ZPE 1.5.2 is now available to download from my website. It is a huge update that brings so much (and removes so much). ZPE 1.5.2 is known by its code name Pelegosto.
Let's start with what's being removed:
- string_concatenate - added in version 1.3.0, deprecated in version 1.5.0 and now removed in version 1.5.2.
- open_remote_client - added in version 1.5.0, deprecated in version 1.5.1 and now removed in version 1.5.2.
- open_remote_server - added in version 1.5.0, deprecated in version 1.5.1 and now removed in version 1.5.2.
Now for what's new:
- Serialisation and deserialisation of objects and structures: objects and structures can now be saved to disk and retrieved later. This feature is a particular favourite of mine.
- Custom keywords: finally you can customise the compiler with your own keywords and how they are interpreted. This feature is in its early days, but it works as expected.
- Constructors for structures: now you can instantiate a structure with a set of parameters. This feature was requested by one of the original testers of ZPE, wondering why it was you couldn't do this. Well, now I've done it.
- General improvements that fix a few bugs
- Performance improvements, particularly with mathematics
- The jget ZAC, based on cURL. This ZAC is designed to download a file from the central repository of ZPE tools and features. For instance running
zpe -jget stdLib.zexwill download the compiled standard library (now over 400 lines long).
ZPE 1.5.3 is already underway and it's main focuses are on better structures and ZPEObjects as well as a much better compiler. So far in ZPE 1.5.3 the new -l argument for the compiler. This allows you to compile an application into a library, meaning the main function will not be included for efficiency.
The Nintendo Switch, the console Nintendo could not afford to go wrong with, especially after learning that the hard way with the Wii U's failure.
However, I believe Nintendo may go wrong again, and I'm disappointed to see my childhood gaming company make the error again.
If you haven't already heard about the Switch, head on across to Trusted Reviews to see all the information about it.
A lot was good:
- The portability is awesome. I love the fact that I take home my games console and plug it into my TV then take it with me for the bus.
- It's Nintendo, which means some of the most awesome games will come to it
- It's going to support Unreal Engine 4 - that's pretty demanding.
- It's so flexible! I also love the fact that you can disconnect controllers and change things around so much.
- Nintendo will final comply with standards and I will be able to use the USB Type C connector for my laptop to charge it
I will summarise what's wrong with it, and this is my opinion:
- Underpowered. We have seen devices like the new Razer Blade Stealth (amongst many others) adding PCI-Express graphics cards to laptops when they are docked via Thunderbolt. Nintendo could surely have looked into this and made the Switch a 4K gaming experience when it's in the dock and then used a smaller less capable and yet more power efficient graphics chip when it's out and about, couldn't they?
- Overpowered. Seems like a contradiction but I wanted to put that there because the Switch seems to suffer from the same problem that the Wii U Gamepad did. Battery life. How on earth can the Wii U Gamepad only last on battery for three hours when an iPad or even an iPhone can last for up to ten?! The thing only receives a wireless signal with a picture to display and the audio to play with it (as well as act as a controller). And what's worse is the low resolution (especially compared to tablets of today) of the Gamepad. Well, the same is said about the Switch which can last 6 and 1/2 hours playing games, except that it ranges from just two hours with games like Zelda only achieving about that. THAT'S IT?!
- Storage, or the lack of. 32GB of storage is still the best option for 2017?! And knowing Nintendo, it will use eMMC memory which will make it a slow 32GB of storage.
- The price, at £300 I would expect a bit more, especially saying as you can get something like an iPad or Xbox One for just a little more, even if they haven't got Mario and Zelda on them.
Feel free to criticise my opinion and write your thoughts below.
It has taken me most of last weekend and some of today (I have other work to be doing for my PhD as well, so I can't give this full dedication) to get here, but I'm happy to say that DragonScript 2 is finally here on my website.
All pages have yet to have this but any page which is within sections from A-M are now enabled for DragonScript 2 apart from my developer tools. You can probably see the speed difference between the two.
Oh and it was exactly 4 years ago tomorrow that I rebuilt my website for the first time, and for the very first time used HTML5 and CSS. Version 2.0 was finally released tomorrow 4 years after a long struggle to rebuild the content. Now in version 3.7 I'm quite happy with the way things are, particularly now with DragonScript 2 and BalfBlog.
DragonScript is the PHP system I made and use to power my website. It's a pretty genius way of making my website highly consistent and flexible. It allows me to make a single page in a matter of seconds. Previous to DragonScript I had a silly less capable way of managing my content. Now with this improved version I need not worry because it is all handled efficiently and quickly by DragonScript.
But now in 2017, two years after DragonScript was first used on my website, it is coming to an end. Well at least version 1 is. The new version DragonScript 2 is miles better. It is more efficient with memory and handles things better.
