Hello my name is Jeff. I was thinking of something I could contribute to this project and feel I would like to develop an interpreter perhaps BASIC. Before I start such a project I wanted to ask other members here what they would like/not like, if BASIC isn’t wanted here I coukd write a dialect of C as well. In either case any code I would develop would be in C++ and would follow Haiku coding standards.
Your feed back is apprecitated in advance,
-Jeff
In the forgotten age in which BASIC thrived, the user’s entire UI was a console and the user would be instructed to write atomic commands in that console. Said commands came from powerful sources outside the realm of understanding (as they were typically written on packaging and intended for consumers).
Later, the user learned that they could combine commands in resident memory using line numbers. Later still, the user learned to store lines of commands on a cassette tape (or a floppy) and maybe to continue improving those lines in future sessions. And so, the fledgling developer was born.
I would like Haiku to provide a box in every GUI window, in which a command can be typed… Consequently, every window would double as a console and JIT compiler. Powerful scripts could be written for each directory, but with a scope limited to that directory.
This could provide a gradual learning curve similar to BASIC and who knows what the result would be…
A form of BASIC is already available for Haiku. 
It is based off yabasic and offers creating easy GUI applications. You can download and try it out. Comes with sample programs to test out too.
http://www.haikuware.com/directory/view-details/development/language/yab
Some of the GUI programs on Haikuware were created with yab (require ncurses library). I would prefer people stick with Yab because it is very powerful and easy to use and learn.
I am not sure how popular a dialect of C would be. Do you mean to extend the gcc compiler to work with Objective-C/C++?
Would you be interested in fixing tickets (bugs) for Haiku instead? The more bugs that get fixed for Haiku the better it will be. You can post patches to tickets with your comments.
http://dev.haiku-os.org/query
I was thinking an interpreted C like C# since BASIC is already spoken for.
I will also look into bug fixes as well.
Ok, sounds good.
Lots of bugs to choose from so very sure you will find a few you want to crush.
Hi
If your goal is to write a parser, the Logo is interesting because its grammar is clean and simple, and the parsed language is a good learning tool (with graphic abilities - and so Haiku-ish).
see
And above all, do not miss Bison that makes your work much more easier and maintainable.
see
but you are, sure, already aware of it 
PS: And please please please, no more basic (it’s the Micro$low DOS language)
PS2: Is this so obvious than that, I do not like the basic?
Hi Jeff and welcome!
First of all: develop whatever you like to develop on If you wanne get a hint on what projects Haiku would benefit, you can additionally have a look at the Google Summer of Code list here http://www.haiku-os.org/community/gsoc/2010/ideas.
Besides that list, there is an ongoing port of the Java runtime system (speaking of interpreter) by Andrew Bachmann, so if you like working in a small team, you could contact him (http://www.haiku-os.org/blog/andrewbachmann/2009-12-21_openjdk_hotspot_libjvmso_built_haiku).
You also might wanne register on some mailing lists (http://www.haiku-os.org/community/ml), where the main development and the general mailing list are the ones you would like to register to, to get further insights into Haiku’s community.
Hi Jeff,
The first programming language that I sort-of learnt was BBC BASIC under the Beebem emulator, and I found it so easy to learn, especilly given the excellent documentation in the system’s manual. Personally, I think that it would great if this language could be ‘extended’, so that modern programs could be written, and using Haiku’s integrated abilities, (i.e. creating windows, using tracker, etc.) I think that this would help beginners in programming such as myself to create useful contributions to the system, and give them a good place to start. Or, although there is some already, extra support and thingies for python would be quite useful, as although C is widely used and powerful, it is not the most intuitive of languages. But, this is just what I think, so you can create whatever you like!
Cheers.
About Logo: an OpenStarLogo port would be great !
http://education.mit.edu/openstarlogo/
And it’s MIT licensed !!!
Thanks everyone for your comments. Does Haiku have the equivalent to a command prompt or is it completely graphical?
-Jeff
Thanks everyone for your comments. Does Haiku have the equivalent to a command prompt or is it completely graphical?
-Jeff
Applications > Terminal
It uses the bash shell if you know of it already. It is possible to write shell scripts, the equivalent of a batch file. In general, the bash is easier to use than command prompt, but that’s just Windows. I’m not exactly sure how to make your script open in the terminal though, I’ve had to copy and paste mine into the GUI.
Anyway, good luck.