding api declarations
-Other predefined functions are being compiled as soon as my co-worker has finished the syntax recognition
-Form translation into ressource file, so forms are compilable, but events aren't compiled right now...( very soon )

First release that will allow you to compile forms, msgbox, inputbox functions will be downloadable very soon, STAY TUNED !

Thanx to all for sponsoring

[KrishnaSantosh]

If you could send me the blueprint of all the syntax and the rest, I could attempt at creating an good RAD Tool for your compiler. Why dont you take a look at this.

[PsychoMark]

It seems to me he already has a RAD tool: Visual Basic :rolleyes:

[jenk]

Hi Compiler team,
How is your project com'in on. I've made a compiler but not for the
PC - it was for a Z80 based system for interfacing equipment. I've
not got my hands dirty in ASM for a while now.

I did look at the instruction set for the Intel processors - far
to many though!!!!! - I did write a utility to flash the keyboard
led's / fill keybuffer with other keystrokes in dos once.

Anyway the last ASM project I got involed in was using PIC micros
- cool for electronic stuff (NOT much good for VB compiler though)

How easy is it to write stuff for a GUI based system in ASM ?
Doesn't the OS get in the way (or even dictate procedures for you)

Anyway I look forward for any news you have on your project.

Cheers all.

[devmax]

Hi jenk !

You see, writing asm for windows is very easy.. but i don't know how it is hard for other GUI based system...

Here we go : Windows uses a lot API that are in .dll on ALL version of windows 95+ ... I mean .dll like kernel32.dll or USER32.Dll and calling an api is very easy : a little call("E8....") to a first list of all functions declared and in the adress where you call, you put a far call ("FF35....") that points to an adress located in the .rdata section. This section is THE section dedicated for api declaration, there's a little header, but too long to explain here and the list of functions and .dll names.

So, for instants, we don't use a lot of opperands : only "push" and "call" are used... don't think we'll need more, except for WNDProc events, where we will have to use comparaison...

The project's running, we can show a form and we will certainly be able to add events very soon...
A little beta version will be released that will allow you to compile MsgBoxes,InputBoxes, Buttons' events, Forms' events and TextBoxes' events... So you'll be able to compile a little prog based on string :) STAY TUNED !

[Olly]

cool! That would be a great possibility of creating custom vb programs with a vb program :) I always wanted that! c has got loads and loads of compilors and now mybe vb will get out of microsoft's screw as well :) Hope Microsoft won't send some agents to you to steal your prog and eraze yout hd :D
And: who needs that horrible .net? They rather should improve the current one and provide a higher speed and better controls with it.
Every thing's slick as a whistle, so why should I rewrit all my progs just because microsoft wants so? I think that they lost ground to reality...

[DavidHooper]

...how long until i can make a hello world application? who is gonna host the d/l?

[/\/\isanThr0p]

I can't wait I can't wait :)!!!

I really hope that you guys have a good luck on this. Even if you will never be able to make real big programs running I would be happy with trying it on small tools, that are not worth copying/loading the runtime dlls for.

Good luck guys

[devmax]

Don't worry guys ! You'll have your compiler soon !! but it takes lot of time and work...

But if you wanna create your helle world application using forms or msgbox send me an e-mail and i'll send you the starting project....

Thanx you all who are sponsoring me...

[wey97]

I am a simpleton ASM programmer and am interested in how to
interact with the API in ASM. Could you just send me the original
Message Box program? I will share with you any useful knowledge
of mine in VB or ASM.

thanks
my email is wey97@aol.com

[devmax]

MsgBox program is just like that :

push Style
push addr Title
push addr Msg
push hWnd
call MessageBoxA


but you have to compile it with a win32asm comiler like ML.exe that is used by MASM

[supernoodle]

What you are suggesting to do is extremely ambitious and I have a lot of respect for that. Could you please explain how you are going to handle these two things though:

1. How are you going to handle late-object binding?

2. Spiffers reply about VB.NET. He was correct about a lot of programmers switching. This is not a problem...now not knowing too much about assembly but understanding the basics...how are you planning to overcome the issues concerning the new 64-bit architecture of new Windows. If i remember correctly Assembly is architecture driven...(what i mean is that different architectures use different instruction set etc). If what i have read is true the new 64-bit computers will have a more register based approach.

Im assuming here that this will take around 2-3 years to complete...in which time VS.NET will be out (probably). I may be talking out my arse lol but i am just very curious. Its sounds like a extremely interesting idea. I do like my run-time files though lol.

Cheers
Noodles :)

[devmax]

Yup supernoodle, thanx for your respect..

I don't know now how i'll implement late-object binding... Cause for now, i'm just breaking my head on how to implement Strings in memory... This is kind of hard because Strings can be manipulated and so the place they take in memory can change and I must use the less ressources of the computer I can...

The new 64-bit system you are talking about won't be released very soon, and i don't think everybody will switch very quick... So i'm doing my "old" 32 bit program, then i'll just have to change my LIBs into 64-bit compiled asm, this is not a matter, it's only some text to change about instructions set, and don't forget that VB 6.0 still works almost on a 16 bit archtecture... Think about it...

Well, all i did 'till today, i've done it alone... But I started this thread in the though that some peoples could help me writing this compiler... I got lot's of matter to communicate with others that wanted to help me...
But now I ask you all if ther's someone who can code with me or not, who could help in that way... I mean offering me a COOL forum and/or a chat-way and/or a server where i could put some code... tell me guys, is there anybody who can help me making a REAL team that would work and code in a powerful way ???

Hope my English is not very bad....

[supernoodle]

Look I will help you if you can teach me a little ASM......I have a decent grounding already in the way the datapaths work.....not for the Intel Architecture though.......I also have a good understanding of VB. If you think I can help you then email me @ chodgins99@aol.com.

I think this would be an excellent project for me to get my teeth into ASM.

Hope I can help
Noodles :)

[devmax]

Ok but i don't need ASM right now... i'm doing this stuff...

I just need REAL Parsing Function to be added...

PLease email me @ devmax@progzteam.net to have more informations...

[sail3005]

could you send it to me?

sail795@mediaone.net

[TheGoldenShogun]

This sounds like a hell of a project, I would help you out but I don't know anything about ASM... if you could teach me some stuff I'd be more than happy to help... I know my VB real well and know Java and C++ stuff just as well. Let me know if you want me to help...

nib_vegeta@yahoo.com

:cool:

[Emo]

Hey DevMax, I have my own forums and I can create a new forum just for this and we can post code and whatever in there... How about it?? If you are interested, how do you want the forum to be called??? VBMaX"? Also, what fourms do you want?

General
Code
Ideas
Chit-Chat? :)

Let me know if you wanna do this.

-Emo

[d3graph]

hi dev,
i t is a great idea ,
vb programers realy need it
and i also need this
i seak of poor speed of vb :mad:
you cought my mind
when i heard about the power of asm
i too got this idea to make a compiler :D
but i dont know asm
i think about it in jan 2001
i make a out line of this compiler
and make a gui of masm linker
but after some here there i drop this idea
your starting gave me throttle to work with u
ask me i can help if i could about anything
i will try my best


:) :) :) :) ;) :D

[devmax]

Sorry guys for not beign here these several days....

So, Emo yes ! I would be VERY hapy if you could do this forum for me :) please use the name 'VBMaX'... And tell me more about it @ devmax@progzteam.net ( URL, Login etc... )

D3 : I would be happy if you xould join the work :))) just send me an email (see upper)... But I don't know what you could do if you don't know asm.. maybe I'm gonna teach you because... (see downer :)

So guys ! I'm proud to annouce you that, after a VERY good work from Chief0119, the parsing part is NEARLY finish, so the rest is ALL asm, and I'm sure that a beta will be availible on september.. Emo, could you host the d/l too ?? or, is there anybody here who can do that ? Well al the rest is memory managment and other stuff in asm, so in the next release you will be able to :
•Certainly
-Call Windows'API ( all the functions ! )
-Use variants with different types
-Use Forms and their events
•Probably :
-Use Arrays
-Use string manuipulation
-Change colors in forms
-Use your own type
•Very small probability :
-Use your own classes
-Property Let/Property Get
-Common and easy to translate .ocx files such as Winsock Control
•Certainly NOT :
-Use custom .ocx files
-Use ODBC and other stuff like that

But, If my work is ok, and if i have the time, the compiler will be able to compile ITSELF !!! :))

I hope some of you aren't getting too much nervous waiting this beta since I started this thread... :)

[devmax]

Hi again

For anybody who wants to meet me, if you have an irc client, you can find me on the server infocenter.d2g.com (port=6670)
channel : #programmation

thanx to everybody that supports me :)

[Da_Mental_One]

I've got to say, I think that this project that you have undertaken is something that every VB programmer is dying to get thier hands on!

