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Category: Cross-Platform

Do you need an iMac Pro for Development?

Of course you want an iMac Pro! But do you really need one for your development work? Most of the iMac Pro videos and reviews seem to focus on video and audio editing, which are certainly tasks that make use of the many cores that are available (8-18).

But software development is also a Pro task. What benefits does an iMac Pro bring to a software developer?

Typically most people will opt for a computer that probably has four cores such as found in the i5 and i7 series. These are used in the popular Macbook Pro and iMac models, for example. Four cores sure sounds like a lot so why would a developer need more?

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WinAPILib on GitHub

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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10 Print

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

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!).

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Do I need a Xojo Cloud server during development?

If you are just starting the development of your first web app you may be wondering if you need to get a Xojo Cloud server right away. In most cases, the answer is no. You can develop your application on your own computer and sign up for a Xojo Cloud server when you are getting close to deployment and are ready to test in as close to a real world situation as possible.

There are differences of course between how a web app will execute on your computer with a single user (you) versus on a server that is anywhere from hundreds to thousands of miles away with many users connected all at the same time. For the most part, you don’t have to think very much about this but there are areas where you should.

Keep the following 3 things in mind when developing without a cloud server.

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What it means for your Xojo projects if Mac goes ARM

I’ve speculated for some time now that Apple might decide to start putting their own ARM-based processors in Mac desktop and laptop computers. Apparently, I’m not alone in thinking this. It makes a lot of sense. Apple’s big advantage is being in control of all of the important aspects of their product lines and the processor is both figuratively and physically at the center of their products.

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10 Universal Truths About Starting A Consulting Business

Are you tired of working for someone else or simply ready to start your own company? I founded and have been successfully running Xojo for over 20 years and prior to that I was a consultant for many years. I can attest to the importance of getting a business set up right from the beginning. Whether you are a developer looking to start a software consulting business or an entrepreneur looking into any other kind of consulting, some truths are universal.

Getting off on the right foot means your business will be that much closer to being in the 50% that will survive its 5th year. Here are ten truths for starting your own software consulting business:

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ipify for Xojo

ipify is a very useful web service (an API) that promises to always be available to attend requests, letting us know the public (or external) IP address we are using to connect to Internet. We can get this small piece of information as pure Text or in JSON or XML formats.

This post was updated in 2021 to using Xojo’s API 2.0.

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