DragonScript originally worked by including a PHP file that was a template and providing several variables. No longer does it do this. Part 1 is still true but now in part 2 it includes the one $dragonscript variable which provides an array of values that are used to tell the server what to do. Things were messy in the original version of DragonScript and things like $beforeParseInclude variables were just plainly unused.
DragonScript 2 also provides a new system which finds the name of the webpage and finds associated files. For instance if the page was called index.php it would look for index.head.php and index.foot.php for any additional code needed. As you'd imagine, this system is far easier to maintain too.
I consistently release a new version of ZPE each year. This year version 1.5 has been released.
In 2015 version 1.3 was released which brought the most changes to ZPE since it began in 2014. Version 1.3 added so much including the very basic compiler that version 1.2 started. Over 50 functions were added in this version. This version added if statements, for loops, while loops, functions, structures (although they didn't work properly until 1.4), RMM (Real Math Mode), plugins, libraries, lists, associative arrays, constants, variables, incrementing and decrementing, built-in converters (and for a while one example did even exist that converted ZPE code to Java), image functions and of course, my favourite feature of ZPE, anonymous/lambda functions.
In 2016 version 1.4 was released and it brought a huge shake-up of changes, but its main focus was consistency between internal functions and imported ones. It also brought structures that are similar to those used in other languages such as function(){ } instead of function() end function. As well as this it brought the LAMP interpreter, lazy evaluation, function chaining, the object type, a better hashing of variables and functions, the internal manual for information on built-in functions. Version 1.4 also brought support for many other new things, including octal and hexadecimal without the need for a function.
In 2017 version 1.5 was first released. This version currently adds one major new feature, Remote ZPE. Remote ZPE allows a system running ZPE to act as either a client to another ZPE installation or to act as a server that other ZPE Clients can utilise. The purpose of this is for smaller, much less capable machines such as the Raspberry Pi to be able to quickly take advantage of the processing power of a more capable machine. This was developed because I use ZPE remotely on my Raspberry Pi through SSH to do things, but what I'd really like is ZPE to work on my MacBook and send the result to my Pi (so it goes like this Mac connect to Pi through SSH which then uses ZPE Remote to do processing on Mac which returns the result to Pi which shows on my Mac, this way I can process scripts stored on my Pi and utilise them on my Pi).
The future of ZPE 1.5 however is very clear. 2017 will bring the following major features to ZPE:
- JSON parsing (already done and available in all versions of ZPE) (1.5.0)
- Remote ZPE: Client and Server (already done and available in all versions of ZPE) (1.5.1)
- Multi-threading: Currently this project is underway and it's easy to test with ZPE version 1.5.1 (currently beta users only) using the following:
$v = threaded function() { for ($i = 0; $i < 100000; $i++) print($i) end for }. It's easy to do and I'm sure it makes sense. - Interfaces for objects: allowing programmers to define interfaces
- GUI builder: a way to develop graphical interfaces in applications (not sure if I will include this by default in all installations and might just include it as a library)
- Conversion methods: New built-in methods to make conversion plugins easier to write
- Plugins will gain access to internal functions: A method of accessing built-in functions from plugin functions
- Typo: The new Typo typing system will finally come to version 1.5.x (finished in 1.6.7)
- Includes: Inclusion techniques to include non compiled code in the non compiled version of the code. Much like the C and PHP include methods. (1.5.1)
- Include imported functions: The import function will be changed to be a part of the compiler and will change the way it is run.
- Ordered associative arrays: associative arrays currently store just one key and do not follow an order, this will allow associative arrays to be ordered (1.6.8)
- ZPE JSON: Improve JSON parsing and drop the use of GSON (the JSON functions will all work identically to how they work with GSON, it's just the wrapper functions on the top that will change).
- Improved compiler: the compiler currently flows within the compiler-interpreter cycle whereby the compiler generates the input for the interpreter. This is fine for simply using the -i tool, but when running applications it means that one more step still needs to be run - transform the AST to something meaningful. With the latest update, I aim to change this and put the compiler in a different place. The basics of the compiler will remain the same, but one more step will be added when compiling to a compiled program. This will improve the speed of the ZPE Runtime when applied to a compiled application (it will have no effect on the interpreter). (1.7.1)
- Power to the objects: objects, and, as a side-effect structures will be getting more powerful. It will soon be possible to declare a function within an object using lambda functions. As well as this objects will be getting more support in the LAMP parser. (1.6.3)
- Passing parameters by reference: just as it says. I aim to have this feature in version 1.5.3. This would mean functions like list_dequeue would no longer need to be reassigned to the variable. (1.7.1)
I am highlighting in green the features as they get added and highlighting in orange features that are partially added, so keep an eye on this post for updates.
