While searching for an implementation of the Barnsley's Fern fractal I came across a implementation that has .pde extension. Which programming language uses this extension?
Implementation Page
This code is from Processing.org an open source Java based IDE. You can find it Processing.org. The Arduino IDE also uses this extension, although they run on a hardware board.
EDIT - And yes it is C syntax, used mostly for art or live media presentations.
The .pde file extension is the one used by the Processing, Wiring, and the Arduino IDE.
Processing is not C-based but rather Java-based and with a syntax derived from Java. It is a Java framework that can be used as a Java library. It includes a default IDE that uses .pde extension. Just wanted to rectify #kersny's answer.
Wiring is a microcontroller that uses the same IDE. Arduino uses a modified version, but also with .pde. The OpenProcessing page where you found it is a website to exhibit some Processing work.
If you know Java, it should be fairly easy to convert the Processing code to Java AWT.
Bad news I'm afraid (or maybe great news?) : it isn't C code, it's an example of "Processing" - an open source language aimed at programming images. Take a look here
Looks very cool.
pde is extesion for:
Processing: Java derived language
Wiring: C/C++ derived language (Wiring is derived from Processing)
Early versions of Arduino: C/C++ derived (Arduino IDE is derived from Wiring)
For Arduino for example the IDE preprocessor is adding some #defines and some C/C++ files before giving all to gcc.
Software application written with Arduino, an IDE used for prototyping electronics; contains source code written in the Arduino programming language; enables developers to control the electronics on an Arduino circuit board.
To avoid file association conflicts with the Processing software, Arduino changed the Sketch file extension to .INO with the version 1.0 release. Therefore, while Arduino can still open ".pde" files, the ".ino" file extension should be used instead.
Each PDE file is stored in its own folder when saved from the Processing IDE. It is saved with any other program assets, such as images. The project folder and PDE filename prefix have the same name. When the PDE file is run, it is opened in a Java display window, which renders and runs the resulting program.
Processing is commonly used in educational settings for teaching basic programming skills in a visual environment.
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I'm trying to find a good GUI library I could use to create a program on the computer that connects to a microcontroller by USB. I've never done any GUI work before but I have done a lot of webpage design/tools. We are going to program the microcontroller with C but I don't think the GUI will need to be C. It needs to work on Windows, so probably compile on Windows too. I've also never done any USB transmission but I'm hoping to take it one step at a time.
Right now I'm looking at using GTK but it needs a bunch of other things to download with it. I'm also going to look at QT and someone else suggested making a Windows Forms Application. There's a lot of options out there so I'm having trouble figuring it out.
As for my requirement, it just needs to be a very simple GUI that has a few control buttons, a display area (info from microcontroller), a notification area (basically error messages go here), and maybe a graph. I've included a prototype GUI help give you an idea of what I'm doing.
Edit: It needs to run and compile on Windows. We don't really have a budget for it, free open source is preferred. I don't need something elaborate and fancy, I just want to get it done as fast as possible.
We are using a TTL-232R cable, UART interface. I know nothing about USB transmission, school has crushed me.
From what you've specified, I would set base-camp up at Java.
Java in Eclipse to write the code.
Java Swing libraries (helped by the WindowBuilder plugin for Eclipse) to "draw" the GUI. It is very easy to create "Windowsy" GUIs using these.
JFreeGraph libaries to allow you to create graphs very easily, again from within Eclipse.
RXTX library for "virtual COM port" serial communication within Java (it doesn't sound like you're using proper USB, but just RS232 with a USB adapter).
Your created GUI would run on any machine with Java installed, which is not a big ask for the end user. You can even create a Windows executable/installer from the resulting Java files if you wanted it to be a (apparently) native Windows application.
And - bonus - all the tools mentioned are free as a bird.
It will kind of depend on what kind of compiler, IDE, etc you will settle on. If you are going to windows cold, and
money is an issue, then open source is always a good thing to look at. I have enjoyed using eclipse and Code::Blocks IDEs. For C/C++, I use minGW. In terms of GUI plug-ins, HERE are some conversation with GUI recommendations specifically for use with Code::Blocks.
If money is not an issue, I have use National Instruments LabWindows/CVI full dev kit forever. It is one of the easiest ANSI C compilers/IDE I have ever used. It is only ANSI C, but has extensions to make using instrumentation easy. I have written a little USB stuff (not much), sockets, instrumentation, and many GUI apps.
Please comment what tools you currently prefer, I may have other suggestions.
