Good Idea or Bad?

[chris319]

Is this a good idea or bad?

How about a premium version of PB which costs a bit more and which has unsigned 32- and 64-bit variables?

I have derived so much use out of PB over the years that, as a paid user, I would be willing to pay some more for this.

Existing paid users would pay a little extra for unsigneds. I'm thinking the premium would be 50% of the current price, or about $45. New users would pay an optional higher first-time price. There would be a version without unsigneds at the current price. Fred could possibly pay another programmer to help implement unsigneds.

PB is a wonderful program but the lack of unsigned 32- and 64-bit variables is a big, gaping hole. We already have unsigned 8- and 16-bit variables. A lot of users would benefit and they are clamoring for it. Maybe a little financial incentive would do the trick.

I am willing to cast variables if necessary. It doesn't have to be an automatic solution for me.

Is this a good idea or bad?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6896

[BarryG]

Is this a good idea or bad?

Fred answered this way back in 2003 when unsigned was first tried: viewtopic.php?p=30233#p30233

It was a deliberate performance decision to remove unsigned variables, so I doubt he'll bring them back.

Existing paid users would pay a little extra for unsigneds

I bought PureBasic for life; that was the license and deal that the seller and buyer agreed to. You can't go and change the license like that after buying. However, grandfathering is okay (new users don't get it for life, but existing users still do). I highly recommend Fred does that from version 6.00 for the year 2020 (it's a nice time to change: 20 years since the first version), but it's up to him. I'd just prefer he gets a regular payment for his efforts (see rule #1 here -> https://www.joisig.com/rules-software-s ... mum-hassle).

[Tenaja]

I bought PureBasic for life; that was the license and deal that the seller and buyer agreed to. You can't go and change the license like that after buying

No, but Fred can add a product, such as Purebasic Pro, and you did not purchase a license to that.

[chris319]

Fred can add a product, such as Purebasic Pro, and you did not purchase a license to that.

I would purchase an all-new license for PureBasic Premium, but only if it has unsigned variables, not without. Whatever price Fred might set for existing users who wish to upgrade would be up to him.

Other languages have 32- and 64-bit variables ... How bad is the performance hit of having unsigneds? Does it outweigh the lack of them?

I'd just prefer he gets a regular payment for his efforts

I'm not going to "rent" PB on a pay-as-you-go basis, either.

[BarryG]

Fred can add a product, such as Purebasic Pro, and you did not purchase a license to that.

Correct, and I'd be totally happy to buy that.

I'm not going to "rent" PB on a pay-as-you-go basis, either.

You wouldn't have to. This is what grandfathering is for (that I mentioned).

[TI-994A]

...20 years since the first version...

Technically, it's 22.

[BarryG]

Technically, it's 22.

The History section in the manual only goes back to 22 October 2000 and says "First public release of PureBasic x86". Unless you're including Amiga or something?

[TI-994A]

The History section in the manual only goes back to 22 October 2000 and says "First public release of PureBasic x86"...

PureBasic was first released in 1998, for the AmigaOS, and support for Windows, Linux, OSX(PowerPC), and MacOS(x86) were added in 2000, 2001, 2005, and 2008 respectively.

However, owing to the demise of the platforms, support was discontinued for the AmigaOS in 2006, and for the PowerPC in 2012. Nevertheless, true to their legacy commitments, those versions are still available for download today, alongside all the other versions that are continually being developed and upgraded.

For some perspective, might I add that in 1998, our dear and diligent captain, Monsieur Frédéric Laboureur was only 18 years old!

[User_Russian]

I suggested simple options to replace unsigned variables.
First is the addition of a logical shift. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52929
Secondly, this is the addition of the Unsigned function, which is similar to Bool, but interprets all variables as unsigned. viewtopic.php?p=485110#p485110
This is much easier than adding unsigned variables.

[ar-s]

No, but Fred can add a product, such as Purebasic Pro, and you did not purchase a license to that.

I think the team has already lot's of work to produce PB for 3 OS + LTS/non LTS + Spider Basic devs...
It's not a bad idea but you shouldn't get your hopes up.