P+ for HP Prime Development in PPL

[Insoft]

P+
Insoft exclusively employs a proprietary programming language known as P+ for developing software intended for the HP Prime.

P+ is a proprietary programming language designed to mitigate the challenges associated with code maintenance and comprehensibility in the HP Programming Language (PPL). P+ serves as an intermediary language that addresses these issues by introducing support for pre-processing and facilitating code organization. P+ code is pre-processed into a single PPL file.

Insoft has made the decision to release the software responsible for converting P+ to PPL to the general public. This software, developed internally, allows external developers to utilize the specialized programming language by seamlessly converting their own code written in P+ into PPL.

In reality the P+ language is basically an extension to the PPL language to help with code maintenance and comprehensibility.

Download P+

[Tim Wessman]

Multiple files are supported...

As is static data, resources, etc. Just nobody seems to be using it.

[toml_12953]

(05-11-2023 01:14 AM)Insoft Wrote:  PPL does not support pre-processing or multiple files, resulting in a single large file that can be unwieldy to manage.

PPL certainly does support multiple files. If you create a PPL routine and save it, you can call that routine from any other PPL program. I have a routine called TAB to space output (I wish the terminal had a monospaced font!)

Code:

EXPORT TAB(X)
BEGIN
  LOCAL I,T;
  T:="";
  FOR I:=1 TO X DO
    T:=T+" ";
  END;
  RETURN T;
END;

I use this in most of my programs I converted from legacy BASIC programs. This is a simple example but called programs can be as complex as you want them to be.

[jonmoore]

Be careful now @Insoft, you can't be considering getting into a bun-fight with the HP representative responsible for bringing the Prime to market (and a whole lot more besides)?

But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. However, the grammatical errors on main HP Prime page doesn't fill me with confidence.

[toml_12953]

(05-14-2023 07:10 AM)jonmoore Wrote:  Be careful now @Insoft, you can't be considering getting into a bun-fight with the HP representative responsible for bringing the Prime to market (and a whole lot more besides)?

But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. However, the grammatical errors on main HP Prime page doesn't fill me with confidence.

Their, they're. Its OK. They would of written it better if they new howe.

For people who don't natively speak English, the above is NOT the way to write!

[jonmoore]

The most confusing thing is that the OP is using a .co.uk web address which would subconsciously make one believe English is the first language of the author.

In one short sentence we have "writing THERE own apps FOR ADD FUNCANALITY to THIRE calculator".

I make as many spelling mistakes as the next man, especially when writing forum posts in haste, but we're talkng about a published web page here. Not only that, it's a page advertising a pre-processor for the HP PPL language. Pre-processors need precision if they're to succeed at their advertised task. If the OP can make so many grammatical mistakes in a very short sentence, it doesn't inspire confidence regarding the quality of said pre-processor.

[Tim Wessman]

(05-13-2023 01:54 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  I use this in most of my programs I converted from legacy BASIC programs. This is a simple example but called programs can be as complex as you want them to be.

No, there actually is new functionality to make "projects" from the on-calc editor that prescans all files (no more declarations), readonly objects and data, encapsulated functions, variables, embedded python sources, embbedded cas programs, images, local save files, etc.

note to OP, not trying to discourage you or anything. Happy to see people contributing stuff. Just wish we had time to properly fully document all the new stuff that was added before we wound things down internally. :/

[toml_12953]

(05-14-2023 12:29 PM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  

(05-13-2023 01:54 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  I use this in most of my programs I converted from legacy BASIC programs. This is a simple example but called programs can be as complex as you want them to be.

No, there actually is new functionality to make "projects" from the on-calc editor that prescans all files (no more declarations), readonly objects and data, encapsulated functions, variables, embedded python sources, embbedded cas programs, images, local save files, etc.

note to OP, not trying to discourage you or anything. Happy to see people contributing stuff. Just wish we had time to properly fully document all the new stuff that was added before we wound things down internally. :/

Can you give us a hint at how?

[Amer7]

What I've noticed and the big flaw of this calculator is that it's not user friendly.
By what I mean user friendly Is you need to bee a fricking programmer to write a basic programs.

Like other calculators do it much more simplistic and user friendly. And I dislike this about Hp prime.

[Eric Rechlin]

I downloaded the x64 version, but I can't get it to run. When I try to start it, I get the following two errors -- maybe you need to statically-link it when compiling, or else include dependencies or point us to where we can get these missing files:

---------------------------
pp2ppl.exe - System Error
---------------------------
The code execution cannot proceed because libstdc++-6.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

---------------------------
pp2ppl.exe - System Error
---------------------------
The code execution cannot proceed because libgcc_s_seh-1.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

[jonmoore]

As I mentioned in my original post regarding P+,

Quote: Not to look a gift-horse in the mouth

My intentions in this thread wasn't to put the OP off from creating a potentially valuable resource for the HP Prime community.

But the manner in which he publicized his offering, the attention to detail evident on the webpages promoting P+, and the fact he's using a .uk domain name yet appears to not be a native English speaker made me cautious concerning potential security issues.

