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====Vala and Genie Programming====

==={{color text="What are Vala and Genie?" c="black"}}===
Vala and Genie are new programming languages, really new. Vala came first, in mid-2006, with a C#-like syntax, followed by Genie in mid-2008 with a Python-Boo-like syntax. These languages use the same compiler and support all the same features, so take your pick.
http://puppylinux.com/genie/
http://live.gnome.org/Genie

Forum thread:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=39560

==={{color text="Vala" c="black"}}===
GNOME itself is written in C, but many of the higher level libraries that make up the GNOME platform (such as GTK+ and Pango) make heavy use of the GLib and GObject frameworks, which implement a complete object system including types, messaging, classes, and all of the other components that make up a typical object oriented application program interface (API). GObject makes it possible to write object oriented GNOME applications in C, and also makes it simple to provide wrappers to GNOME for object oriented languages like C""++"" or Python.

While GObject makes object-oriented programming in C possible, it remains somewhat cumbersome. The GObject wrappers for other languages can be even worse, introducing yet another layer of dependencies which can include virtual machines of their own. Vala was created in an attempt to address these problems and make GNOME programming easier. Vala provides a C#-like syntax that integrates GObject features, but the valac compiler compiles to C output rather than assembly. The resulting C compiles normally with gcc, plus it can be distributed as source packages fully usable on platforms that do not have Vala installed. That allows the developer to use Vala's modern language features — dynamic type system, assisted memory management, and so on — while still making source releases compatible with C applications and libraries.

In addition to GLib and GObject, the Vala project produces bindings to the major GNOME libraries: GTK+, GDK, Cairo, SDL, GStreamer, D-Bus, GIO, and many more. In addition, several external projects provide their own bindings for Vala (such as Clutter), and there are third-party efforts to create bindings for other libraries, such as OpenGL. Plugins for Vala support are available for the Eclipse, Anjuta, and MonoDevelop IDEs, as well as for the editors Emacs, Vim, and GEdit. Val(a)IDE, still in development, is a dedicated Vala IDE written in Vala itself.

The latest release of Vala is 0.7.3, which went public on May 26, 2009. It is a bugfix release for the 0.7 series, which is intended to be the last development series before 1.0. The biggest change in the 0.7 series, according to developer Jürg Billeter, is to C header file generation. In previous releases, Vala would generate a .h header file for every .vala source file, which caused problems:

This caused various issues when the dependencies between the .vala source files get complex or more specifically, circular, and it did not allow us to have internal methods that can be used in multiple .vala files but remain outside the public API. Therefore we decided to move to a single public C header file with 0.7 and stop using separate header files for internal methods.

That change demanded making changes to the build system for existing Vala applications, but Billeter said it should be the last such headache for a while.

Vala 1.0 is scheduled to be released in September of 2009, coinciding with the release of GNOME 2.28. According to Billeter, the project is on track to make the 1.0 deadline, which will mark the start of a long stable release cycle during which application developers can count on language stability. The bindings to GNOME libraries are maintained separately, Billeter said, and are added to and enhanced on an as-needed basis, so they are not subject to the same schedule.

The project offers a tutorial and sample code for those new to Vala; some familiarity with GObject is expected. Benchmarks between Vala and C show no significant execution speed losses (in some cases, Vala even beats plain C).

The project maintains a list of applications developed using Vala, in whole or in part, including GNOME panel applets and full-fledged applications. The webcam utility Cheese is currently maintaining a Vala branch in addition to its main trunk, just to road test the viability of the language. Billeter noted that although people generally think of using Vala only when starting a new project, it is possible to incorporate it into an existing C code base, too. "Among our users are both, people writing C that now want to move to something higher level and also people that just start programming in the GNOME environment," he said.
http://lwn.net/Articles/334969/

==={{color text="How do I get started with Vala/Genie" c="black"}}===

On the past few days i have been incursionating into the world of vala. I am absolutely and completely a noob, so all I will do is tell you how to install it and give you a few links that aren't so easy to find (randomness is on my side).
Installing Vala/Genie Compiler + Val(a)ide on puppy linux.

==={{color text="Step one: Installing Devx." c="black"}}===

First of all, according to MU, you need to install devx_xxx.sfs (where xxx is your version number). For example, say i were using Puppy 4.2.1, the devx module i'd have to install would be devx_421.sfs . You can find them all altoghether here:

ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/sfs_modules-4/

Installing a sfs is easy, don't worry. All you have to do is download it, check it's checksum with the [[MD5sum MD5sum]] command to avoid headaches, and after (or before, please yourself) you have compared it with the checksum the ftp gives, you have to place it in /mnt/home/.