I hope that this project works out to the full potential of the idea!

Thanks!

DMO

[sail3005]

I agree, this project is awesome :D

[Knight_Vision]

I have been watching this from the beginning as well. I have been gone a while to come back to see that there is a Website for it. WAY TO GO GUYS!!! I hope this project takes off. Like I meantioned to you all before, I know assembly language. TRUST ME when I say that you are going to need to know this in order to create your compiler. :)

I too am making a compiler. But not with VB. Long story, but least to say is that my OS is why I am making it.


Laterz all..

Knight Vision

[devmax]

of course we do need asm !
but i know programming in asm too :)

And yup.. if you could help us in this project, taht would be not too much ;)

And how is your OS going ? Do you finally have a graphic interface ?

[sail3005]

are you making your own programming language for your OS?

[Knight_Vision]

Yes, I do have an interface, and yes, I WILL be making my own language for it. It will be in BASIC first, then it will be C/C++.

Get the Art of Assembly language and you will be able to see the conversion codes to make the BINARY file for your compiler. Once you figure that out, then it's a breeze to make your compiler work 100% in any language. :)

[sail3005]

thats cool, so did you write your OS from scratch, or is it based on something? What are the specs of it? i mean, is it like 32 bit, what can it do?

[/\/\isanThr0p]

When will there be a downloadable file to play around with your compiler. Just to see it in my hands (or something like that´)?
I wont expect it to compile big projects, I am just interested.
Or has there been a download before?

[Knight_Vision]

Actually, you can see what I have so far. Goto:

http://ossourcecode.tripod.com

Once there you can get the source to my "From Scratch" source code for it. You can use the code for anything you want. I'll be updating it often. (About once a week.)

You will need NASM 0.98 to compile it.

Have fun.. :)

Knight Vision

P.S. There is more to the OS then what you see at the site. But I havn't posted it yet. I will updating it sometime next week.

[sail3005]

Awesome website. i think i will look into your assembly tutorials once i get a little more free time on my hands.

[devmax]

NO, sorry...

there isn't any runable version right now...

But stay tuned and check downloads section in the project website...

A first beta was planned for september, but i think i'll release a 'pre-beta' for you guys who want to see it working :)
The currents includes are :


- All strings operation( mid, left, right, *trim instr..)

- msgboxes(w/o help feature),inputboxes(idem)

- form displays and 'Form_Load' event sub


But parsing stuff isn't distribuable for now :) We have to check a litttle amount of bug and then, the 'pre-beta' will be availible :) With full events implementation certainly and the 'If' too...

[sail3005]

cool, so, when this is done, will it be freeware?

whens the pre-beta coming out?

[Knight_Vision]

Sail3005 - Thanks guy. I'l be updating it more and more as I get time. Right now, I'm away from my computer and am using the library computers. My real computer is in the shed.. uhhgg..

But once I get into my new place, i'll crack that puppy open and i'll get back into VB programming again. As it is, I have a DOS laptop at home that I use, but it's not internet ready. (No modem).

I do have VB for DOS on it though. It's really kewl.. :)

[sail3005]

sweet, i got that VB DOS a while ago, but i never got around to making any programs in it. Heh, the interface reminded me of the screenshots that i have seen from windows 1.0!

I wish i was around programming in those days...things were just less complicated!

[Knight_Vision]

Heh, yea, I remember those days. I started program at an early age on an Apple-IIe. This was before IBM was widely known.

When we finally did get a PC, talk about a paper wait. And the green screen.. uhhgg.. LOL

Yup, those were the days.. LOL

[devmax]

Hi guys, sorry not to be present this week, i was really out, but i have just found an internet connection, i must warn you that i won't have any connection until september i think...

So, there finally won't exist any pre-beta release (i don't have any connection to update it ), but a real beta is coming out... Still for september and you all will be able to play with the compiler :)))

And knight ?Does your os will still be able to run windows programs ? Or there will be a special compilation for it ?

Thanx all

[chenko]

Originally posted by sail3005
sweet, i got that VB DOS a while ago, but i never got around to making any programs in it. Heh, the interface reminded me of the screenshots that i have seen from windows 1.0!

I wish i was around programming in those days...things were just less complicated!

was less complicated when there was no active GUI, ahhh BASIC swweeettt !

[Emo]

Wow, people have forgotten this thread.... :)

I just wanted to tell you that the forum I posted in my earlier posts doesn't work anymore and now there is a new, better forum for the project.

Click here (http://www.mxcod.f2s.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi) to go to it

For now it doesn't have anything on it because, well I made it last night :) so go there and register.

When MxCod comes back, he'll probably have the first beta availabel to download. :D

Thanks!
-Emo

[/\/\isanThr0p]

hopefully there will be some updates soon.
A beta or prebeta would be really nice.

[Emo]

well from what I know, MxCod is not gonna have an internet connection until right about these days, so I'm waiting for him to come back and tell us if there's a beta...

-Emo

[Harddisk]

devmax and team, ALL THE BEST in your development!!

I would really like to join in and LOVE to see it happen, but currently I m trying to finish this freelance project I have had some time ago.

Then I need to read up some ASM tutorial on Knight_Vision's site.

Perhaps I can join in later.

In the meantime.....

You've all my moral supports and Good Luck!

Harddisk

[/\/\isanThr0p]

Still nothing of Devmax? oh well probably his provider or something like that.
Well To Emo: I really know it's out of topic, but don't you think that banner in your signature will help a lot? First I doubt you make a lot of money, and second and way more important: Don't you think they will disable that feature and you won't be able to put any cool signatures.

[Emo]

I know I wont' make any money, so I'll take it off but right now I can't access the board...

second, what did you say about the signatures? you can't have one?

-Emo

[/\/\isanThr0p]

No I just said that the Admins might disable the feature of putting in cool things in the signature with HTML stuff when we misuse it.

[devmax]

hey everybody !
glad to see you're still waiting for my work :)

Well, here is the stuff : i have nearly-finished the beta, but i m late, cause i couldn't code for a long time, so the objects are under coding, but anything else is done ( for the beta :) Here is how it wil be :

First, every variants are public, so don't try several codes, with the same keyword used for differents stuff, it might crash your computer really bad... :)

There's no update, cause it's unreleasable right now, but it's coming, be patient ! I'll do my best to make a downloadable version before the end of this month. So you'll be able to test the compiler.. Remember that this compiler is like an 'add-in' of vb, you must use vb-formatted code and beware of errors in vb : there won't be any error handling ( not in the vb-style) so if something is wrong, it might severally crash your system... (it happenned a lot of time when i tested my own apps :) so you'll test this beta at your own risk !

Just be patient, and you'll see vb code executed without any runtimes in a very small .exe file :))

Certainly Emo will host the d/l, do you agree ?
And i hope the next time i write a post here i have a beta released :)

VBMAX IS COMING !!!!

[/\/\isanThr0p]

Well I hope I will get to crash my system with you app pretty soon.

Have a fun coding :)

[Emo]

Hey!
Well I just made a Subscription service on the site so go there and sign up for a news letter!

http://www.mxcod.f2s.com/download/download.html

-Emo

[devmax]

I FINALLY HAVE A CONNECTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so the work is coming....

backup all your important files, my prog is gonna crash your system :)

i will give you infos asap, cause i can now get logged everytime i need...

i'm getting back to code...

see ya

[devmax]

Hi everyone, long time i haven't posted here... Well i know i'm very late.. But we had to rewrite the entire skeleton ( now the linker is in asm itself) But this not the subject of the topic.

I ask again if ANYONE could help me writing the LIBRARY stuff, i mean converting vb pre-defined functions into asm code ( i can compile every code and add it to the library). I can use c++ code too ( i can translate it into asm pretty easily ;) ).

So DOES ANY C++/ASM CODER WANT TO HELP ME ??

I know i've lost tons of partner not responding to their asking of join, but now i'm ready, you can check the website : VBMaX WebSite (http://www.vbmax.net )
and post some messages to tell you can conrtibuate to this project... More we are, faster it will be... The *NEW* skeleton will be ready pretty soon and we are HARD-WORKING on it :)

Hope you can help me.

Oh and i forgot, the new skeleton will includes decompilling .exe file compiled with vb and transform them into runtimes-free applications. But this will be completed later :rolleyes:

if you wanna join the group : mxcod@vbmax.net

Thanx on advance

[filburt1]

Any idea when the beta will be out, guys?

[hellswraith]

This is such an interesting project. I wish I had the level of skills to actually help you out. I guess I will do some hard core beta testing for you if that is possible.

[Borry]

The site www.vbmax.net doesn't exist anymore :(

Can you check it out ?

[Emo]

Originally posted by Borry
The site www.vbmax.net doesn't exist anymore :(
Can you check it out ?

