Is there any textbook available for PowerBasic?

[Blais Klucznik]

Hello,
Just wonder if anyone knows of any textbook written for PowerBasic? Although the manual that shipped with PBCC v2 does seem to touch on just about everything it is still more of a dictionary type of reference than a sort of study guide I would like to acquire.

It is just to bad that a search on the different web sites list at least 100 or so books on Visual Basic but none, to my knowledge, for PowerBasic.
I would appreciate any input from the group.

Thanks


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Blais

[Tom Hanlin]

There have been a few, but they're all out of print as far as I know. If you're
not compulsive about which version of PowerBASIC, possibly Learning BASIC
would be useful (available from PowerBASIC, Inc., and aimed at PB/DOS 2.x).

On the whole, you don't need much more than a general feeling for BASIC and the
reference manuals to get going. You might also want to keep an eye on the Source
Code forum and the Downloads area here for good practical examples.

If we have any aspiring authors out there, this seems like a good topic!


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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Troy King]

Originally posted by Tom Hanlin:
If we have any aspiring authors out there, this seems like a good topic!

Don't tempt me. I've written several non-PB articles and have
been a bit anxious to try a book project on PB/DLL and PB/CC. The
main problem is that I'm not as good as several of the guys here.
I'm a competent programmer, but not expert enough all aspects
of PB to author a book completely alone on the subject. I've got
the writing and editing skills (I was managing editor for a
magazine for a year), but I could easily point to a dozen other
guys just in these forums that have better PB skills.

I wonder if there is anyone else that would like to work on a
joint book project? If so, let's talk about it. If three or four
of us get involved and write chapters, review/edit one another's
chapters, we could probably get one done. I tell you what. I'll
write up a list of goals and topics for a PBCC/PBDLL book and
see what others think.

The book I'd be interested in doing would be one for people like
so many of us here: those fed up with VB that want a better way.
It would be what most of us would consider an introductory text,
and make regular sidebar references to how to accomplish in PB
what you know how to do in VB. I suspect this represents a
greater number of programmers than those completely new to
programming and learning PB as a first language. I could be
wrong. Of course the book should focus on the correct way to do
things and not just be a VB-to-PB script. Plus, it may lend some
more public acceptance/legitimacy to PB. I suspect more than a
few of us have been sneered at by the C/C++ crowd who laugh at
writing serious software in BASIC (though many of us are also
C and C++ programmers that know from experience PB is superior
in many cases).

The idea is just talk at this point, and if it fizzles out, then
maybe the community's not ready for one yet. But if it takes off,
I'm more than willing to take part, even a primary role. Please
don't take this as ego on my part; I've been thinking about doing
one for several months now, but I don't think I'm enough of an
expert to do one alone. I may not even be the right person to do
any of it... but I'll take a stab at it. I'll post a goal and
topic list later.



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Troy King
[email protected]

[Martin Francom]

..A book like this could be a great marketing tool for
PowerBasic. I would love to see a Book on the selves of
Barnes & Nobles (or/and other bookstores) that had "PowerBasic"
in the title.
..Good idea, hope you can take it foreward.

[Troy King]

This is only a half-hour or so worth of work on this, and it was
off the top of my head. Since I'd want to book to also be usable
by a new programmer, I will review topic lists in other introductory
texts to see what I've left out.

Comments and additions would be *highly* appreciated.

Goals and Topics for a Programming Book using PB/DLL and PB/CC

The goal of the book is to serve as an introductory text to
programming Windows GUI and console applications with PB/DLL and
PB/CC. The main text would be solely PB, but frequent sidebars
(and perhaps an appendix) would be provided for those coming from
Visual Basic, as I believe a great number of new PB users are
former VB users, or are using PB to enhance their VB
applications. Previous programming skills will not be assumed;
this book should be usable by a complete beginner.

The code samples should be frequent, trivial, and show usage of
the specific topic, because I find that samples that build a
single application across the course of a book are far harder to
follow and understand, and less useful as a quick reference.

The GUI portion of the book would focus on using DDT to build
interfaces rather than SDK-style. I would consider SDK-style
GUI-building an intermediate topic rather than beginner. Maybe
for a second book? It's that SDK-style coding requires so much
more peripheral knowlege than DDT. Of course some basics such
as building and converting resource files would be covered.


Topics, not in order

Introduction: What is PowerBasic
* Features/Discussion of the compilers
* Why are there two separate compilers?
* How is PowerBasic different than Visual Basic?
* The PowerBasic Editor

PowerBasic Projects and Compiling
* What makes up a project?
* Managing Include files
* Comments
* Understanding directives

Datatypes, Variables, and Operators
* Datatypes
* Variables
* Constants
* Scoping
* Pointers
* User-defined datatypes and Unions
* Register Variables
* Operators
* Datatype converstions

Functions and Subroutines
* Functions
- Using In and Out Parameters
- Understanding Byval and Byref
* Subroutines

Conditional Programming
* If..End If
* Select Case
* Do..Loop, While..Wend
* Goto, Gosub

DDT Basics
* Creating a simple Windows application
* Understanding handles, callbacks, and messages
* Understanding window styles and extended styles
* Using standard windows controls
* Understanding Tab Order

Using Controls in DDT
* (Cover using each standard control)
* Using custom controls

Using Menus in DDT
* (Cover using menu statements)

DDT Advanced
* Different techniques for handling messages
* Using the windows "common controls"
* Short overview of SDK-style GUI programming
* Mixed DDT/SDK style

Calling Windows API functions
* Understanding datatype differences
* Using API functions

