Gambas: The Modern BASIC for Linux Development
Explore the power and flexibility of Gambas, an object-oriented BASIC dialect and Integrated Development Environment (IDE) designed for the Linux ecosystem.
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What is Gambas?
Object-Oriented BASIC
Gambas is an object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language, accompanied by a comprehensive Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It is specifically engineered to operate efficiently on Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.
Recursive Acronym & Name
The name "Gambas" is a recursive acronym for Gambas Almost Means BASIC. Intriguingly, "gambas" also translates to "prawns" in Spanish, French, and Portuguese, a linguistic connection reflected in the project's distinctive logos.
Development Philosophy
Designed by Benoรฎt Minisini, Gambas emerged from a desire to create a free software development environment that facilitates rapid application development with graphical user interfaces, drawing inspiration from established paradigms like Visual Basic and Java.
Historical Trajectory
Genesis and Early Versions
Initiated by Benoรฎt Minisini in 1999, Gambas was conceived to provide a free, user-friendly development environment for graphical applications on Linux. The initial 1.x versions, released in 2005, featured a modular interface and primarily utilized the Qt toolkit, with a strong orientation towards KDE application development.
Evolution to Version 2.x and 3.x
The 2.x series, launched in 2008, introduced a significant interface redesign, consolidating functionality into a single window, alongside syntax refinements and expanded toolkit support (including GTK+ and SDL). The subsequent 3.x series, released in late 2011, continued this evolution, enhancing performance (benchmarks showed competitiveness with Python and Perl) and introducing support for modern technologies like Wayland.
Core Capabilities
GUI Development
Gambas supports the creation of graphical user interfaces using both the Qt (versions 4.x and 5.x) and GTK (3.x) toolkits. The integrated GUI designer facilitates event-driven interface construction.
Versatile Application Types
Beyond graphical applications, Gambas enables the development of command-line applications and text-based user interfaces utilizing the ncurses library.
Modular Component Architecture
Functionality is delivered through a rich set of components, allowing developers to select and integrate specific features. This includes support for graphics acceleration via OpenGL, audio playback, database connectivity (MySQL, PostgreSQL), and more.
Packaging and Deployment
Gambas includes tools for creating installation packages compatible with various Linux distributions, supporting formats like GNU Autotools, slackpkg, pacman, RPM, and deb packages. Support for AppImage building is also integrated.
Performance Enhancements
Since version 3.2, the Gambas IDE incorporates a profiler and utilizes just-in-time (JIT) compilation technology, contributing to enhanced execution speed and efficiency.
Illustrative Code Snippets
"Hello, World!" GUI Example
A fundamental graphical application demonstrating the basic structure of a Gambas program.
Public Sub Main()
Message("Hello, World!")
End
Benchmark Code Snippet
This example showcases a computationally intensive task, often used for performance benchmarking within the Gambas environment.
Private Sub Test(X As Float) As Float
Dim Mu As Float = 10.0
Dim Pu, Su As Float
Dim I, J, N As Integer
Dim aPoly As New Float[100]
N = 500000
For I = 0 To N - 1
For J = 0 To 99
Mu = (Mu + 2.0) / 2.0
aPoly[J] = Mu
Next
Su = 0.0
For J = 0 To 99
Su = X * Su + aPoly[J]
Next
Pu += Su
Next
Return Pu
End
Public Sub Main()
Dim I As Integer
For I = 1 To 10
Print Test(0.2)
Next
End
Cross-Platform Availability
Primary Platforms
Gambas is natively supported on Linux and FreeBSD. Its design philosophy aims for portability, with ongoing efforts and community contributions extending its reach to other operating systems.
Extended Support
Experimental ports and compatibility layers exist for platforms such as macOS and Haiku. Furthermore, Gambas can be utilized on Microsoft Windows through environments like Cygwin and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), enabling its use in diverse development setups.
Community and Ecosystem
Application Repository
A vibrant ecosystem of applications and example code has been developed using Gambas. The official Gambas wiki and community sites host numerous projects, with the integrated Gambas Software Farm (since version 3.7.1) offering access to hundreds of applications and demos.
Engagement and Support
Active community forums, mailing lists, and dedicated websites provide platforms for user support, discussion, and collaboration. Notable community-driven projects include Xt7-player-mpv, a GUI frontend for the mpv media player, and I-Nex, a hardware information utility.
Key Resources
Essential resources for developers include the official Gambas website for documentation, GitLab for source code access and contribution, and various community forums for assistance and knowledge sharing.
Comparison with Visual Basic
Similarities and Inspirations
Gambas shares significant conceptual similarities with Microsoft's Visual Basic, particularly in its BASIC syntax and the structure of its IDE, aiming to provide a familiar environment for developers transitioning from VB. Both emphasize Rapid Application Development (RAD) principles.
Key Distinctions
Despite the parallels, Gambas is not a direct clone. It incorporates distinct design choices, such as a file-per-class object model and archiver inspired by Java. Notably, Gambas enforces 0-based array indexing, unlike classic VB's optional 1-based indexing, aligning more closely with modern programming conventions.
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References
References
- Gambas games - Libregamewiki
- Gambas Farm Server Protocol - Gambas Documentation
- xt7-player-mpv - linux-APPS.com
- XT7-Player รขยย Best Video Player for Kubuntu / KDE - Ubuntu Handbook
- Xt7-Player Is A Fully Featured Mplayer GUI - Web Upd8
- Gambas on Windows - Alternative
- Running Gambas Programs in Windows - PigaLore, the Piga Software Wiki
- New version of Gambas 3.15.2 is already available on rollApp.
- Cygwin Install Guide - Gambas Wiki
- gambas3 package - Cygwin website
- How To Run Gambas On Windows - Gambas Wiki
- Gambas on Windows, Gambas-One
- Windows 11, Gambas-One
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Disclaimer
Important Notice
This content has been generated by an AI model and is intended for educational and informational purposes only. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy based on the provided source material, it may not encompass all nuances or the most current information available.
This is not professional software development advice. The information presented here should not substitute consultation with qualified software engineers or adherence to official documentation. Always verify critical information through primary sources.
The creators of this page are not liable for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.