Lazarus CodeTyphon has cross platform native compiler with GUI working on every supported platform. It supports 8 OS-CPU host layers (Win32, Win64, Linux32, Linux64, FreeBSD32, FreeBSD64, Solaris32 and Solaris64), and 25+ OS-CPU target layers. It also incorporates many graphical widgets and SCADA like behaviour with PascalSCADA and other components. There are wrappers for LibUSB.
I would use Microsoft Visual Studio to develop the GUI. They offer a free version called Express. I would use the C# language but MSVS supports other languages as well so just choose whichever you're most comfortable with. The best thing about MSVS is that there are millions of developers out there, which means that you will be able to search for and find lots of examples for how to use an RS-232 COM port or USB interface. I'm guessing that you'll be able to find GUI objects for graphing and other objects as well. (The basic stuff like buttons and edit boxes is all built into MSVS.)
BTW, you need to sort out whether you're using an RS-232 COM port or a USB interface. They're both serial interfaces but they're not the same thing. Either could work.
Soon I will be coding the file patcher for my application (check if the files are up-to-date and download newest if not) so its not much to code.
The problem is that I don't want the application users to be forced to use additional libraries like .NET (even though I like to code in vb.net or C#). I keep in mind that the .NET framework is installing together with the Windows but still there are plenty people who somehow doesn't have this framework installed, and thats why I'm looking for the programming language that wont require an additional libraries to run the application.
I haven't got much knowledge about programming in C++/Java but I have some experience with the AutoIT, vb.net, C#.
So the question is, what programming language will be the best for this purpose?
This answer is for "what language is available on any version of Windows without additional requirements". There are many other options for "what I can use to create application that can be xcopy deployed on any version of Windows".
JavaScript is probably your best bet - it is supported on most recent versions of Windows (according to Wikipedia article - Windows Script Host JavaScript available for scripting starting with Windows 98). Allows basic operation with files and HTTP communication - maybe enough for simple patching application.
Next would be native Win32 application, but lack of C++ experience will make it hard.
Freepascal, D and Go — to name a few — are much easier to program than C++ and could be told to produce statically-compiled binaries (not dependent on anything but certain system DLLs).
I, personally, would use the latter as it has all the necessary tools (including HTTP and binary I/O) in its standard library and is super-easy to get started with.
we are developing GUI using eGUI under MQX RTOS (ARM Cortex M4). Instead of hardcoding widgets, callbacks etc on each screen we would like to use a tool to desing GUI screens graphically, then generate XML description file that could serve as a basis for GUI code generator (as a second part of a tool).
QTDesigner is something very like that, but cannot be customized to another, custom set o widgets. So we're looking for any GUI designer that could offer options for customization (at least screen size and widgets set) and produce xml output file with description of desing.
Then we can develop code generator out of this xml file...
Any idea, pointer, advice ?
Thanks in advance,
Bule.
Pencil's native file format is based on XML.
http://pencil.evolus.vn/
This is nowhere near ideal, but with the right scripting (Ruby and Nokogiri for instance) you could convert the pencil file in to a more cleaned up and direct XML file, which you then use in a separate step to generate GUIs.
Unfortunately, most GUI Designers are closely tied with their widget toolkits. Qt Designer -> Qt, Glade -> GTK+, wxFormBuilder -> wxWidgets. Customizing a different designer to your library is not easy. The best option is to choose a GUI library that comes with a designer. The two main pre-supported graphics libraries for MQX RTOS are eGUI and PEG. Only the PEG Graphics Library has a GUI designer and the only free version (for NXP Silicon only) is PEG-Lite. If you're using STM32 hardware, it's probably best to use TouchGFX which has a designer and is free for STM32 devices only.
TotalCross have developed a tool that converts Android XML built by Android Studio's Layout Editor to their Java API that runs on TotalCross VM. It's all explained in this video. The tool has not been officially released on their product page but it's on GitHub. Here is a list of GUI libraries for embedded. Half of them have GUI designers.
There are a lot of flexible, complete, cross-platform, et cetera, graphical user interface frameworks. Most of them provide many tools to turn software development easier. When building a desktop application in Qt environment, for example, one usually would have different file types, headers, implementation files, and user-interface files (.ui).
Normally, a developer design an application and, once compiled, no changes can be made to user interface.
I would like to know how to create an portable modularized application that could dynamically load personalized user-interfaces (from .ui or binary files, for example).
The system design would be such that the core controller would somehow load it's presentation from remote source.
My question is: Are there any library that could provide this kind of flexibility in GUI applications development? How to implement such a architecture?
Thank you in advance for responses.
You can use QUiLoader to load .ui files at runtime.
You can have a GUI based on html which can be modified at run time.
The new version of Qt has a gui/themes based on an html like design language - Qt quick or something?
