Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Programming On The UK PSX2
Anonymous Coward writes: "According to this article at www.ComputerandVideogames.com the demo disc included with PS2 in Europe will come with a fun programming utility called YABASIC (Yet Another BASIC). YABASIC is an open source language that allows for the creation of simple routines, including rudimentary 3D. The programs created will be saved on memory cards. Isn't the purpose of buying a PSX2 so you don't have to play old- looking games?"
[*] You could do more but lines 10+ showed up as "funny characters" as writing such large programs was never intended.
[**] out of total system RAM of 128 bytes. Also note, the 2600 had no video memory either. The code had to shovel data to the video chip as the scan line was drawing the screen. This consumed all CPU attention so your code only had about 20% CPU to run during the vertical retrace interval. Take THAT PSX2!
The graphics on games NOW are bad. Do you remember what the graphics on the PSX were at the very beging? They were REALLY bad. It's just that game designers haven't figured out how to use the PS2's unique (and it really is) graphics pipeline. When they do....
There comes a time in every man's life when he must say, "No mother! I do not want any more Jell-O!"
Naah - they will combine the YABASIC with Tekken - you will have to fight each letter you choose to type .
--
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
While I agree that C is not that much more difficult then basic just setting everything up and understanding what's going on right away is a little difficult. Getting instant gratification with basic can be a big plus for young people. I suspect that anyone that learned how to program on a PS2 would quickly decide that they wanted to try something more powerfull. That person is more likely to try C, C++, or Java.
And with this a young person would not even have to own a computer. Most american households have at least one computer but sometimes parents are a little uneasy about letting Jr. set up new software on the computer.
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
For kids to screw around with, BASIC is still a decent language. Any 10 year old who's gifted enough to be doing serious programming isn't going to be trying to learn BASIC on a PlayStation 2 anyway.
I don't think my power of abstraction has been crippled by my exposure to BASIC. I easily grasped object orientation. I rewrote a 6,000 line C++ program in 350 lines of Python.
Of course, if you have a better suggestion for a programming language for kids to screw around with, I am all ears.
---
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
BASIC was probably the most important thing that ever happened to me. When I was 11 at Secondary school, I was pretty typical of most geeks (without realising it) and just didn't "get along" with most other kids. So, I went and sat in the library, and had to pretend to read. The books were crap, until I came across one called something like "Programming the BBC Micro in BASIC" which was a real '10 PRINT "Hello world!"' kind of book.
At the time it was Lent (coming up to Easter), and so it being a Catholic school, there was the oppurtunity to not go for school dinners, and instead spend the money on getting into the computer room by donating it to charity. I thought, what the hell, I'm a fat git anyway (still am as it happens) so spent the whole of Lent in there. After 4 weeks, I had learnt the BBC inside out. I was by far ahead of most of the school (including those much older than me), at programming, and from then on I used to spend the small amount of pocket money I got on computer magazines and books. For the last 11 years I have lived, breathed and loved technology, programming and everything that was a part of it all. Even my grades in Maths and Physics went up. At GCSE level under the new national curriculum I was given an A* (top 2% of the country), in Computing, and ended up doing a degree in Software Engineering.
I'm now, at the age of 22, the Technical Director of an ISP and I get to write code as much as I want. I get paid a decent amount of money, I'm happy with my life, and I've certainly escaped the poverty trap that was waiting for me if I hadn't got out early enough (I started working part-time at the age of 15).
In short, if I hadn't picked up that book and just started learning BASIC - even just the "Hello World" stuff, I would not be here right now. I think that as a result, giving people that first taste of the possibilities - that they don't need to be good with a pen or a brush to be creative, and to show them that they can actually create things, is fantastic. And yes, this is probably waffling bullshit, but I will quite happily physically fight any person to the death who says that any initiative to teach kids the basics of coding is pointless. We haven't all got Daddy to buy us the latest laptop (PSX2 will drop to $100 within the year, making it affordable to all), nor are we all endowed with the fantastic skills to be anything that we want to be.
Sometimes kids just need to be shown that they can do this complicated shit and be like us when they grow up if they want to be. In the UK at least, geeks are respected by everybody with any sense.
Apples and oranges.... The PS2 doesn't have a PC processor in it, MHz don't mean shit. I mean the "Emotion Engine" was built with 3d games in mind, PC CPU's aren't, that's why you have a video card. Also if this helps any, remember when the GeForce came out? It's core clock was slower than the TNT2 but it would perform 2x or more compared to the TNT2. Now, tell me again how you can compare a custom chip against a general purpose CPU? I would really like to know. Also please don't bag on something you have no experience with. Its obvious you don't own a PS2 or have even used one. Assumptions based on nothing don't go very far.
I support anything that allows people to look under the hood and see how computers are programmed, this could be a good introduction to programming logic. Children could quickly learn the limitations and abilities of computers.
I don't particularly like basic, but it is an easy language to use for beginners.
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
Add kidding aside, this is a good thing, however you look at it. First off, it lets all us geeks play around with the PS2 without getting out a custom burner and forking over thousands of $$. If someone figures out how to pull the programs off the cards, I could easily see some people learning some nifty peeks and pokes to make the PS2 do some tricks and it could build a community.
Which get's me off to the other good thing. Allowing something to be modified by end users has always proven to be good, just look at the popularity of mods among the FPS's out there. I don't know how you would input code on this, but if it's easy then someone's gonna get bored and come up with some cool stuff. And if they've found an easy way to create code on the PS2, then maybe mod development would extend to the consoles. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to reprogram those street fighter characters or the snipers in syphon filter?
Game programmers are learning that scripting brings about easier content creation, leaving more for the artists requiring less programmer intervention, making better games in less time, and with some of the more creative mods, things that the developers probably never dreamed of, and since the power gamers eat this stuff up, it forms more of a gaming community and can only help to push the creativity of gaming further. I just hope other companies see this, and hopefully implement something similar for their games.
Free Online Woodworking Resources Directory
The usefulness in this isn't to play old looking games, or even to port classics like Asteriods, even though I'm sure a few people will do just that. Think exposing the next generation of kids to game programming. Or programming in general.
---
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
Sell this to sony:
10 PRINT "Pick a number: ";
20 INPUT num
30 PRINT "You typed ", num
40 GOTO 10
when the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. they might as well be dead.
"The European launch of the PlayStation 2 isn't far away, and in an effort to lower costs to the consumer, Sony Corp is striving to negotiate with the UK to reclassify the PlayStation 2 as a computer, which will put it in a lower tariff category. With it's current classification, the PlayStation 2 will carry a 2.2% levy. Sony is even willing to take this issue to the World Trade Organisation. The UK has already rejected the idea that the PlayStation 2 was a computer, commenting that it was not significantly different from the PlayStation." Think i'm blowing out of my arse, look here... They're doing it to get into the lower tariff's, not to encourage newbie programmers =P. If you can program for it, the more you can make an appeal to call it a computer.