It work fine... but it has 2 annoying banners so you can try

http://www.mxcod.f2s.com (the real site) :)

I just made a new Board because the last one was making trouble and hopefully this one will not!

I'll try to contact MxCod to see what is the progress for the Beta... meanwhile, you can go here (http://www.mxcod.f2s.com/download/download.html) and subscribe for a newsleter so you can get informed when the beta is gonna be out!

-Emo

[devmax]

Yeah i'm there !

That's right the .net address has been removed, so go to the *real* website :

http://www.mxcod.f2s.com

anyway hellswraith, i'll take your saying in mind !

[Joost]

Can you give an update of the project status? :)

The forum doesn't work.

[devmax]

For now, coders are very busy, so we couldn't make a lot of work.
Here is the stuff :
- several coders still wanted to code the library
- linker in asm will be ready very soon
- parsing stuff, I don't know but not in ten years
- Beta will be ditribuated when both linking and parsing stuff are ready
- project is finished when the library is done.
- possibility to write differents libraries then : on to compile on win32, one to translate code into asm source code, into c++ source code etc... Because of the MPF ( Most Portable Format ) which can be translated in any language.

Ya see now, the most big work is the library, that's why I'm asking some help. Anyway, after releasing the beta, library will be able to coded in vb, so is there any vb programmer intrested in this ?

[Si_Cater]

Hi

Check out the program 'Fusion' from www.bit-arts.com

it sounds like you are trying to reinvent the wheel.

Si
:rolleyes:

[filburt1]

Fusion only makes a stub, they're trying (if I understand) to rebuild the entire VB compiler.

[Emo]

Originally posted by filburt1
Fusion only makes a stub, they're trying (if I understand) to rebuild the entire VB compiler.

It's not really a VB compiler... it takes VB Code and transforms it into ASM code so there is no Run-Time Files :)

-Emo

[filburt1]

So how's the project going then? Sounds like it died. :(

[Emo]

I know it looks like that... but I'm sure MxCod is still working on it... I'm just running the site/board...so dont complain to me :D

I'm waiting for an update just like you

-Emo

[M@rk]

fusion just get's the dependencies into the exe file, but the exe file get's as big as if you compile it normally, but the project they are doing transforms the code to asm so it doesn't need dependencies and it gets smaller

[devmax]

Hi everyone, the update is comping up soon !! ( i know i have already told that ) but hey, just wait and you'll see !

Well, I can tell you that I can already compile the whole windows API calling, but I can't give you any update because it would be too long to tell you how it works... So you'll have to wait for the parsing stuff to be able to compile vb code :) I can't give any date either because i don't know at all when I can release it ! But now, after all the christmas and 31th december stuff... i'm going back to work to give you a *NICE* IDE with full compilling.... of MsgBoxes :)))

[MoMad]

Hey devMax,

I wanna help with the library if thats not too late :P Whats this all about?

MoMad

[devmax]

Yup ! you can help us in the library ! But you have to know vb and asm as well ( or close to :) )... Anyway, just contact me by e-mail at mxcod@netcourrier.com and I'll give you any information you want...

[JafferAB]

im looking forward to the releae, the very thought of it :D:D easy to code AND small and fast!!!!

VB may yet get good!

[jian2587]

I am definitely excited with this project, too but wouldn't the
program takes a lot to program?

Basically u want a database with VB statements and functions
and their correspondence asm code?

So lets gather strength and pls everyone write the asm codes
for each vb statements?

I am good in ASM, but not Windows ASM.
I am good in VB and QB,too! Wrote a mouse driver with QB!
Uses only OUT commands!

[devmax]

Hi !
Sorry not to give you any release but the work is still on.. We changed the format once again, but this is the last, we can't have one better and when it is ready to be parsed, the format will allow us to write the library ( yes the database you are talking about Jian2587 ) in VB !! yes, so
Anyone who wants to help us ( there is no asm knowledge required ) please send me a built-in function from vb wrote in vb !! If a lot of people do that way, the library could be finished very soon ! You don't quite understand ? Well here is an exemple of what i need :

Function Abs(Number As Double) As Double
If Number < 0 Then Number = -Number
Abs = Number
End Function

You see now ? So if you already know what function you want to write, simply send it to me, or if you don't know, send me an e-mail and I'll tell you which functions aren't already written...

Don't worry guys, I'll certainly modify some functions to get them closer to asm...

Anyway, Jian2587, I'm intrested to see your mouse driver :))

[VBTZH]

lol

[devmax]

what 'lol' ? What is funny ?

Anyway, i forgot something : of course if you know asm, you can still send me functions translated into asm, it is still better ;)

And if you wanna know asm for win32 Jian2587 : www.win32asm.cjb.net
there are good tuts there :)

[/\/\isanThr0p]

I think he just wanted to get his postcount up
he mosted more of those on other threads...
hm does it really work to write functions in vb?
isn't that gonna be slow????????

[devmax]

No it won't be slow at all !

the code in vb will be translated into asm for the library, and it will be just like if I wrote it in asm itself... Because it is not exactly in vb, it is in 'BasicMaXx' ;) I mean a basic version created to write libraries for VBMaXx, which has some built-in functions to give orders to the compiler on how to compile this or that language. There is no 'real' type and no convertion stuff ( since you don't call any function to do it ). So values must be treated just like in asm : a bunch of bytes, which represents a value or a pointer.

If you want more information about it just mail me ;)

[MoMad]

1st of all, the forums and the f2s website you all talk of are completely empty. You might take some time to update on that, or at least link this forum. :)

Any source code?? What are the functions you have currently done?

I will write some basic functions (i prefer writing them in C++ but i will write in VB for now, untill you say 'yes' to C/C++):


' TRIM, RTRIM, LTRIM

Function LTRIM(str As String, Optional mask As Byte = 32) As String

Dim i As Integer
Dim start As Integer

For i = 1 To Len(str)
If Mid(str, i, 1) <> Chr(mask) Then
start = i - 1
Exit For
End If
Next i

LTRIM = Mid(str, start + 1, Len(str) - start)
End Function


Function RTRIM(str As String, Optional mask As Byte = 32) As String

Dim i As Integer
Dim fin As Integer

For i = Len(str) To 1 Step -1
If Mid(str, i, 1) <> Chr(mask) Then
fin = i
Exit For
End If
Next i

RTRIM = Mid(str, 1, fin)
End Function


Function TRIM(str As String, Optional mask As Byte = 32) As String
TRIM = LTRIM(RTRIM(str, mask), mask)
End Function

Private Sub Command1_Click()
MsgBox "***" & TRIM(Text1.Text, Asc("*")) & "***"
End Sub

' EDIT: Added optional param: mask, chose whatever you like, or its a space


NOTE: this code is completely tested, and works like a charm.

[MoMad]

...

more functions coming soon... in the meantime, put up all the functions that are done!!

thx,
MoMad

[MoMad]

- varius untested math functions



Function pow(n As Double, p As Integer) As Double
Dim i As Integer
Dim r As Double

' Positive == power, negative == 1 / power
If p > 0 Then
r = 1
For i = 1 To p
r = r * n
Next i
ElseIf p = 0 Then
r = 1
Else
r = 1 / pow(n, Abs(p))
End If

pow = r
End Function

Function toRadian(degree As Single) As Double
toRadian = (degree * 3.14159265) / 180
End Function

Function toDegree(radian As Double) As Single
toDegree = (180 * radian) / 3.14159265
End Function

Function sin(theta As Double) As Double
sin = 0.9998921 * theta - 0.165961 * pow(theta, 3) + 0.0076032 * pow(theta, 5)
End Function

Function cos(theta As Double) As Double
cos = sin(toRadian(90) - theta)
End Function

Function tan(theta As Double) As Double
tan = sin(theta) / cos(theta)
End Function

' atn, doesnt yet work.... this one is a bit complex
' (square roots and finite series) maybe asm has these already??
Function atn(theta As Double) As Double
Dim i As Integer
Dim r As Double

For i = 0 To 30
r = r + (pow(-1, i) * (pow(theta, 2 * i + 1) / (2 * i + 1)))
Next i

atn = r
End Function


All code tested w/ precision of upto 1% difference! Again, maybe asm has these... it took me like 3 hours to research these and try to convert them to code... 4 am right now, must sleep. bye!

[devmax]

yeah I know the site is COMPLETLY down :)
but i'll take care of it myself for the next release, because for now I'm working only on the library.

