AMOS or Blitz Basic 2

[Lonewolf10]

An old topic, but I much prefer AMOS. I have been using it since around 2002, and just finished debugging my AMOS Extension Examiner program (it was uploaded to the AMOS Factory a few days ago).
I have even written my own AMOS extension (not released), though it mainly served as a way for me to practice my ASM skills over the past couple of years.

One important thing I will mention, whilst there are many (atleast 50) AMOS extensions many of them haven't been made properly - this means that whilst the commands will work in the AMOS editor, they will fail when compiled often crashing the Amiga

I wholeheartedly recommend AMCAF (by Chris Hodges) as one of the best (and most reliable) extensions available.


Regards,
Lonewolf10

[Siggy999]

I used Amos way way back in the day when it came out - I eventually ended up ditching it and learning assembly.

When I replaced my Ami, 12 years later, and started playing around again, I downloaded it to try and get a couple of quick utils done that I needed... After a couple of weeks of that I tried Blitz.

Honestly - I prefer Blitz. I found it easier to pick back up - did what I wanted to - had few stability problems, and the integration of ASM was much better.

As for documentation and finding commands:

http://amiga-manuals.npage.de/index.html

you'll find ample documentation for both of them there.

Cheers.

[Djay]

do they both let you take advantage of AGA?

[methodman]

What about CanDo and Vision What are the philosophies of the various language. Does Blitz2 have more compiling objects. Also wouldn't Arexx be similar to the idea of classes in C++ or Java? In short I don't think programming now is that dramitically different or are these languages different ideas altogether.

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Djay

do they both let you take advantage of AGA?

Blitz does - at least from version 2.1. I'm pretty sure AMOS doesn't unless somebody wrote an AGA extension for it?

[TCD]

There are some AMOS games that use AGA and also some user libs available (e.g. http://aminet.net/package/dev/amos/AmosAGA).

[S0ulA55a551n]

I must say I always thought Amod produced really slow executables.

Also things like file requesters etc looked awful. You could always tell a game written in AMos a mile off.

Blitz as many have said is much better, more powerful etc.

Also the versions of blitz for the PC are pretty good.

If I had the choice I would say go Blitz all the way,

[Djay]

Originally Posted by S0ulA55a551n

Also things like file requesters etc looked awful. You could always tell a game written in AMos a mile off.

indeed... this how i found out that Valhalla was made in Amos Pro

you could of course... write a custom file requester

[skateblind]

Originally Posted by Djay

indeed... this how i found out that Valhalla was made in Amos Pro

you could of course... write a custom file requester

Pretty easy to disguise it being from Amos, but I see no reason why...

[Lonewolf10]

Originally Posted by S0ulA55a551n

I must say I always thought Amod produced really slow executables.

Also things like file requesters etc looked awful. You could always tell a game written in AMos a mile off.

AMOS (as can any language) in the wrong hands will produce slow executables. The default file requesters did look awful, which is why I wrote my own and have used it in pretty much anything I have written since then that loaded or saved files

You'd be surprised at some games. There are a handful of AMOS games that were officially published (e.g. Base Jumpers, Valhalla and Jet Strike). Not to mention a handful of well-made games with great graphics - Chilly Chavez, Code Name Nano, Megablock 2, Relics Of Deldroneye 1 & 2, Fortress, Karate Master and Super Bubble Remix to name a few.

I am personally helping the owner of www.amigacoding.com to update the AMOS side of things. There were a few thousand AMOS games made, and I have barely scratched the surface yet. I am also well behind on updates


Regards,
Lonewolf10

[S0ulA55a551n]

There werer some big title written in Blitz as well

I think super skidmarks being one, however think there was a lot of ASM used within it.

[TCD]

A handful actually : http://hol.abime.net/hol_search.php?..._ref_license=1

[john1979]

An old thread, but it came up in a Google search for AMOS vs Blitz Basic.

Which one is best for programming action games such as a platformer or shmup? Blitz seems to be regarded as the fastest but I know that Babeanoid 2 was 100% written in AMOS and it throws graphics around like nobodies business.

So what's the consensus? Or do they come out equal when all is said and done?

[Leffmann]

I like AMOS a lot. It feels solid and has a lot of functionality, but it also has this lack of performance and a few weird artificial limitations for no apparent reason. Blitz was always faster, and on the whole it's really the better language.

[Lonewolf10]

I agree with Leffmann. Whilst I am a fan of AMOS and have never (to date) used Blitz Basic. Here's a summary as I recall:

- Blitz is faster, but is lacking in the documentation department
- AMOS is easiest to pick up, has loads of documentation and 3rd-party support


errr... ok. I thought that list would be longer. Perhaps I am forgetting something?

All said and done, BOTH are capable of producing excellent games in the right hands.

Super Bubble Remix (available on Aminet) is a great example of what AMOS can do in the right hands - I don't know of any other game (except Flashback) that has multiple screen modes... normal, black and white and gameboy!

[Steve]

Blitz Basic can handle the AGA chipset, AMOS can't. So if you want more than 32 colours Blitz is the way to go.

[Mrs Beanbag]

Originally Posted by Steve

Blitz Basic can handle the AGA chipset, AMOS can't. So if you want more than 32 colours Blitz is the way to go.

Not strictly true because you can write your own copper lists, but you won't be able to use AMOS's graphics functions on screens with more than 6 bitplanes.

(You can do 64-colour halfbright and HAM screens anyway)

[john1979]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf10

I agree with Leffmann. Whilst I am a fan of AMOS and have never (to date) used Blitz Basic. Here's a summary as I recall:

- Blitz is faster, but is lacking in the documentation department

I guess Amiblitz 2.44 is now it's natural successor. All the documentation appears to be on amiforce collected into one page. The full manual is in German unfortunately.

Then there's Amiblitz 3. Not sure what the advantages are. It appears to need OS 3.9 and an FPU to run too.

Having said all that. I'm going to have a crack at Amiblitz, despite the scatty documentation, it seems to be the most versatile.

[JPQ]

One important thing to me i started with AMOS but i never understanded how dualplayfield work with AMOS i looked example but still... and to Blitz basic commands have better names... but AMOS is easier maybe understanded but is so buggy at least last time when i used it is so slow even with 060 i cannot imagine program anything with it...

[onkelarie]

I suggest Amos, though it depends what your goal is. For faster performance and tighter programming, Blitz might be a better choice. However, Amos is somewhat more accessible.