I am interested in writing some multimedia type applications which display graphics and play synchronized sound (MIDI or .wav). I'd like these programs to run under Win 98 thru Win XP. I am trying to decide on a programming language.

I've used other languages in the past, first under DOS and then under Windows. I can't say that I've found a language that does everything that I need and doesn't require 5 years of full-time to learn and use effectively.

I have used VB4-VB6 before and found it easy to construct the user interface but was disappointed in the speed of program execution. It has also sometimes been frustrating trying to figure out what the compiled code was trying to get the hardware to do.

I've flirted with the idea of learning VC, but the learning curve scares me.

I'm looking at PowerBASIC now. I've heard of RealBASIC but have never tried it.

In the end, I want to create a single .exe file that runs under Windows 98 thru XP. I suppose ultimate power comes from calls to the Win API (but I'm not sure).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

If you want to talk directly to the hardware any version of BASIC is not the answer.

To get any application to work under all version of Windows from Win98 to WinXP you are going to have to compile the application under those OS's That is the way it is. There is to many differences between the OS for an application to be able to run under all of them. It has nothing to do with the language you use, just the different way the different OSs work.

Stuart

Thanks for your reply.

I was hoping that if I used a compiler designed to produce code that will run under Win98, that that code would run on any Win ver that followed. I was hoping that the newer versions of Win were somewhat backward compatible. Am I wrong about that?

There is a limit to backward compatibility, especially when it comes to using the API. There are some APIs that will only work under Windows 98. There are some that are specific to Windows 2000/XP.

Some of the numerous DLLs you will be using will have different entry points, some entry points won't exist between different versions of Windows.

Some of the differences are so subtle that you only realise it when the application crashes. You are more likely to have success running an application compiled under Window XP and run on Windows 98, but even that can throw up incompatibilities.

A lot of applications will run on all versions of Windows, depends on what the application does. There is only one way to make sure it will run on all versions and that is to test it on all versions.

Stuart

If you are looking for better compatibility across all Window's releases and faster execution (than VB) it may be a good idea to move to a compiled language such as Delphi or VC++.

You may also want to consider using the .NET Framework with VB.NET or C#.NET for faster execution and this does not have the steep learning curve of VC++ however programs you write (with .NET 2.0) will not be compatible with the 9X OS releases.

>> If you are looking for better compatibility across all Window's releases and faster execution (than VB) it may be a good idea to move to a compiled language such as Delphi or VC++. <<

VB is a compiled language so that is not the problem. VB6 as the option to compile to token format as of old or compile to native code the same as C++.

Only badly written VB programmes run slowly. A well written VB application is only marginally slower than one written in C++ or Delphi. Most non-trivial VB applications spend 80% of their time running code written in C++.

As stated earlier, it is the DLLs that are the problem and that applies to all Windows programming environments.

Stuart