There are several more but they will be put here once I have decided whether or not they are feasible or not.
This is a very tall order, and Typo and the conversion functions are currently at the bottom of the stack and although they have been suggested for this version and were originally planned for version 1.4, I still may need to delay them to version 1.6.
Also, with the release of version 1.5, support for any version 1.4 iterations of the software has now ended, I encourage you to upgrade to the latest version of ZPE.
Since I started ZPE a year and a half ago it's come a very long way. From time to time I've put development in the background of my life, but I've begun working solid on it again. Now in January 2017 there are a whopping 155 built in functionalities plus a standard library designed to supplement the core functionalities with additional ones including sorting functions and much more.
When I launched ZPE publicly for the first time in July 2015 there were just 30 odd functions in the core. I was struggling to get even to 50 after months of development but suggestions kept flowing in from friends and people who used it. 6 functions have since been removed in favour of compiler based changes (the add, subtract, divide, multiply, modulo and concatenate functions, because all of them have since been replaced by a compiler change called LAMP).
The result of all of this is a much more efficient parser and interpreter but also a much more functional one. Who wants to write their code full of add functions rather than write a simple plus sign for instance? Adding LAMP was one of the biggest changes, and the latest update to it was made in November and it made a huge change that improved it overall.
I continue to develop ZPE as a major project of my own, but I also use it for things now, and for that it's awesome. I know people do download it but feedback has since become less frequent.
2017 will bring a whole lot of new stuff to my projects. I am going to start with one of my recently more neglected projects, ZPE.
ZPE will be rebranded this year, well in a way. ZenLang will no longer be called ZenLang and will finally get a proper name (more on this later). ZPE has received a huge number of updates in the last few days, bringing it to version 1.5.0.1, the most secure, advanced and best version to date. In this version there are a number of fixes and new a number of new features. Version 1.5.0.x brings a lot of new things like the remote server, which can now be used as a message server too. On top of this, ZPE now features a JSON parser, through Google's GSON. GSON has been worked to parse the JSON into a list of lists (or an array of arrays). There are new security and safety updates in version 1.5.0.x that are crucial. On top of this, the LAMP parser was improved and loops have been further optimised.
My website has received it's yearly revamp, this time in the form of DragonScript 2 which is still being put in place on all pages across the site, but it's clearly a lot faster than the original DragonScript. I've also been adding more responsive tools and my code samples now have copy buttons for modern browsers. As well as this I introduced BalfJS to my front end. This is a new way of keeping all of the JavaScript I want to use organised. It also means that functions are better named too and prevents conflicts. My JavaScript was a mess from the days when I first built my website in 2013 and it was time to finally tidy it up four years later. I have also taken out the table sorter and I am also saying goodbye to the wonderful MouseTrap plugin which was awesome but no longer necessary.
BalfBar received an update in early December that brought many new features with one in particular, a sidebar menu. This gives developers the choice between two different types of mobile menu. As well as this it was made overall more efficient.
BalfBlog also received it's latest update in early December. This update, version 2.2, brings a lot of new things including more control over users, a better UI and an improved plugin interface for the tools menu. As well as this it became more modular than ever and far better organised, and in some ways can now be seen in an MVC manner. BalfBlog also became more dynamic, adding more ways to make your blog or website easy to update in the future. Finally, OneSignal's push notifications and social media buttons were added. This year a lot of new features are planned including the long awaited 'Single BalfBlog Multiple Blogs' (SBMBS) strategy that will eliminate the need for multiple copies of BalfBlog on your webserver. This is planned and I'm still putting together ideas on how best to approach it.
BalfSlider may receive some updates this year since it is dependant on whether or not new features come to CSS or JavaScript that can improve it. Many effects of the plugin require both CSS3 and JavaScript to work.
As mentioned before, ClickIt and the ZenLang website will come to their ends this year. My donation thermometer did not make it high enough (I made more in ad revenue this last few months). However, the themometer did make it high enough to help pay for my website for another year.
NPAPI or Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface was the norm for a very long time in web browsers. It was a single standard that allowed all browsers to use plugins. But plugins have plauged the web for a long time too. One of the most well known plugins, Adobe Flash, had become pretty much everywhere, requiring users to download a plugin for the system. It used NPAPI. On top of this, plugins were cumbersome to develop and meant developers needed to know several in order to achieve the results they wanted. Now the web is finally moving away from a plugin interface to a much more standards based interface.
NPAPI was the interface (a set of methods which each plugin must implement) which all plugins complied with. This was originally developed by Netscape, one of the original companies to develop a web browser and Microsoft's competitor in the first browser war. Netscape developed many standards and one of them was this plugin interface that has left us in the messy situation we are in now.