Once that step is completed, you must go to Menu > System > Bootmanager > Load SFS, and ask it to load it at boot. When you reboot, you can open a console and type "make". If it says: "make: No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop." you have successfully completed step one.

==={{color text="Step 2 :Install vala." c="black"}}===

All you have to do is to install these three pet files:

http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/

After that is done, you are all ready to work with vala. You can edit your files in a text editor, and save them with .gs extension for genie, and .vala extension for vala. Once the file has been saved, you can compile it with "valac file.gs" or "valac file.vala"

That will create an executable file in the current working directory.

==={{color text="Extra juice:" c="black"}}===

Vala tutorial with source examples: (A must check.)
[[http://live.gnome.org/Vala#head-9c728d151a2a0483d4f3b5837e5b545df9d8499d]]

Horribly complex tutorial: (sorry)
http://live.gnome.org/Vala/Tutorial

Valadoc:

http://live.gnome.org/Valadoc

http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/ Download

""
What is this?


An introduction to using the Genie Programming language under Puppy
Linux





What are the main features of Genie?


 

<ul>
<li>

A true compiler 
A "Hello world" console executable
is 2.9KB, a GTK GUI "Hello world", with a OK button thrown
in, is 5.8KB

</li>
<li>

Easy Python-like language 

</li>
<li>

Easy GTK programming 

</li>
<li>

Link directly with the system shared libraries 
No huge binding
libraries, nothing required at runtime. No bloat! 

</li>
<li>

Library support 
Compile-time bindings available for most shared
libraries. 

</li>
<li>

Plain-C intermediate code 
Only needs Gnu C compiler -- so can be
compiled for any operating system and CPU. 

</li>
<li>

Object oriented 
Objects are not "bolted on" as for some
languages that started life as procedural-only. But Genie code can
be non-object-oriented if you wish.

</li>
<li>

Programs written in Genie should have have similar performance and resource
usage to those written directly in Vala and C 

</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>

Genie has none of the bloat and overhead that comes with many other high
level languages which utilize a VM (Eg Python, Mono, et al) 

</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>

Classes in Genie are actually gobjects so Genie can be used for creating
platform code like widgets and libraries where gobjects are required
for binding to other languages.

</li>
<li>

The generic nature of Glib means that you can use Vala/Genie for any
kind of programing, but Glib/Gobject does make it particularly easy
for GTK coding.

</li>
</ul>

 


What is the difference between Vala and Genie?


Vala is more like C/Java,
Genie like Basic. 

 
 

Who Created Genie?


Jamie McCracken
created Genie, 
Jürg Billeter and Raffaele Sandrini are the main
developers of Vala.





When were Vala and Genie created?


Vala came first in
mid-2006, with a C#-like syntax. 
Genie followed in mid-2008 influenced in part by Python and Delphi. 
These languages use the
same compiler and support all the same features 
 
 


How do I use Genie in Puppy?

 
 
 

Is Genie a good language to start programming with?


Being
like Python it forces an easy to use spaced format


with
a simple modern syntax. It is more consistent and flexible than BASIC
and logo or other languages recommended for beginners.


Is
it suitable for professionals?


Code is compiled to C,
making it fast and efficient. 
Linux uses C as its main language
and the Gnome project is developing Vala

 

Basic Concepts

<h3><a title="line-58" name="line-58"></a><a title="line-59" name="line-59"></a><a title="line-60" name="line-60"></a><a title="head-7e1f7785e2694584bef6e0248d97455d212e54e7" name="head-7e1f7785e2694584bef6e0248d97455d212e54e7"></a>
Files</h3>

<a title="line-61" name="line-61"></a><a title="line-62" name="line-62"></a><a title="line-63" name="line-63"></a><a title="line-64" name="line-64"></a>
Genie code must be written in
files with the *.gs extensions. 


<a title="line-65" name="line-65"></a><a title="line-66" name="line-66"></a><a title="line-67" name="line-67"></a><a title="line-68" name="line-68"></a>
When you want to compile Genie
code, you give the compiler a list of the files required, and
Genie/Vala compiler will work out how they fit together. 

<h3><a title="head-3cb2d476add2537eeea0470a3d90ff1a6d4581f2" name="head-3cb2d476add2537eeea0470a3d90ff1a6d4581f2"></a>Syntax</h3>

<a title="line-69" name="line-69"></a><a title="line-70" name="line-70"></a><a title="line-71" name="line-71"></a><a title="line-72" name="line-72"></a>
Genie's syntax mixes features
of several high level languages including Python, Boo, Delphi and D 


<a title="line-73" name="line-73"></a><a title="line-74" name="line-74"></a>Genie
is case sensitive as a result of it being compiled into c code - so
be careful when mixing case in your code. 