I'm not going to install anything on my workstation or HP calculator unless I feel secure about the source of said code.

Regarding the native language of the OP, Insoft is listed on the iOS app store as Richard Hughes. That's very much a typical English name. Yet another factor that made me nervous regarding potential security issues.

https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/rich...d320954795
https://www.insoft.uk/appstore.php

When you look at the information taken as a whole, I believe it's fair to call attention to the fact that the OP could very easily be the author hacked pages within someone else's web presence. I'm not saying that's the case here, but it could easily be the case going by the evidence.

On a more positive note, the OP has corrected the grammatical errors on the HP Prime related page of the Insoft website.

https://www.insoft.uk/prime.php

[Eric Rechlin]

(05-17-2023 11:03 AM)jonmoore Wrote:  When you look at the information taken as a whole, I believe it's fair to call attention to the fact that the OP could very easily be the author hacked pages within someone else's web presence. I'm not saying that's the case here, but it could easily be the case going by the evidence.

Pretty sure that is highly unlikely, and claiming it could "easily be the case" is extremely insulting to the original developer and also shows a lack of understanding of how malicious actors distribute harmful code.

[jonmoore]

(05-17-2023 02:25 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  

(05-17-2023 11:03 AM)jonmoore Wrote:  When you look at the information taken as a whole, I believe it's fair to call attention to the fact that the OP could very easily be the author hacked pages within someone else's web presence. I'm not saying that's the case here, but it could easily be the case going by the evidence.

Pretty sure that is highly unlikely, and claiming it could "easily be the case" is extremely insulting to the original developer and also shows a lack of understanding of how malicious actors distribute harmful code.

We'll have to agree to differ on this, but I believe 30+ years working at the coal face of interactive-media creative strategy qualifies me to have an opinion regarding where and how bad actors play out their tactics (projects I've been involved with over the years have included the digital strategy for The Guardian Newspaper, New Scientist Magazine, Dazed & Confused Magazine, Amnesty International, Levi jeans and more besides).

Any comments I've made in this thread have been in the hope that the OP would enter into the dialog. He responded only once to Tim's initial feedback. And I didn't find this very reassuring.

[jonmoore]

There you go. A little bit of two way traffic and any worries I had, no exist no longer.

@Insoft, It will probably have to wait until next week but I'm happy to have a poke around your wares at that point. I run Linux, macOS and Win10 concurrently, using Synergy to share the trackpad cursor between the three environments. The reason I mention this is that I won't have to wait for the Windows build to be fixed before testing. But going forward, I can test both macOS and Win10 (and Linux if your setup allows you to build for Linux - I'm on Linux Mint, but Ubuntu/Debian compatibility is usually enough).

[StephenG1CMZ]

It is interesting to hear that programming can be easier than natural language for dyslexics.
I had imagined the strict syntax of programming languages would make things difficult.

[dmh]

Why isn't Python one of the voting options?

[jonmoore]

(05-17-2023 08:53 PM)Insoft Wrote:  I’m British
I got ChatGPT to tidy up that text, I’m dyslexic so most I write is all over the place and ., just placed were they look like they’re needed then I give it to AI ?.

At least coding is more polished, as code just seems more natural and easier to understand than English grammar

Makes sense. I've met a good number of talented programmers over the years who were dyslexic.

@StephenG1CMZ, it's the very syntactic preciseness of programming languages that makes them easier to navigate for some dyslexics when compared to spoken/written languages such as the English language.

[Tyann]

(05-13-2023 01:37 PM)Tim Wessman Wrote:  Multiple files are supported...

As is static data, resources, etc. Just nobody seems to be using it.

Bonjour

Pour les derniers programmes et applications que j'ai écrit, j'ai utilisé cette possibilité de plusieurs fichiers:
Un pour les constantes et variables globales, un autre pour le programme principal encore un autre
pour les routines.
Mais je ne sais pas comment intégrer des images par exemples ou stocker des données ni utiliser l'instruction Resource ?
Un peu de documentation ou quelques exemples seraient effectivement bienvenu.

Hello

For the last programs and applications I wrote, I used this possibility of several files:
One for the constants and global variables, another for the main program and another one
for the routines.
But I don't know how to integrate images for example or store data or use the Resource statement?
A little documentation or some examples would be really welcome.

[dmh]

Thanks for your reply. I understand what your product does but my thought was that if (say) 80% of people said they would use Python only then this would help provide a complete picture of the PPL and P+ users relative to all Prime users.

I primarily use Python on the Prime and I'm curious if there are others who do similar.

(05-18-2023 09:23 AM)Insoft Wrote:  

(05-18-2023 06:52 AM)dmh Wrote:  Why isn't Python one of the voting options?

P+ is not really about another language as such it’s more of a tool to aid programming in PPL so why they are only three options as it’s all about the one language.

[compsystems]

Hello

How are objects of type array manipulated? How are parameters passed by reference?