Resource Files
* Resource editors
* Resource syntax
* Converting and using them in PowerBasic

File I/O
* Understanding file read/write modes
* Understanding Windows file lock modes
* Basic I/O statements
* Directory and disk functions
* Different techniques for handling I/O tasks

String Handling
* Variable-length strings
* Fixed-length strings
* (Cover each keyword with copious examples)
* Regular Expressions

Math Operations
* (Cover each keyword with examples)
***I could really use some help with topic ideas on this one***

Error Handling
* Compile errors vs runtime errors
* Error trapping
* Error handling
* Resuming execution
* Different error handling techniques

Comm port Programming
***I have never ever in my life had to talk to a comm port***
***Someone else would definitely have to help here***

TCP/IP Communications
* Introduction to TCP/IP and sockets
* Creating a client application with TCP
* Creating a server application with TCP
* Using UDP

CGI Applications
* Understanding HTTP packets
* Using STDIO and PB/CC for CGI
* Using the CGI app on some common web servers

Debugging Applications
* Purpose of debugging
* Using the debugger
* Alternate debugging methods

Multi-threading
* Understanding threading issues
- Global variable handling
- Race conditions
- Timeout conditions
* Creating and using threads

Advanced Techniques
* Callback Functions
- Gosub Dword and Goto Dword
***Other ideas??***

Miscellaneous Topics
* (Misc keywords)

Optimizing your Application
* Efficient variable use
* Speed comparisons of different operations
* Loading/Unloading DLLs to conserve memory
* Making your application a good Windows citizen



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Troy King
[email protected]

[Don Dickinson]

It would be interesting to have a few chapters on "the real world". There are plenty of people here who have created small libraries and code routines to ...

print stuff
connect/disconnect to the internet
talk to web sites to get stock info, etc
send email
get/set file information (date time, etc)
creating custom controls
encrypt/decrypt
compress
using common dialogs
dynamically allocating memory (pointers)

while some of the things are above in the samples that come with pb, the rest are solutions that people have come up with to solve their real world problems. i'm sure many of the authors that have posted things in the source code forum would be willing to donate to the book.

Best Regards,
Don


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www.basicguru.com/dickinson

[Florent Heyworth]

Good idea Don

call them case studies and choose examples that illustrate various techniques.
[OOPS - Sorry Troy did not see you already had that in there]
Since this is the age of the net I'd suggest touching on CGI/ISAPI
in the TCP communications[/OOPS]. It might be worth adding a strategy
section showing which language features/constructs are applicable
for which kind of situtation in each section.

Cheers

Florent

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[This message has been edited by Florent Heyworth (edited March 18, 2001).]

[Tom Hanlin]

The idea that it's not practical to write because you're not the #1 PowerBASIC programmer
in the world should definitely go down! A beginner's book in particular would perhaps be
better served by folks who have recent experience of beginning PowerBASIC. The ability to
program is also no particular guarantee of communications skills.

It's easier to propose a project than to get it rolling-- but this sounds like a great
idea, and please let me know if I may lend a hand. [email protected]

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Blais Klucznik]

Hi Folks,
I sure hope this project gets off the ground. I also would like to say that an expert programmer who cannot communicate his thoughts is of less value to most of us as compared to a person who does have a good feel for the subject and can convey the
essence of the subject. Just to get started in a orderly learning process is of much greater value than reading a short synopsis written by an 'expert'.

Good Luck on your endeavor.



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Blais

[Troy King]

Wow, thanks for all the good suggestions and comments! I consider
this now an active project.

I've set up a private Yahoo Group as a starting place for working
on the project. I have a feeling the discussion would outgrow the
PB Forums, and PB might not like us using the forum for such an
indirect project. I've got the group set as unlisted,
unmoderated, and membership has to be approved. I'm not planning
on denying anyone membership, but thought this would prevent
joining by random Yahoo browsing. Group info is:

Group name: pb-book
Group email: [email protected]
Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pb-book

I'm not exactly sure how the subscribing works since it has to be
approved; I assume I'll get an email from the group engine or
something. I'll work it out. Anyone interested in joining either
join via the above info or send me an email at [email protected]
and I'll figure out how to get you added. The group's not only
for authors, but for anyone interested in helping shape the
direction of the book.

Thanks again for the kind comments, and I hope to see you in the
group.


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Troy King
[email protected]

[Martin Francom]

Troy,
..I don't know if you have thought of a publisher yet. You might
consider 'Hungry Minds' they publish the 'Dummies' series of books.
They have just announsed release of 'Beginning Programming For Dummies',
this book is going to use Carl Gundel's 'LibertyBasic' as the free
programming language. LibertyBasic compiles to pseudo code and
uses a run time EXE.
..If LibertyBasic can get a book on the shelf at Barnes & Nobels then
it is about time PowerBasic had a presents.
..Check the following web site:
http://libertybasic.swiki.net/10

[Troy King]

Originally posted by Martin Francom:
Troy,
..I don't know if you have thought of a publisher yet. You might
consider 'Hungry Minds' they publish the 'Dummies' series of books.
-snip-

Thanks for the info. I've been hoping to get in with O'Reilly. I've
got the draft of one chapter nearly done (should finish tonight),
and I'm still working on the proposal. I've been doing everything
"The O'Reilly Way" so far, but haven't yet completed the proposal
because some of the topics are still up in the air.




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Troy King
[email protected]

[Blais Klucznik]

Hi Troy,

Best of luck on your endeavor. Will look for your book on the shelves Borders. Of course you will need time. I think I speak for many and we will wait.

Again Good Luck




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Blais