Anyway,thanx a lot for your work, but sorry,yes your math functions already have equivalents in asm, actually the arithmetic coprocessor do this with only one command... So don't worry for atn function, I already have it.
Sorry for the time you spent for it... You should have asked before...
Anyway, it is worth for my own knowledge, i didn't know how to calculate sinus before ;)

So here are functions that are done ( or you can't do them ) :

Abs
Array
Atn
C* ( convertion functions )
Cos
CreateObject ( not implemented yet )
DoEvents ( id )
Error ( not close to be implemented )
Exp
FreeFile
GetObject ( not implemented yet )
Hex
InputBox
Int
Is* ( not full implemented yet )
LBound
LTrim, RTrim, Trim ( thanx a lot MoMad )
Log
MsgBox ( yeah, the only function that works beautifully right now :) )
Oct
Rnd
Sin
Sqr
Str
StrComp
Tan
TypeName
UBound
Val
VarType

And that's all ;)
ANYTHING ELSE HAS TO BE WRITTEN !!
This means tons of functions for date/time, printing etc... But remember that the type 'Date' DOESN'T exist in the language you could write any function, the remplacement type is : Double.

Thanx on advance for every programmer that could help me writing my library ;)

[MoMad]

Have you made a mid() function yet? or a charAt(), if so we can derive the following functions from them....

I dont know enough ASM to write a mid function and thus i expect you or someone else to write it because it cant be done in vb unless you want to go totally out of your way for such a stupid task, but its ok. Ill write it in C/C++ for you to examine:



Public Function LEFT(str As String, n As Integer) As String
LEFT = Mid(str, 1, n)
End Function

Public Function RIGHT(str As String, n As Integer) As String
RIGHT = Mid(str, Len(str) - n + 1, n)
End Function






int len( char* str )
{
int i = 0;
while( *str++ )
i++;

return i;
}

char* mid(char* dest, char* str, int start, int length = 0)
{
for (int i = start; i < start + length && str[i] != 0; i++)
dest[i-start] = str[i], dest[i-start +1] = 0;

return dest;
}



Thats all for now... more coming soon!

Hey, I was wondering what y'all think about putting together a cvs kind of database so that people can just enter functions or correct code or whatever, for every function there is to do....


check out:

http://sourceforge.net/

[/\/\isanThr0p]

dude why is this page german?
did it just recognize my language? Can't imagine you got that good in german all the sudden :)
well it would help to have an online database. I think I will help with some little functions too as soon as I am over with my exams. (on the 7th.)

[MoMad]

Hey whats up, Sad Prof, long time no see?? Hey I think this website translates most of things or something.... at least it has a "multi-lingual" support :D

Allright, I will start working on the database and get it set up. You assembly people will have to make all of the basic 1st grade functions, the rest come from those. For example: MID is a 1st grade function because there is no way to manipulate strings in VB. Its crazy.


Anyways,
the database (as soon as i upload it), will be in this url:

http://momad.teknikill.net/vbmax.php

I will send you the sql dump and the php file if you want to host it on your site.... lets get this thing going shall we??

I have watched this forum for a very very long time now, and nothing has happened, but now I just cant wait so i will try to make you make something happen! :D lol

Anyways, Peace!

BTW: can i see the compiler?? or a beta? (just wanna get an idea of how it will look like)

[MoMad]

MORE FUNCTIONS!!!



Public Function UCASE(str As String) As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim c As Byte

For i = Len(str) To 1 Step -1
c = Asc(Mid(str, i, i + 1))
If c >= Asc("a") And c <= Asc("z") Then
Mid(str, i, i + 1) = Chr((c - Asc("a")) + Asc("A"))
End If
Next i

UCASE = str
End Function


Public Function LCASE(str As String) As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim c As Byte

For i = Len(str) To 1 Step -1
c = Asc(Mid(str, i, i + 1))
If c >= Asc("A") And c <= Asc("Z") Then
Mid(str, i, i + 1) = Chr((c - Asc("A")) + Asc("a"))
End If
Next i

LCASE = str
End Function

Public Function SPACE(n As Integer) As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim r As String

For i = 1 To n
r = r & " "
Next i

SPACE = r
End Function




This is fun! ;)

[MoMad]

More functions here:

http://momad.teknikill.net/old/c.htm

[JpEgy]

Eya how big is the site thing? I have 20MB very very fast hosting with php support. I know F2s is gonna close the free hosting so if u'd like hosting from me (free ofcourse :-)) mail me on kazaa@home.nl

And good luck with the project!

[devmax]

Thanx a lot MoMad for all these functions :))

It's ok, arithmetic & logic operators , 'Mid','InStr','Len', and '&' have been added to '1st grade' functions.

Please tell me if you see some other 1st grade functions...

[MoMad]

OK, Correction...

I just realised that there was an error on the strrev function on my website...



char* strrev(char* src)
{
int len = 0;
char temp;

// first get the length
while( src[len] ) len++;

// now reverse them
for( int i = len; i > len \ 2; i-- )
{
temp = src[i];
src[i] = src[len-i];
src[len-i] = temp;
}

// return the reversed string
return src;
}



The lines marked with red are the lines that I have edited!

Regards,
MoMad

PS: I am working on that DB and website... let me know if you want to host it or if you want me to host it or what you are thinking.

Peace! BTW, I am also working on a game, but dont think that will slow me down because I am also working on many other things and all in different languages (html, actionscript, php, javascript, c/c++, vb, ...) and all at the same time... so if i start bugging out, you know why!!

[devmax]

yeah i'd like you to host the db please :)

Anyway, you said we can't do string manipulation with vb ?
Well take a look at this little source code I have just written :

Private Declare Function lstrcpy Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrcpyA" (ByVal lpString1 As Long, ByVal lpString2 As String) As Long
Private Declare Function lstrcpyn Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrcpynA" (ByVal lpString1 As String, ByVal lpString2 As Long, ByVal iMaxLength As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function LocalAlloc Lib "kernel32" (ByVal wFlags As Long, ByVal wBytes As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function LocalFree Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hMem As Long) As Long

Function MyMid(StrIn As String, Start As Long, Optional Length As Long) As String
Dim NewStr As String
Dim StrBuf As Long
'Calculate the maximum length for the buffer
StrBuf = Len(StrIn) + 1
If Length = 0 Then Length = StrBuf - Start
'Initialize NewStr ( it doesn't work without this )
NewStr = String(StrBuf, Chr(0))
'Initialize Buffer ( &H40 = LPTR ) : Now StrBuf is a pointer
StrBuf = LocalAlloc(&H40, StrBuf)
'Copy String to the buffer
lstrcpy StrBuf, StrIn
'Set new starting address of the pointer
StrBuf = StrBuf + Start - 1
'Copy the exact string length from the full buffer to NewStr
lstrcpyn NewStr, StrBuf, Length + 1
'clear all & return
LocalFree (StrBuf)
MyMid = NewStr
End Function

You can test it, it works ! it is the mid FUNCTION, not the instuction that can replace a char in a string. Are you still thinking that vb can't do string manipulation ? You can do everything you want with vb, you just need to know how ;)

[MoMad]

Sorry but thats not pure VB, its WINAPI!!!! The actual lstrcpy is written in C++.

Like this:



char* strncpy( char* dest, const char* src, int n )
{
while ( n-- > 0 )
*dest++ = *src++;
return dest;
}

[devmax]

Yeah of course lstrcpy is part of windows api but it was just to show you how to use it in a vb code to do some string manipulation...

[MoMad]

So whats the point of writing it in vB when you already have it in ASM or C++. Do you know you can use asembly in C++?

Like this:



int main (void)
{
// blah blah
asm
{
mov ep, ex
push ep, 1
pop ep, rs
jmp 0xFF
};
return 0;
}



By the way, that asm code is all made up, it probably wouldnt even work. Also, in the case of API, you can use ANYTHING in VB... but i dont know wether or not it will be worth it! You see, VB's computing power is very slow, so its absolutely not worth it.

VB is just too encapsulated to be of any use to a REAL programmer. Dont get me wrong but I like VB, for simple projects that is... but when it comes to advance and more complex projects, I dont bother with API, I go straight to VC++. And assembly is simply too low-level.

Thx,
MoMad

[Judd]

MoMad,

Sorry, but I think you've missed DevMax's point a little :p

DevMax was trying to say that he could compile functions written in VB into ASM, so if people write the basic functions of VB in VB, they can be easily turned into their ASM equivalents.

I'm sure we all appreciate that VB is not the fastest language, but that doesn't really matter if the functions are being turned into ASM.

Dan

[Janus]

You're forgetting that 75% of VB code is COM-based.

[MoMad]

Janus,

I think that it is possible to invoke COM objects from asm, and the fact of the matter is that all of the basic VB COM components can be done in asm, this project will only try to compile those objects into the project since the dll's required to run those objects are already in EVERY WINDOWS-BASED Systems, (eg. gdi32, system32, kernel32, user32, shell32, wsock32, ...)

all of the custom made (pre compiled) com objects will be linked to their rightful modules, but the code based ones will be compiled within the project... It will not be as much as you think it is.

