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Author: Paul Lefebvre

WinAPILib on GitHub

Published December 20, 2017 by Paul Lefebvre

Many years ago, the Window Functionality Suite (WFS) library was created by Aaron Ballman. This library was a collection of Win32 Declares (and a few other things) for accessing Windows-specific functionality that was not directly provided by the Xojo framework.

WFS is still available on GitHub, but it has languished over the years. For example, it has lots of legacy code in it for older versions of Windows that is no longer needed since Xojo only supports Windows 7 and later. WFS is also not really compatible with 64-bit projects since the Declares mostly assume 32-bit or bust.

To that end, I’ve started a new open-source project called WinAPILib that is now available on GitHub.

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Compilers 102 – Parser

Compilers 102 – Parser

Published December 8, 2017 by Paul Lefebvre

At XDC 2016 there was a lot of interest in our Compiler session and LLVM. I’ve summarized a bit about LLVM in an earlier post, but to take things further, we put together this series of blog posts on compilers.

These will all be at a high-level. None of these posts are going to teach you how to write a compiler. The goal of these posts is for you to have a basic understanding of the components of a compiler and how they all work together to create a native app.

This is the second post in our ongoing series on compilers. I recommend that you first read Compilers 101 – Overview and Lexer before continuing.

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Compilers 101 – Overview and Lexer

Compilers 101 – Overview and Lexer

Published December 6, 2017 by Paul Lefebvre

At XDC 2016 there was a lot of interest in our Compiler session and LLVM. I’ve summarized a bit about LLVM in an earlier post, but to take things further, we put together this series of blog posts on compilers.

These will all be at a high-level. None of these posts are going to teach you how to write a compiler. The goal of these posts is for you to have a basic understanding of the components of a compiler and how they all work together to create a native app.

Continue readingCompilers 101 – Overview and Lexer
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Contrast Illusion Animation

Published November 29, 2017 by Paul Lefebvre

I was reading Twitter recently and came across this Tweet:

So of course, I though that would be cool to try in Xojo. After a few minutes of playing around I quickly had it.

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10 Print

Published November 10, 2017 by Paul Lefebvre

The other day I saw this article on Dev.To: A Universe in One Line of Code with 10 PRINT

It talks about how you could make a maze-like structure on a Commodore 64 with just this one line of code:

10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10

The author then goes on to show you how you might do something similar using Python and pygame.

I love all things retro and this seemed like fun, so I thought I would whip up the same thing in Xojo.

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The Best Cross-Platform Secret Weapon You’ve Never Heard Of

The Best Cross-Platform Secret Weapon You’ve Never Heard Of

Published November 8, 2017 by Paul Lefebvre

In today’s world, the only way to be sure you are reaching all your potential customers is to target multiple platforms. But cross-platform development is crazy-hard, right? Perhaps, if you are using tools like Java, Qt, Delphi or Xamarin it certainly can be. But with Xojo, cross-platform apps are simple to create.

In fact, Xojo lets you easily cross-compile desktop apps for Windows, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi. Plus, you can use the same Xojo language to create web and iOS apps too (Android coming soon!).

Continue readingThe Best Cross-Platform Secret Weapon You’ve Never Heard Of
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