I too am excited about where this could go.  If Jeremy and Philip were to
work together, I could see this becoming the first programming IDE developed
from the ground up with blind programmers in mind.

Jeremy, did you ever figure out why my file was producing a runtime error on
opening?

As for additional features, I would like to see line numbers as an option.

        Chris Bartlett


-----Original Message-----
From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On
Behalf Of john
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 2:18 PM
To: Gamers Discussion list
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Blast Buddy

I really like this idea, a sort of compiler before the compiler
thing. I think that it's got a lot of potential, particularly as 
it should (based on what you've said and what I know about code) 
work for multiple languages. If this got more suffisticated I 
could see it coming in very handy for some of the programming 
related things I've got going on right now.


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Jeremy Kaldobsky <jer...@kaldobsky.com
To: audyssey <gamers@audyssey.org
Date sent: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:22:36 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Audyssey] Blast Buddy

I know this isn't a game, per se, but I was messing around with a 
little BGT IDE.  The program, affectionately named Blast Buddy, 
is meant to work a lot like notepad but have features that will 
help BGT developers code.  I still have plenty of things I could 
add, but it's working well enough that I figured I'd toss this 
here to get some early feed back.  The readme file explains its 
features, but since 90% of people won't read it I will paste it 
here right after the download link.

http://www.kaldobsky.com/audiogames/Blastbuddy.zip

Added in version 0.2:  Undo and Redo features using ctrl+Z and 
ctrl+Y.  There is a maximum of 10 "undos" so please let me know 
if you'd like it allow for more.  I've done some testing but I 
would like to hear from anyone who spots any bugs with it.

Blast Buddy
-----------
by Aprone, developed with Philip Bennefall's BGT in mind.

The program should operate very similar to windows notepad with 
only a few changes meant to help developers.  For starters, when 
you leave a line, Blast buddy will check it for some common 
errors.  At the moment it only checks for 2 types, forgetting 
quotes or forgetting the semi colon at the end of a line that 
needs it.  In either case, the program will beep and speak the 
estimated error to help you catch it before moving on.

Think of your program as existing on a set of tiers or levels.  
On the bottom most tier zero, you have your include statements 
and functions.  Your functions become tier 1 and the lines of 
code within them are on this tier.  If you have a block IF or 
loop inside of your function, this would become tier 2 along with 
the code inside of it.  Nested statements can continue branching 
out into higher and higher tiers.  One of the most difficult 
things about programming can be keeping track of these tiers and 
knowing when they end.

Blast buddy has a way to use these tiers to simplify things.  Use 
Alt + Page up and page down to filter your code based on tiers.  
When set to "all", every line of your code appears.  When set to 
tier zero, the normal up and down arrows would only be seeing 
your lowest tier code such as include statements and functions.  
Moving up to tier 1 would expand that a bit more.  This can be a 
quick way to overview what you're working on, without needing to 
scroll through 40 lines of code nested within an IF block.  
Sometimes all you need to read is the line saying "If (age == 
18)" and you already know this is now the place you wish to add 
more code.  I can't say for sure, but I hope this ability to 
condense or expand the view will help developers with speed and 
also with viewing their project in a more managable way.

Another interesting filter method is the comments setting.  Alt + 
Page down will lead you to this setting right below "all".  When 
in this mode, the only lines that will show up are the ones where 
you have written comments.  If you are someone who comments 
sections, dropping down to this view could be the absolute 
fastest way to shrink your code down into an easy to understand 
format.  Once you find the spot you're looking for, simply expand 
your view and continue working as normal.

This was thrown together pretty quickly so there are some things 
that probably won't work quite right, and a few things I still 
mean to add.  You can't highlight multiple lines for the purpose 
of copying and pasting.  Line numbers aren't displayed anywhere.  
You can't use a find or replace feature.  And finally, soft 
background tones of different pitch will eventually play as you 
move up or down in tiers.  This will hopefully make it much 
easier to visualize where you currently are in the code.

I intend to add support for more types of checks.  It would be 
nice for Blast buddy to check for case and spelling errors in the 
BGT key words.  It would also be neat for Blast buddy to track 
the variables names you use, to catch you if you spell one 
incorrectly later on during your coding.  I'm not sure what all 
will be done with this, but it is fun to brainstorm.

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