Basically, we will:


1. Read the source code
2. Compile to asm

- - - If the COM object is identified as a KNOWN object

[TRUE] it will be compiled into the exe
[FALSE] it will be linked directly

3. Link


In other words, all of the "out of the box" vb com objects will be premade in asm and will be kept in a db, then once the object is detected as a standard one, it will get replaced by pre-defined code. We will also try to add more common objects...

Does that make things a bit clearer??

Also, are you going to help because we will be needing all the help we can get.

Thanks,
MoMad

[TheSarlacc]

hey devmax, how about this date function?


Private Type SYSTEMTIME
wYear As Integer
wMonth As Integer
wDayOfWeek As Integer
wDay As Integer
wHour As Integer
wMinute As Integer
wSecond As Integer
wMilliseconds As Integer
End Type
Private Declare Sub GetSystemTime Lib "kernel32" (lpSystemTime As SYSTEMTIME)

Function Date() As String
Dim dday As String, dmonth As String, dyear As String
Dim lpSystemTime As SYSTEMTIME
'get the time
GetSystemTime lpSystemTime
'put date into variables
If lpSystemTime.wDay < 10 Then dday = "0" & lpSystemTime.wDay Else dday = lpSystemTime.wDay
If lpSystemTime.wMonth < 10 Then dmonth = "0" & lpSystemTime.wMonth Else dmonth = lpSystemTime.wMonth
dyear = lpSystemTime.wYear
'construct date
Date = dday & "/" & dmonth & "/" & dyear
End Function

[TheSarlacc]

thought id do the time as well.


Private Type SYSTEMTIME
wYear As Integer
wMonth As Integer
wDayOfWeek As Integer
wDay As Integer
wHour As Integer
wMinute As Integer
wSecond As Integer
wMilliseconds As Integer
End Type
Private Declare Sub GetSystemTime Lib "kernel32" (lpSystemTime As SYSTEMTIME)

Function Time() As String
Dim dhours As String, dmins As String, dsecs As String, dmsecs As String
Dim lpSystemTime As SYSTEMTIME
'get the time
GetSystemTime lpSystemTime
'put time into variables
If lpSystemTime.wHour < 10 Then dhours = "0" & lpSystemTime.wHour Else dhours = lpSystemTime.wHour
If lpSystemTime.wMinute < 10 Then dmins = "0" & lpSystemTime.wMinute Else dmins = lpSystemTime.wMinute
If lpSystemTime.wSecond < 10 Then dsecs = "0" & lpSystemTime.wSecond Else dsecs = lpSystemTime.wSecond
'If lpSystemTime.wMilliseconds < 10 Then dmsecs = "0" & lpSystemTime.wMilliseconds Else dmsecs = lpSystemTime.wMilliseconds
'If lpSystemTime.wMilliseconds < 100 Then dmsecs = "00" & lpSystemTime.wMilliseconds Else dmsecs = lpSystemTime.wMilliseconds
'construct time
Time = dhours & ":" & dmins & ":" & dsecs ' & "." & dmsecs
End Function


the commented code is if u want to include milliseconds in the return of the function.

[devmax]

thanx for your functions TheSarlacc !
Anyways, Dan & Momad, yes you right, this is exactly our way of thinking :)
Sorry not to give you any release right now... gotta wait for some more time ... ;)

[JafferAB]

WHY MUST YOU KEEP US ALL ON THIS AGONISING WAIT!!!!!! my bandwidth is full of me sending my 1.6mb from 32kb program over the internet, oh GOD wont you finish this quickly!!!!!!

Any help needed for website ask? anythignt o help speed this up just name it ;)

the.first@ntlworld.com

[devmax]

Go for the website anyone !!
Anywone who wants to make a cool website for the project which could host the betas and a little forum ( if possible ;) just DO IT !
The first who has a well-looked website for me will be declared official webmaster :))

[JafferAB]

i can do the website but i cant host it, 56ker!

[devmax]

so just di it and send it to me I'll host it myself

[007shahid]

I want to help too. I know little in MASM for Dos. Got the 32bit though and looking for online tutorials.
But I am better in VB.
My E-Mail: shahid15@hotmail.com

[devmax]

Ok, so just write a little function and I'll add it :)

[007shahid]

Is there any site or something where I can see your progress and decide on what function to write ?

[devmax]

still waiting for someone to do this ...

[MoMad]

007shield, please no geocities.

devmax, so sorry i have been extremely busy the past week.. I will try to make the database to keep track of which functions are done and which need doing...

everyone else, if you want to help just start by finding vb functions that you can duplicate its functionality...

i will try to get it up by april 8th but im not sure how much busier i will get but i will try.

[MoMad]

Here is a primitive look the functions database.

Add all functions to it, etc... It still needs alot of work..

But I think its ready to be released (for now)...

http://momad.teknikill.net/vbmax/

Take a look and add functions.
Bye

[007shahid]

This site shows how to mix Assembly with VB. Making dlls with Assembly & using them in VB
Mixing Assembly & Visual Basic (http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gorbash/Draw3D/assembly.html)

Good sites for assembly source codes
Programmer's Heaven (http://www.programmersheaven.com/zone5/mh1.htm)

Assembly Source Codes (http://www.brillianet.com/programming/assembly/source_code/)

Another group trying to make Assembly with RAD features...

Visual Assembler (http://visasm.cjb.net/) (Not updated properly)

Hope these sites help!

[ysa1441]

Hello there,
I read this thread skiping 2-3 pages and maybe that is what made me confused....
where exactly is the prog? what is thishttp://momad.teknikill.net/vbmax/index.php site for? i thought you are doing a prog that compiles vb to asm then makes a small fast .exe file which doesnt need runtime files, at least that is the impression I got from read the first page of this thread.

Anyway, just wanted to be updated on what is going on,

P.S
I can try helping in the prog, I am learing asm now, actually I know MASM and vb too (of course) so if help is needed I can do something.

Good Luck,
Yair.
(ysa16@hotmail.co.il)

[TheSarlacc]

I read this thread skiping 2-3 pages and maybe that is what made me confused....
where exactly is the prog?



the prog hasnt been made yet. it is still in progress. u can help by submitting functions written in ASM or VB to mimic the built-in functions (like Date, Str, Instr, Mid, Time, Print, etc..). but there is no actual prog yet.

[GiGaHeRz]

Hello!

I wonder how the project is going.

[GiGaHeRz]

I've made a Split function.

here is:

-------------------------------------
Function SplitText(Expression As String, Delimiter As String, Optional Limit As Long = -1, Optional Compare As VbCompareMethod = vbBinaryCompare)
Dim S As Long
Dim C As Long
Dim Num As Long
Dim P As Long
Dim A() As String
Num = 0
S = 1
P = InStr(S, Expression, Delimiter, Compare)
C = 0
If C = Limit Then P = 0
Do While P > 0
ReDim Preserve A(0 To Num)
A(Num) = Mid$(Expression, S, P - S)
Num = Num + 1
S = P + Len(Delimiter)
P = InStr(S, Expression, Delimiter, Compare)
C = C + 1
If C = Limit Then P = 0
Loop
ReDim Preserve A(0 To Num)
A(Num) = Mid$(Expression, S)
SplitText = CVar(A)
End Function
---------------------------------

Byes!!!

[GiGaHeRz]

I forgot the CODE tags.


Function SplitText(Expression As String, Delimiter As String, Optional Limit As Long = -1, Optional Compare As VbCompareMethod = vbBinaryCompare)
Dim S As Long
Dim C As Long
Dim Num As Long
Dim P As Long
Dim A() As String
Num = 0
S = 1
P = InStr(S, Expression, Delimiter, Compare)
C = 0
If C = Limit Then P = 0
Do While P > 0
ReDim Preserve A(0 To Num)
A(Num) = Mid$(Expression, S, P - S)
Num = Num + 1
S = P + Len(Delimiter)
P = InStr(S, Expression, Delimiter, Compare)
C = C + 1
If C = Limit Then P = 0
Loop
ReDim Preserve A(0 To Num)
A(Num) = Mid$(Expression, S)
SplitText = CVar(A)
End Function

[Cougar0119]

First off, we're still hard at work on the project and it's not dead. :)

That said, I need your help! I'm working on parsing VBP, FRM, and FRX files, as well as handling external references... well, I only have VB6, and I need example formats (and reference information) for the previous versions, mainly VB5 and VB4, though if people are still running earlier versions than that - those as well.

Allow me to clarify a bit - this is NOT a test version of our program for different versions of VB. I just need people with these versions to send me a copy of a few files...

