Announcing SourceCoder 3: Closed Alpha
Published by KermMartian
11 years ago (2013-04-02T23:45:41+00:00)
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SourceCoder 2.5 is one of Cemetech's most popular tools, often vying with the site's front page as the most-visited page each month. SourceCoder began as a simple tool to generate human-readable source code from .8xp TI-BASIC programs, then gradually expanded to understand other file types as well. It added an editor where you could modify or create programs, then export them as calculator program files or save them on Cemetech for later use. Recently, I even embedded the jsTIfied online calculator emulator into SourceCoder so you can write and test TI-BASIC programs without leaving Cemetech. However, SourceCoder 2 is starting to show its age. It can't edit Axe or Grammer source code, the backend is a horrific relic of a decade of honing my PHP skills, and modern editor features like syntax highlighting and code completion are sorely lacking.
To resolve these shortcomings, I am proud to announce SourceCoder 3, a new SourceCoder written completely from scratch. PHP, MySQL, Javascript, and jQuery combine to make a new SourceCoder that is cleaner, easier to use, and more powerful. What features does SourceCoder 3 have, and what unfinished features are planned?
:: Support for TI-83+/TI-84+ BASIC, TI-84+CSE BASIC, Axe, and Grammer programs (mostly complete).
:: Support for viewing, editing, and exporting lists, matrices, and numbers (mostly complete).
:: Better jsTIfied integration: pull out the calculator when you need it, or let it shrink back into the margin when you want to focus on coding (complete).
:: Support for TokenIDE-style editing and a dedicated pane full of tokens and commands, thanks to Shaun "Merthsoft" McFall's hard work and excellent token definition files (to which I am proud to have contributed a modicum of help) (complete).
:: Support for working on, saving, and exporting project, containing programs, pictures, appvars, lists, matrices, and more (mostly complete)
:: BASIC, Axe, and Grammer syntax highlighting, token hinting, and automatic complete (partially complete).
:: Possible sprite/image editing (incomplete).
:: More image export options (incomplete).
Hopefully you're sufficiently intrigued as to be looking for a link to try out this first Alpha release of SourceCoder 3. You're looking in vain, as the application is too rough around the edges for me to publicly link yet. However, I will be accepting requests from particularly motivated alpha testers to give SourceCoder 3 a try, and I look forward to the community's usual excellent feedback on my efforts thus far.
A side-by-side comparison of SourceCoder 2.5's program editor (left) and SourceCoder 3's fledgling interface (right)
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SourceCoder 2.5 is one of Cemetech's most popular tools, often vying with the site's front page as the most-visited page each month. SourceCoder began as a simple tool to generate human-readable source code from .8xp TI-BASIC programs, then gradually expanded to understand other file types as well. It added an editor where you could modify or create programs, then export them as calculator program files or save them on Cemetech for later use. Recently, I even embedded the jsTIfied online calculator emulator into SourceCoder so you can write and test TI-BASIC programs without leaving Cemetech. However, SourceCoder 2 is starting to show its age. It can't edit Axe or Grammer source code, the backend is a horrific relic of a decade of honing my PHP skills, and modern editor features like syntax highlighting and code completion are sorely lacking.
To resolve these shortcomings, I am proud to announce SourceCoder 3, a new SourceCoder written completely from scratch. PHP, MySQL, Javascript, and jQuery combine to make a new SourceCoder that is cleaner, easier to use, and more powerful. What features does SourceCoder 3 have, and what unfinished features are planned?
:: Support for TI-83+/TI-84+ BASIC, TI-84+CSE BASIC, Axe, and Grammer programs (mostly complete).
:: Support for viewing, editing, and exporting lists, matrices, and numbers (mostly complete).
:: Better jsTIfied integration: pull out the calculator when you need it, or let it shrink back into the margin when you want to focus on coding (complete).
:: Support for TokenIDE-style editing and a dedicated pane full of tokens and commands, thanks to Shaun "Merthsoft" McFall's hard work and excellent token definition files (to which I am proud to have contributed a modicum of help) (complete).
:: Support for working on, saving, and exporting project, containing programs, pictures, appvars, lists, matrices, and more (mostly complete)
:: BASIC, Axe, and Grammer syntax highlighting, token hinting, and automatic complete (partially complete).
:: Possible sprite/image editing (incomplete).
:: More image export options (incomplete).
Hopefully you're sufficiently intrigued as to be looking for a link to try out this first Alpha release of SourceCoder 3. You're looking in vain, as the application is too rough around the edges for me to publicly link yet. However, I will be accepting requests from particularly motivated alpha testers to give SourceCoder 3 a try, and I look forward to the community's usual excellent feedback on my efforts thus far.
A side-by-side comparison of SourceCoder 2.5's program editor (left) and SourceCoder 3's fledgling interface (right)
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