About Imagine Programming!
You Imagine, We Create! That's our motto. Imagine Programming started about
7 years ago, as a website containing tools managed by one person.
This day, Imagine Programming assist developers in their projects and has a good
network and list of resources to do so. Imagine Programming also develops software
for the everyday user, but our main goal is software development.
Imagine Programming develops in many languages, like PureBasic, Lua, C++, C# and VB.net.
We tend to prefer PureBasic and Lua because these languages do not need an external
dependency package like .Net Framework, are cheap in price and have a clear syntax,
mainly because we want our software to work on systems without
those dependencies aswell.
What exactly do you do?
We develop software that helps a software developer in his dayly job. Tools, packages,
plugins, dynamic linked libraries, PureLibraries (For PureBasic) scripts and more. In the
software section of our website, you can find all products by Imagine Programming.
Our products are mainly goaled at the
Indigorose and
FantasieSoftware communities,
because we are members of both and want to contribute as much as we can. But don't
be mistaken on our products, the fact those communities inspire us, doesn't mean
we don't develop valuable products for any software developer. In fact, we are working
on multiple projects now, which could be valuable and helpful to any software developer.
We also develop back-ends for lua engines, plugins, libraries or even the back-end. When
it comes to back-end lua developing, we mainly develop plugins for Autoplay Media Studio.
These plugins can be found in the
AMS Plugins section of this website.
Imagine Programming works closely together with
Lua Devils on a project, for more information
visit the Lua Devils website:
Lua Devils
The reasons...
- PureBasic
Quoted from PureBasic.com:
PureBasic is a native 32 bit and 64 bit programming language based on established BASIC rules.
The key features of PureBasic are portability (Windows, Linux, MacOS X and AmigaOS are currently
supported), the production of very fast and highly optimized executables and, of course, the very
simple BASIC syntax. PureBasic has been created for the beginner and expert alike. We have put a
lot of effort into its realization to produce a fast, reliable system friendly language.
In spite of its beginner-friendly syntax, the possibilities are endless with PureBasic's advanced
features such as pointers, structures, procedures, dynamically linked lists and much more.
Experienced coders will have no problem gaining access to any of the legal OS structures or API
objects and PureBasic even allows inline ASM.
- Why do we use it?
Well, the above description pretty much sums it up. Small executables, fast executables, a large
amount of libraries available and a strong growing and supportive community. PureBasic is a perfect
fit for writing plugins, libraries and extensions for other software development kits (like AMS), but
PureBasic is also perfect for writing extended and large applications and tools. Those are the main
reasons we use it, the subs are: Lightweight, cheap and no external dependencies required.
All PureLibraries (Extensions for PureBasic) available are staticly linked, so no extra files
need to be dragged along with the final executable. You can also include dynamically linked libraries
but that's your own choice, large apps could end up as a single executable.
The reasons...
- AMS
Quoted from IndigoRose.com:
AutoPlay Media Studio 8.0 is the software development tool of choice for professional software developers
wanting to create reliable autorun CD / DVDs and autoplay menu systems. It’s used by thousands of
programmers to build a wide variety of multimedia software development projects. AutoPlay Media Studio
is ideally suited to creating visual programming projects like intereactive training applications, video players,
software demos and other extreme programming, database programming, business application
development and agile software development projects.
Simply combine images, music, video, flash etc – and drag n’ drop your way to fully interactive software
applications. To help you get started quickly we provide extra resources including video training,
professional content add-ons, an online user forum, and much more!
- Why do we use it?
Main purposes: Testing. Writing Autoplay Media Studio plugins is one thing, but getting them to work
requires testing. We have done some applications using
AMS, but in the end PureBasic will outwin
AMS
thanks to it's extended functionality. AMS is perfect for CD/DVD menu's, training applications etc, but when
you are talking about applications using MDI controls and childwindows, we choose PureBasic. It is
possible in AMS, but it takes much more effort and debugging before you get what you want. Although,
thanks to Lua Devils, a large amount of plugins is available allowing you to create all sorts of objects and
controls on an AMS window, without much trouble. AMS has Lua 5.1 embeded in it's engine, all code written
by the user is therefore in Lua. We develop back-end systems (Plugins) for AMS so the user can spend
less time on researching, debugging, trying and even failing. For example, heavy AES encryptions or
Whirlpool fingerprinting can't be done using AMS' native functions, that's where plugins come in.
Nothing is impossible in Autoplay Media Studio, it sometimes just requires a plugin or two to help
you out!
We have now got a license for Autoplay Media Studio 8.0, which is using Lua 5.1 and has loads
of new options. Go check it out at
http://indigorose.com
Anyone could download a free personal version of Autoplay Media Studio 8.0. It has all the stuff the
professional version has! It's all good with the personal edition, the released apps must be freeware,
and it will show a small and short notice at shutdown of the application, but all that doesn't matter
anymore when you actually try and write your very own application!
Go check that one out as well at
http://www.autoplay.org/
- Bas Groothedde
Imagine Programming
Raalte OV, The Netherlands.
Contact