I only need ONE person per each version, so just leave your e-mail address, and version information in a reply, and I'll get back to you with what I need (this goes to say that 5 people don't need to post that they have VB5) :)

Thanks for the help!

[GiGaHeRz]

I think VB5 files can be read perfectly by an vb6 parser. vb6 only has more properties.

I don't have vb4 installed but i have it, i will extract an example project and send it.

[GiGaHeRz]

I've put some samples in that zip.

I wanted to send Vb4's visdata but the zip file is 150k big. :(

[Cougar0119]

I believe you are correct in terms of parsing FRM/FRX, as the version number for a FRM file in VB6 is 5.00. I do however, need a copy of the VBP as well as reference DLLs.

In VB6, for example, the VBP file has the key(s),

Reference=...

Where "..." is the GUID, Version #, LCID, Relative Path, and Description, in that order. I need this information to read the type library. In the VBP, however, it does not list all the references - In VB6 there are 3, unlisted in the VBP:

Visual Basic for Applications: VBA6.DLL (or msvbvm60.dll\1)
Visual Basic runtime objects and procedures: msvbvm60.dll\3
Visual Basic Objects and procedures: VB6.OLB

The reason they're unlisted is obvious: Every VB application needs to have those external dependencies (hence the creation of this project to eliminate them) :) I still however need the names\locations\etc... of these libraries for the different versions of VB, so I can extract various things of interest to the compiler.

Also, for example, I know that for VB5:

Visual Basic for Applications: msvbvm50.dll\1
Visual Basic runtime objects and procedures: msvbvm50.dll\2

Notice that for VB5 the runtime is "\2" and in VB6 it is "\3" (aside from the obvious difference of DLL names). Now, I don't know is there an Object Library? I would assume yes, but I need that information :) Which is the reason I am requesting the assistance of people with previous versions of VB. I need some other stuff checked too... so the original request stands - I need one person that has each version of VB for me to get formats and other miscellaneous items of information :)

Thanks!

[Janus]

MSVBVM (6.0) contains 3 object/type libraries embedded as custom resources.

[SolidWolf]

this really sound like a very *usefull* app.. any eta on the public beta?
btw, anyone has a link to the vb to c++? (i'm getting into c++ and what better way to learn from programs already made thru vb.. ;-)

[007shahid]

This thread has been online for some time now. When can we see an alpha or beta version of the software

[Cougar0119]

...I can't give you a specific time frame, but I'm optimistically saying soon. We were hoping to have a pre-beta released last year around this time, but we ran into some fundamental problems with our internal translation format... actually we've re-written our intermediate format several times over the course of the last year. This is the cause of much of the delay.

Now we have a very sound intermediate format (dubbed by MxCod as MPF, Most Portable Format). It is working very well, meaning we won't be re-writing our stuff all over again.

Now I can't say much for the linking/library part of the project as I am not much involved in it yet... I can say, however, that MxCod is hard at work at it and hopes to have a pre-alpha for internal testing within the next couple weeks, I think... though I know he said coding has been a little more difficult than he had anticipated.

As for parsing the VB language, and converting it to the MPF... I can say that progress has come much more quickly than I had originally expected. I guess you could say I've had a couple "good coding days" lately and have expanded its capabilities greatly...

Just remember that VB is like 15 years old, and we are trying to recreate its compiler, taking it a step further than microsoft has. I'd say we've made remarkable progress so far, and look forward to getting a workable demo for you guys ...... soon. :)

Until then, it's back to coding!

[007shahid]

Good Luck... hoping to see it soon :) ;)

[Emo]

Hello there!!!

I havent been in this thread for months!!! But don't worry, I havent' forgot about it....

hehe, I guess you guys can call me "the original webmaster" for the project... me and DevMax started on this website but after they closed down F2S, it went down...

so how is the poject going?? any news? what is the new website?

-Emo

[SanderS]

So when is the first alpha/beta any date?

[DaNoVB]

How is it going??

[devmax]

Sorry guys
No Website
No release
No date

But the project is still going on ! ;)

I notify you all when there's something out... For now you still have to wait for my work ;)

[Syfonic]

Hi,

I am creating a new filesharing client called Syfonic Music Community.

This client will be much larger that Napster, Kazaa etc.

It also is going to be written in the Visual Basic 6 language.
I am looking for Visual Basic programmers to help me with this client, so if you are in any way interested in helping me with this client please mailto Syfonic@Hotmail.com



-Chase
Owner of Syfonic Music Community

[DaNoVB]

So *** does that fit in this topic or something???

[DaNoVB]

Hehe, MS Visual Basic on Linux :D

[/\/\isanThr0p]

this sinfonic guy should be banned...
well
any updates?? Somehow the Forum stopped notifying me about new answers here, so I looked for this thread if really nothing happened and I am pleased to see that it is still alive...

btw: Are you guys sure this project does not violate any MS Copyright? I got no clue about it, but I think it would be so sad, if you guys ever succeeded and the final project would betaken off the net...

[Cougar0119]

I too was wondering about an MS copyright, but I'm not sure either... I wonder, does anyone else know?

I think the project is still active, but I haven't heard from MxCod in at least a month... I'm not sure what's happened with him. I do know this much - the parser that I made is definitely ready for a public alpha release, but the library is not ready... then again, I haven't heard from him a while, so my knowledge may be outdated - I guess all I know for sure is the parsing module is stable. :)

[d3graph]

hi guys
how the project is going.

waiting for release!

[MEWTWO]

Hi,
I read this post and it looks like a great idea. Do you want any help? I know VB extremely well, as well as subclassing functions, which may be useful in your app (possibly to add extra functionality). I also know some C++. If there is anything I can do to help, please e-mail me. invincible_mewtwo@yahoo.com

[DaNoVB]

Any updates on the project?

[moperke]

hi,
I like the concept of the project and I'd be very glad to use it when it's ready. I'd like to help if I could but I think I'm not good enough at programming etc. But what I'm maybe well able to do is the website of the project. I can't host the site myself but I suggest registrations with the following services:

- a brinkster account for the website itself (asp support for a little forum...). the only problem with brinkster is it doesn't support ftp. but there are no banners on the site and it's pretty fast. (if you know better servers for asp hosting, tell me plz...)
- a yahoo group for the files to download, the allow bigger files and (here in Belgium) an average download speed of 80 kb/s with a cable connection.
- a .tk domain name. Also no banners and it's free but quiet slow sometimes.

think that's it. if you're intrested you can mail me at frostyboy666@hotmail.com

[Kira Roark]

or is it DOA?

[packetVB]

Hi
I was thinking of trying to do the same.
Started off by working on making the forms into resources.
Didnt get that far though.

I would be interested in helping out.
I know VB pretty well, C++ to a degree and I am in the process of learning asm (masm).

The problem i think will be actually handling the manipulations of data types.

Well why dont you throw up your project on sourceforge ( you did say free didnt you?)

Either way, let me know if you could use my help.
Figure a project this complicated, youll need it. :)

packetvb

http://sourceforge.net/projects/packetvb/
VB ActiveX wrapper for WinPcap (Window Packet Capture)
Complete with help on methods and even a Test Program to show its use.

[Cougar0119]

Kira: The project is still alive - we have had a brief hiatus, but are back to work again...

packetVB: I do believe devmax has taken care of type conversions and other manipulations of the sort. I can't say for sure though. As for helping out, devmax is in charge - I'll let him know you're interested - I don't think he checks the forums any more...

A little more info about the project - right now we're having problems with his program running on Win2000. This problem is rather significant because that is the OS I run, and (as far as I know) there are only two of us still working on the project. As you can imagine testing, etc... is rather difficult at the moment. As soon as that is figured out, more of our time can be dedicated to furthering the project!

Well, that's it from me for now...

Cougar

[packetVB]

Cougar,
Thanks for the info.

I have emailed him and he said he would get back to me about help writing the lib for the beta. Guess I need to email him to see what the status is. I would like to take a look at what has been done so far and get a feel for it.
But anyway, I contact him. Thanks :)

[Pc_Madness]

The creator the thread is MIA :D

[devmax]

Yes Guyz, I'm there !

So , for the information you want, packetvb, I can't give you any precision, just that it handles type conversion that's true. Almost everything is totally converted to an asm way of thinking, so it means that writing libraries and code have the same effect : they are both full compiled into a minimalist .exe file... Maybe I'll add some optimisation feature later to handle the stability of big projects...

Anyways, soon you'll have your beta ;)

stay tuned !

[pyrosis1313]

I'm usually not around these parts of the forums, but decided to stray from the vb general section. Anyhow, this whole projects sounds great. I don't know ASM, but would like to learn, and help improve and extend this if I can. Could someone send me the code pls?
Thanx
Cheers.

GerianFredRadtke@aol.com

[devmax]

nothing to more to say than the subject itself...

things are getting more and more ready everyday ;)

[DiGiTaIErRoR]

This sounds cool.