I have a desktop program I downloaded and installed. It runs from an .exe file.
Is there some way from the .exe file to tell what programming language was used to write the program?
Are there any tools are available to help with this?
What languages can be determined and which ones cannot?
Okay here are two of the sort of things I'm looking for:
Tips to Determine Whether an App is Written in Delphi or Not
This "IsDelphi" program by Bruce McGee will find all applications built with Delphi, Delphi for .Net or C++ Builder that are on your hard drive.
I use WinDowse (a small freeware utility written in Delphi) to spy the windows of the program.. for example if you look at the "Class" TabSheet you can discover the "Class" Name of the control..
For example:
TFormXX, TEditYY, TPanelZZZ for delphi apps
WindowsForms10.XXXX.yyy, for .NET apps
wxWindowsXXX for wxWindows apps
AfxWndXX for MFC/VC++ apps (I think)
I think this is the fastest way (although not the most accurate) to find information about apps..
I understand your curiosity.
You can identify Delphi and C++ Builder apps and their SKU by looking for a couple of specific resources that the linker adds. Specifically RC Data\DVCLAL and RC DATA\PACKAGEINFO. The XN Resource Editor makes this a lot easier, but it might choke on compressed EXEs.
EXE compressors complicate things a little. They can hide or scramble the contents of the resources. Programs compressed with UPX are easy to identify with a HEX editor because the first 2 sections in the PE header are named UPX0 and UPX1. You can use the app to decompress these.
Applications compiled with .Net aren't difficult to detect. Recent versions of Delphi even include an IsAssembly function, or you could do a little spelunking in the PE header. Check out the IsManaged function in IsDelphi.
Telling which .Net language was used is trickier. By default, VB.Net includes a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic, and VCL.Net apps included Borland specific references. However, VCL.Net is defunct in favour of Delphi Prism, and you can add a reference to the VB assembly to any managed language.
I haven't looked at some of the apps that use signatures to identify the the compiler, so I don't know how well they work.
I hope this helps.
First, look to see what run time libraries it loads. A C program won't normally load Visual Basic's library.
Also, examine the executable for telltale strings. In most executables, this is near the end. If the program uses string constants, there might be a clue in how they are stored.
A good disassembler, plus of course an excellent understanding of the underlying CPU architecture, can often help you identify the runtime libraries that are in play. Unless the exe has been carefully "stripped" of symbols and/or otherwise masked, the names of symbols seen in runtime libraries will often provide you with programming-language hints, because different languages' standards specify different names, and vendors of compilers and accompanying runtime libraries usually respect those standards pretty closely.
Of course, you won't get there without knowledge of the various possible languages and their library standards -- and if the code's author was intent to mask the information, that's not too hard for them to do, either.
If you have available a large set of samples from known compilers, I should think this would be an excellent application for machine learning. I believe so-called "supervised learning" is relevant here. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about the topic—only that I have heard some impressive results presented at conferences.
You might dig through the proceedings of the Working Conference on Reverse Engineering to see if anyone else is interested in this problem.
Assuming this is an application for Windows...
Does Reflector recognize it as a .NET assembly? Then it's MSIL, 99% either VB or C#, but you'll likely never know which, nor does it matter.
Does it need an intrepreter (like Java?)? Then it's Java (or whatever the interpreter is.)
Check what runtime DLLs it requires.
Does it require the VB runtime dlls? Congratulations, VB from VisualStudio 6.0 or earlier.
Does it require the Delphi dlls? Congratulations, Delphi.
Did you make it this far? C/C++. Assume C++ unless it requires msys or cygwin dlls, in which case C has maybe a 25% chance.
Congratulations, this should come out correct for the vast majority of Windows software. This probably doesn't actually help you though, as a lot of the same things can be done in all of these languages.
IDA Pro Free (http://www.hex-rays.com/idapro/idadownfreeware.htm) may be helpful. Even if you don't understand assembly language, if you load the EXE into IDA Pro then its initial progress output might (if there are any telltale signs) include its best guess as to which compiler was used.
Start with various options to dumpbin. The symbol names, if not carefully erased, will give you all kinds of hints as to whether it is C, C++, CLR, or something else.
Other tools use signatures to identify the compiler used to create the executable, like PEiD, CFF Explorer and others.
They normally scan the entry point of the executable vs the signature.
Signature Explorer from CFF Explorer can give you an understanding of how one signature is constructed.
It looks like the VC++ linker from V6 up adds a signature to the PE header which youcan parse.
i suggest PEiD (freeware, closed source). Has all of Delphi for Win32 signatures, also can tell you which was packer used (if any).