NPAPI has been around for a long time, but last year was supposed to be the end of it. In 2015 Mozilla announced they had plans to drop NPAPI by the end of 2016. This was later brought back to March 2017. Chrome has already dropped NPAPI and did so in September of 2015, only after turning support off by default in April that same year. Google cited that it "has become a leading cause of hangs, crashes, security incidents, and code complexity" thus that the older architecture of it needs "to evolve the standards-based web platform". It's important to note that NPAPI is an architecture from the 90s when the web began to take shape and at that point we were using HTML 3.2 and lower. Since then HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript have all brought huge improvements to the standards-based web.
Many plugins already exist that take advantage of NPAPI including Flash and the Java applet plugin. But both of these can be replaced by much more modern solutions.
By removing the NPAPI browser developers are encouraging standards. They are making it more difficult for those who develop these plugins to make them a part of the future. By doing this they are offering a safer web environment for everyone. They are also ensuring that there is no longer the complicated mess of choice that Netscape and Microsoft once supported through the NPAPI and that we live in a standards controlled environment where no one company owns the web.
A standards based website is the way to go and older websites need to update to catch up with standards. Nobody has time for these older websites that rely on these plugins now, they themselves are slow and ineffective and need to catch up.
I am happy to announce that my website has had quite a few new changes in the last few weeks, all of which I am finishing now. They are almost all content based but some also improve the actual usability of the website.
DragonScript 2
Last month I began to implement an improved version of DragonScript, DragonScript 2. DS2, codenamed Robber, is a huge update that improves the performance of the backend of my website, thus resulting in shorter loading times for users. It will take a while for me to bring it to every page on my website since some are still using DragonScript 2015 and I have to manually change the PHP file to update the page to DS2.
New page percentage scroller
If you are on my website reading this then you will see that I have implemented one of those scrollers that goes from left to right as you scroll further down the page. I thought this was a nice navigation element to bring to my website and it was pretty easy to implement so, well you know, I thought I'd give it a try. Lemme know what you think by the usual method!
Goodbye old email accounts
My website email addresses are now limited to the webmaster, information and the no-reply subscribe and admin. Getting in touch via the contact form now goes straight to my personal email address.
New tutorials
I've finished my MySQL tutorial and I am now working on a new tutorial on Web Design. This tutorial focuses on design techniques, design patterns and methods to make a website more efficient and usable. It's fully planned out (and believe it or not I am organising it using the web design technique called card sorting). This tutorial is already coming on. The inspiration to start this tutorial comes from a book I recently purchased on design techniques. It also comes from the fact I now consider myself a bit of a design geek, since I am absolutely obsessed with usability and aesthetically appealing designs now more than ever.
New site features
Since you can now access a JavaScript method without the need for plugins to copy and cut stuff on the web, I have added a Copy button to every code sample on my website. If you cannot copy using the execCommand function in JavaScript, an error appear for you in the form of an alert. This is a pretty cool little feature.
Changes coming
On top of this, clickit.education will finally shut down this year since I didn't receive enough in donations to cover it. The same goes for the zenlang.net website I never finished. I will be moving both to subdomains on my website (www.sites.jamiebalfour.scot). On top of that my DevNet will no longer be maintained. All of this allows me to focus more on my personal website, which I guess is good. I may bring back zenlang.net at some point in the near future, but for now clickit.education will be the biggest loss. Like I said, it is all based on donations which were just not enough this year (there is also ad revenue, which I keep most of so I can continue to pay for things like Creative Cloud used to maintain this website).
Here is another of my summaries of the year things that I do at the end of the year. I always feel sad saying goodbye to another year, and I like to remember the last day of the year in a sentimental way. That's why I'm writing this post, which will not interest anyone but me since I use my blog as a log of my life as well as a personal blog that everyone can read.
I am finishing my yearly completion of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask as we speak. I'm hoping to finish it before the year is up since I do this every year at this time of year.
Also, I write these posts every year, probably just because I'm sentimental and enjoying doing this, you don't need to be interested at all in this post.
Last meal I ate: Salmon
Last thing I had to drink with a meal: Coca-Cola
Last place I went out to eat: Goblin Ha'
Last film I watched: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Last game I played: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Last song I listened to: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask soundtrack - Clock Town 3
Last person I have sent a text to: My brother
Last friend I have spoken to in person: Calum Cormack
Last TV programme I have watched: Scotland's Hogmanay Live
Last major purchase for myself: Canon EOS 1300D
Although 2016 has been a pretty bad year, there have been some real highlights in it. I graduated this year so it wasn't all bad.
I wish you all the best and a happy new year for 2017!