:cool:

[pyrosis1313]

Someone's got to be monitoring this thread... could someone pls send me the code?

[Pc_Madness]

Have you talked to anyone about the copyright stuff??

Some of the old folks here might be able to help you, but they don't seem to come down to the lower forums. :(

[packetVB]

pyrosis1313 there has been no code released yet.
Pc_Madness, I believe there is a few people helping, not sure thou.

[Pc_Madness]

So whats the average file size of an exe??

[packetVB]

Size of exe, well it would most probably be alot smaller, i would guess under 20k.
I havent heard from dev in a while, so Im not even sure what the developement status really is.
I was in contact with him a few weeks ago about helping out. I stared working on a frm to res converter but I havent heard back from him, so Im guessing he going at it alone?
:(


packetvb
activeX wrapper for winPcap lib.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/packetvb/

[Pc_Madness]

20k??

What about the support files?
Shouldn't they be inside the exe?

[packetVB]

good question,
Hopefully DevMax will stop by to answer. :)

[Pc_Madness]

I think you could be looking at file sizes in the 5-6mb for a first go. If he gets it going of course.

[Cougar0119]

It's good to see you guys are still interested in this project... it keeps me motivated. I don't think we can really say how big an EXE is going to be. I'm thinking it's not going to be in the 5-6 mb range, but shooting for something as low as 20k may be pushing it for a beta release.

...and speaking of beta... we don't really have a beta (or an alpha version for that matter), it's really hard to say - and anything I did say would be pure speculation, but stay tuned! Your patience will be rewarded, I can promise you that.

I've probably said this before, but Visual Basic wasn't exactly made over night. Many years of work went into its creation. And don't forget MS has very deep pockets, not to mention a big team of very talented programmers... we have like no money, and only a couple programmers! Anyways, devmax and I are having a meeting tomorrow and we will discuss things further. One of us will surely let you know of any new developments!

As for the copyright stuff... I'm really not sure. That is something I will mention to devmax tomorrow. Perhaps he knows something I don't, though I'm not so sure he's going to be too familiar with American copyright law as he's from France... Do we have any lawyers that program as a hobby out there?

That's it from me!

Cougar

[devmax]

Well, the minimum size of the vbmaxx-compiled .exe file is less than 3 kb.
But the size of the compiled file is dependent of the size of the source code and the number of functions used. You see, for a project that contains about 10 lines the size will be 3kb. But for 1000 lines ( I assume it uses about 100 different functions) the size total of the .exe wich is totally stand-alone (there's no support file ) should be arround 10 kb.

Now you know ;)

Oh ! And the software will be free that's sure, but I won't release any source code since I'm not sure about the copyright stuff; I mean, since I'm not sure anybody could steal the source code ideas and sell its own software with...

[DaNoVB]

Like Microsoft maybe...They would find it interesting, surely...I think if you finish this that you will get a contract from them if you want so, but I dont hope you take it :)

[GiGaHeRz]

Hi Devmax, i see the project is alive.

I sent a little code sometime ago. I hope it was useful.

This summer I tried to learn some ASM and C but it goes over my limits. ;)

I'm still waiting for a release! Good Luck!

Note: sorry for my bad english.

[Pc_Madness]

So.. could you tell us how your doing it??

[Pc_Madness]

After a bit of activity, everyone died of again.

[007shahid]

WOW! I almost forgot about this thread

[DaNoVB]

:D I've got a mail note on this topic :P

[Pc_Madness]

It completly disappeared from the forums for a while, and I thought either Martin moved it, or the creator deleted it cause they couldn't get it going....

[packetVB]

Zed's dead baby, Zed's dead.

[Evan]

Any progress?

[chrisa128]

Hi,

I would appreciate it if you would keep me updated with this project as I will be willing to consider porting it the new Operating System I am working on. I would find an app like this really useful!!!

Also take a look at the GNU General Public License to see about releasing the Source Code?

Chris Allen
Project Co-ordinator
CAOS (CA Operating System)

http://caos.suddenlaunch.com

[Darkolord]

anyone still working on that project??

[packetVB]

Neither of the two have been around in about 2 months i think, It may have been put on the scrap heap.

:(

[weikiat]

I don't think it will violate copyrites since i found a non - microsoft vb compilers on the net which is for free. Anyway the compiler sux big time.

Hey, where are the developers? I got so excited about it looking at page 1 ~3 but then after that everything cools down. Are the develpoers killed in a car crash or wat??

[TheSarlacc]

i think this thread has turned into a place for a post race. honestly, every person who asks if the project must either not have anything better to do, or have no idea what its like to do a big project with no assurance or pay for that matter, or just want the posts counter under their name to gain a few lowsy points.

a TIP: just relax and when they complete it, i doubt they will forget to post it here, since so many people want it badly.

[Pc_Madness]

Well, if this thing works, it could make the lives alot easier for alot of developers... I think they have a right to ask whether the project has been canceled or not.

No updates on whats going on, so people well keep asking.

[007shahid]

Originally posted by Pc_Madness
Well, if this thing works, it could make the lives alot easier for alot of developers... I think they have a right to ask whether the project has been canceled or not.

No updates on whats going on, so people well keep asking.

... ya, this project has been going on since 03-09-2001. I say, It is dead. They should atleast type something in this thread periodically so that the morale of the people working on the project and other remains high.

[weikiat]

I say they were killed by FIB agents send my the selfish and money hungry MS. Hehe...

[Osnr]

Hello? Anyone here?

Confused,
Omar

[Douchekop]

Probably you already thought about that you could implement several optimisation; optimize for speed, optimize for size, optimize for high speed, optimize for small size and don't optimize.

succes!

[Osnr]

No. Everyone says this project is dead.

[/\/\isanThr0p]

well it really seems like it is, which could really makes me mad, since it was one of the most ambitious projects that actually seemed to progress well and would have been of great use for the people around.

well not all hope is gone... (I keep on monitoring this thread more than any other thread)

[Pc_Madness]

Originally posted by weikiat
...killed by FIB agents ...

They are pretty scary those fellars... :confused:

[Osnr]

Anyone up for project revival?

[aafuss]

I thinkit good be to see it revived.

[TheSarlacc]

unless u can get devmax to give u what has been done already code wise, reviving this project would mean starting from scratch.....seems like a lot of effort:o

[blindlizard]

All the decent members of VBForums have left. You may need to try other boards.

[Osnr]

I know. Who wants to help me track them down?

[Osnr]

Another thing, we need to find a project leader if devmax isn't responding. I can't do it, I'm afraid.

[Cougar0119]

Well, many of you have been wondering if the project is dead... and I've been watching these posts for weeks now, and I wasn't going to say anything because I am not the lead programmer on this project - devmax is. However, I do believe there were only two programmers working on the project (regularly) and I was the other one.

I personally have not talked to devmax in (what's probably been) several months. Does this mean the project is dead? Possibly. Is the project dormant? Definitely.

We have both invested a lot of time in this project - we've had to re-write everything several times due to bad design choices early on. After re-writing the lexical scanner / tokenizer 4 times or so, I got burned out, and who knows what happened to devmax? Our communications became less and less frequent, and like I said - I haven't heard from him in months.

So what does this mean? I'm not exactly sure.

Why did I write this message if I don't have any real news? I just thought perhaps you guys would like to hear from one of the programmers on the project.

Would I consider reviving the project without devmax? Yes and no. A couple things here, I do not have the ASM background to fill in devmax's shoes - he had a particular plan - an angle of attack, that I would be unable to reproduce, so this project would surely be "starting from scratch." Another concern I see is the practicality of creating this project. If someone decided to do this 5 years ago - then great! But my fear now is with .NET in the picture, by the time we get a workable copy of this compiler, .NET is going to be mainstream. Is a utility such as this worthy of our time? Or would our time be better spent on some other project? (I'm always open to suggestions.)

Let me know your opinion on this matter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cougar

[VBD]

:eek: :( How could you think of stopping because of .NET? This would be just as fast, we woulddn't need to relearn vb, it would go just as fast, and no 20mb "framework"(runtime)

[Cougar0119]

You bring forth a valid point...

The release of .NET is not the reason for the project dying down. I repeat, .NET has nothing to do with the project dying. This is just one of my concerns in reviving the project (the lesser of the two at that). The biggest problem here is the lack of a programmer with a lot of ASM experience, or with at least enough experience where that person is capable of writing a compiler.

Cougar

[VBD]

I would help if I could but I still don't know C++. Good luck finding one

[DovyWeiss]

Originally posted by weikiat
I don't think it will violate copyrites since i found a non - microsoft vb compilers on the net which is for free.

Hmmm, where?