<a title="line-75" name="line-75"></a><a title="line-76" name="line-76"></a>An
identifier is defined by its name and its type, e.g. <tt>i:int</tt>
meaning an integer called i. In the case of value types this also
creates an object of the given type. For reference types these just
defines a new reference that doesn't initially point to anything. 


Genie has a mechanism
called Type Inference, whereby a local variable may be defined using
<tt>var</tt>
instead of giving a type, so long as it is unambiguous what type is
meant.


Genie support is now in
Gtksourceview: 
 
Where can I find out about String handling in Genie?


<a href="http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00609" target="_blank">http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00609</a>
 
 
Genie strings page:
 
 
<a href="http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00608">http://puppylinux.com/blog/?viewDetailed=00608</a>


Just to remind to install
the gtksourcefile pet as well as the Valide one 
Mark has kindly
prepared 
<a href="http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/" target="_blank">http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/</a>



Especially Glib is
important. 
For example the string functions in Genie are the GLib
functions: 
<a href="http://valadoc.org/?pkg=glib-2.0&element=string" target="_blank">http://valadoc.org/?pkg=glib-2.0&element=string</a>
 
A bit difficult to find when you are new, but very essential! 





Where is valide code saved?


cd
/root/valide/Genie


./Genie


Or:


/root/valide/Genie/Genie






How do you compile code?


valac -C v5.gs


This just
creates v5.c and v5.h.





Can the code be used in other Linux distributions?


Yes 
 


Is Vala available for Windows?


Yes


http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/Vala-for-Windows/






Where can I find out about Valide


http://valaide.blogspot.com/2009/03/genie-support.html


 
Code
examples


Hello world


[indent=2]
 
 
init 
 
var a = "hello world" 
print("%s"
, a) 


array


init


a:array
of string = {"abc", "def", "xyz"}


for
s in a


print(s)


random
method 


from GLib.
 
<a href="http://valadoc.org/?pkg=glib-2.0%26element=GLib.Random">http://valadoc.org/?pkg=glib-2.0&element=GLib.Random</a>



Example:


Code:


init


//
return a random value from 1 to 9


a:int


a =
GLib.Random.int_range(1,10)


print("%d"
,


 
 


Infinite
Monkey theorem


// Infinite
Monkey Theorem 
// Lobster and Shadow, March 2009 LGPL 
 
//
use from command line 
// imt ["search text"] 
//
generates random characters and searches for a given pattern eg 'in
the beginning was the world' 
// warning strings longer than "in
the" may take minutes or hours to find 
 
// program
demonstrates: 
// basic functions 
//
passing parameters in command line 
// random
character generation 
// constant 
[indent=3] 
def
getRandomNumber(RangeFrom:int, RangeTo:int) : int /* function
to create random number between range */ 
return
GLib.Random.int_range(RangeFrom,RangeTo) 
 
def getRandomChar()
: char
/* function to generate
ascii codes from a-z and space (32) */ 
num:int =
getRandomNumber(0,27) 
if num == 0 
num = 32 
else 
num =
num + 96 
return (char) num 
 
def
addRandomChar(myText:string) : string
/* function add text from command line */ 
var retText = new StringBuilder 
retText.append(myText) 
retText.append_c(getRandomChar()) 
return
retText.str 
 
init 
USAGE:string = "Usage:\n\t ./imt \"some text for
monkeys to generate\" " 
theText:string =
args[1] 
if theText == null 
theText = "" 
theText = theText.down()
/* change any text input to lower case */
 
myText:string = "" 
 
if theText != "" 
do
 
do 
myText = addRandomChar(myText) 
while theText.len() != myText.len() 
print("%s" , myText) 
if theText != myText 
stdout.printf("\n") 
myText = "" 
while theText != myText 
stdout.printf("\n")
 
else 
print("%s"
, USAGE)
/* this
appears if program run without text */ a)

 

 
Links


<a href="http://live.gnome.org/Genie">http://live.gnome.org/Genie</a>
official genie site


<a href="http://puppylinux.com/genie/">http://puppylinux.com/genie/</a>
Barry's site 
 
<a href="http://valadoc.org/?">http://valadoc.org/?</a>
 
 
<a href="http://www.vala-project.org/doc/vala/">http://www.vala-project.org/doc/vala/</a>
 
<a href="http://live.gnome.org/Vala">http://live.gnome.org/Vala</a>
 
<a href="http://live.gnome.org/Vala/Tutorial">http://live.gnome.org/Vala/Tutorial</a>
 
<a href="http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/">http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/</a> 


<a href="http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/">http://dotpups.de/puppy4/dotpups/Programming/Vala/</a>
Download


 


Who created this info?


Started by lobster may 2009

""

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