[chemicalNova]

Just a note of the ".Net Framework" some of the earlier people were complaining about. The .Net framework contains yes a CLR that Supports popular languages such as VB C++ C# Perl Java and more. The IDE allows users to Program Functions in C++, for example

int AddTwoNumbers( int numberone, int numbertwo )
{
return numberone + numbertwo;
}

and add the source files to a .vbproj project. It then allows developers to use the AddTwoNumbers Function, as if it were a VB Function. There is alot more to it than that. What i am saying is, the ".Net Framework" is very beneficial to alot of developers, the abillity to work from different areas of expertise.

Just thought i'd say how much the CLR, IDL files (which aren't all that practical :( ) COM and CORBA help alot in programming


Phreak

[Lord Orwell]

when you say c++, are you sure you dont mean c#?
i was led to understand that the .net framework interprets everything

[/\/\isanThr0p]

alright I can't help it so I got to post this:

This is not about saying .NET is crap. It's just that some people sometimes would like to have fast projects that can be downloaded within seconds even on slow modem connection, don't use a lot of memory. For this such a compiler would be of great help...
When I think about some tool I would like to program to run constantly on my pc I alway think that I shouldn't because the MSVBM takes up a lot of memory which a small tool wouldn't be worth... this compiler would help a lot....

[weikiat]

I think its called lotus. Can't be too sure. However, the project had been stopped for years now... all the codes are outdated. Although its a ok freeware, its better to stick to our current version.. also anyone interested in creating automatic webbrowser?

Check

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1304014#post1304014

for more details. thank you

[BramVandenbon]

I maybe can help I'm a bit new to C-language ...

just wondering can I use headers when I post some functions here ? or can you only translate to Assembler when I don't yuse headers ?

[Osnr]

I've emailed devmax.

So, any more new developers?

We currently have only BramVandenbon and Cougar as developers on this board. I'm going to track everyone else down.

For everyone: You can do the same. Look over this thread. Get in communication with some developers. E-mail them, PM them here or on other forums, etc. Just contact them.

[DeMoNiCoN]

i'll be willing to help where i can. i know vb quite well and i'm learning c/c++ as well as assembly. this is if this project even exists anymore..

[Darkolord]

bu?

[Pc_Madness]

This project has been dead for quite some time. ;)

[Merrion]

I think it's fair to say that this is vapourware.

Things that the MSVBVMnn.dll provides that would need to be replaced:
(1) The window classes ThunderRTMain, ThunderRTCombo etc. etc. and their window procedures
(2) Run-time allocation of static and dynamic memory (e.g. the exported functions GetMem1...GetMemStr )
(3) Stack handling (e.g. the exported functions MethCallEngine and ProcCallEngine)
(4) Data type conversions - implicit and explicit.
(5) Operating system interaction - get and set environment variables, system date
(6) Built in constants (vbDayOfWeek, vbMessageBoxOptions, vbKeyCode etc. etc.)

[Darkolord]

devmax really vanished... :eek:

[Cougar0119]

I think it's pretty safe to say that yes, this project is dead. To be quite honest, I'm not sure what happened to devmax myself. Every time I post a message here (which is not very often I might add), he seems to pop up and let me know that the project is still alive. I don't expect an e-mail this time though.......

It's been a long time since I've done anything with the project, but I just wanted to address some of Merrion's comments. If it sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about in any of the responses - it's probably because I don't. I was not heavily involved with the backend development of the compiler. I mainly wrote the parser/lexical analyzer.

1) We were working on recreating this sort of stuff, little by little. Last time I talked to devmax, he was creating forms, but when I got a copy of the project - forms weren't appearing properly for me (not at all for that matter - I was running Win2k, he was on 98).

2) I do believe devmax had come up with a way to deal with dynamic memory allocation and the like. I think the API has some functions available for dynamic allocation of arrays at least... I'm not familiar with the GetMem stuff though.

3) I don't know what you're talking about here. :) This part of the project was definitely not my area of expertise.

4) We had this taken care of already - (I'm not sure if it was bug free, but it was taken care of).

5) All OS interaction was done through the API (as far as I know). The VB functions we were rewriting for our own library made use of the API.

6) This is something I can comment on definitively.... This was part of my area of expertise, so-to-speak. This *definitely* worked. :) I wrote a class that could extract the constant values from the libraries (whether they were VB's runtime files or some third party dll's). This was not a problem at all.

Alright, well that's it from me. If anyone has any new and great project ideas that they're looking for a developer, drop me a line on the board (not via e-mail though, all I get is junk and it'll never get to me). I'm always looking for something exciting to work on.

Cougar

[Merrion]

I'm always looking for something exciting to work on.

The VB debugger/dependency walker project could do with your expertise.

[Darkolord]

if it is possible to disassemble libraries (msvbvmxx.dll) it's also possible to make some sort of compiler which creates a dll only with a functions that you program use?

[Merrion]

It is possible but you don't know whether the dll uses those functions internally - like if my program only uses Function A and C but in the dll function A calls function B this would get missed (resulting in program failure)...

[Darkolord]

I think it's possible to see internal calls with disassembler

[devmax]

Project is still dead
Now it will re birth again.
So what am i waiting for ?

[devmax]

Anyway, it is totally impossible to isolate functions from msvbmxx.dll because they are wrote in such a way that they refer to a huge list of internal calls. Simply because there is an internal memory allocation kernel which is called everywhere.
The only way to do what we want is to build a stand alone application with includes of our own library.

[Darkolord]

ok so will we do it from scratch or continue with what is left from before?

[QuigIey]

maybe when he said free, he meant free of development costs and when he said fun, he meant he'll sell it when no ones looking and retire on a brand new yacht with lots of playboy bunnies.

anyone wanna help me develop a free program ? It'll be fun.

[Osnr]

Hate to say it, but we're working on a living ghost... We need Cougar to get devmax to release the code. Then, there are no more of these problems.

One of my other thoughts is, maybe this project is being kept closed and secretive because of copyright reasons? Releasing the source would mean that people would be able to reverse-engineer the whole IDE, considering the fact that VB's files are all text.

[Darkolord]

and what if devmax was just 'absent' ? :) :D

[PA0AUG]

I was testing Thinstall.
It was working very good.
Maby interresting for the compiler in progress.

Demo is downloadable THinstall.com

Good luck with the compiler.

Albert.

[JC Denton]

Reading a 3 page thread for hours only to find out this amazing project failed...

Is there anyway where we can find any early beta?

thanx
:wave:

[BramVandenbon]

maybe a good time to learn C# ? :)
This thread is running for about 3 years now. Back then I was very enthoussiastic about it. But now, I don't think VB6 will survive another 3 year... (imho).

But now since I learned C#, VB6 hasn't been launched on my PC anymore. And there are plenty of C# compilers. (Plenty for windows and even some for other OS). Developping forms in C# is just as easy as in VB6.;)

[JC Denton]

So true
Are you using the Borland IDE? apperently its far more visual than the M$ V C++ IDE... So im looking for a trial but the Borland site only offers the builders... or is that the 1 I need?

atleast developing 'proper' dll's will be far easier and the general opinion among some professionals I have noticed is that VB is for fakes/amateurs.... or atleast beginners who find C too hard....

the argument is ofcourse that it cuts development time...

On the other hand why would u allow a programmer to carry out calculations with strings and use undeclared variables....

:wave:
dank

[BramVandenbon]

I'm using the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 IDE.
(Wich is just as easy to work with as VB6 was. C# has become really easy and I think that's mainly because the graphical programming interface has become more userfriendly.) I haven't used the Borland IDE yet. But I did use "SharpDevelop". SharpDevelop looks a lot like VS .NET 2003, but it has some annoying small problems and bugs.

atleast developing 'proper' dll's will be far easier and the general opinion among some professionals I have noticed is that VB is for fakes/amateurs.... or atleast beginners who find C too hard....

I totally agree there ! It seems like people look down on VB programmers. On the other hand I feel, when programming graphical applications in VB6 you could save a lot of time compared to C++. But now that C# is around VB6 has become useless.

You can get the same result in C# in the same time you did it in VB6. The main difference: C# allows a lot of stuff you could never reach in VB6: multithreading, inheritance, ... .

Don't get me wrong I've been programming in VB6 over the last 4 years. And I loved it. But it's time to move on. :(

*greetings*

[007shahid]

Really would love to see this project happening again. Devmax, are you developing this still? Where can we see a sample beta version or something?

[BramVandenbon]

Really would love to see this project happening again. Devmax, are you developing this still? Where can we see a sample beta version or something?

Maybe you should take a look at www.realbasic.com

Another language but it's "compatible". I mean it's the same syntax. And because it runs both on macintosh and on windows it does not need runtimes.

There are some pro's and con's though... (and nothing compared to .NET)