What is new in Ring 1.1?
In this chapter we will learn about the changes and new features in Ring 1.1 release.
List of changes and new features
Ring 1.1 comes with many new features
Better Natural Language Programming Support
Generate/Execute Ring Object Files (*.ringo)
Syntax Flexibility and different styles for I/O and Control Structures
New Functions and Changes
StdLib functions and classes written in Ring
RingLibSDL
Demo Project - Game Engine for 2D Games
RingSQLite
Better Code Generator for Extensions
Using Self.Attribute in the Class Region to define new attributes
Using This.Attribute in nested Braces inside the Class Methods
Better Documentation
Better Natural Language Programming Support
Ring is an innovative language because of it’s compact syntax, smart implementation (small, transparent & visual) and it’s ability to create declarative and natural domain specific languages in a fraction of time.
This release add support for calling methods when an expression is evaluated
check this example:
# Natural Code
new program {
Accept 2 numbers then print the sum
}
# Natural Code Implementation
class program
# Keywords
Accept=0 numbers=0 then=0 print=0 the=0 sum=0
# Execution
func braceexpreval x
value = x
func getnumbers
for x=1 to value
see "Enter Number ("+x+") :" give nNumber
aNumbers + nNumber
next
func getsum
nSUm = 0
for x in aNumbers nSum+= x next
see "The Sum : " + nSum
private
value=0 aNumbers=[]
Output:
Enter Number (1) :3
Enter Number (2) :4
The Sum : 7
for more information see the “Natural Language Programming” chapter.
Generate/Execute Ring Object Files (*.ringo)
This feature enable you to distribute your applications without distributing the source code. Also it makes application distribution a simple process where you get one Ring object file for the complete project (many source code files). Also using Ring object file remove the loading time required for compiling the application.
Check the “command line options” chapter to know more about this feature.
Syntax Flexibility and different styles for I/O and Control Structures
Programmers are sensitive to the programming language syntax. Great programmers know how to work using many different styles but each programmer may have his/her favorite style.
Each programming language comes with a style that you may like or not. Ring is just one of these languages, but as a response to many programmers asking for a better syntax we decided to provide more options.
Also some of these features are very necessary for Natural Language Programming.
Example :
We have two commands to change language keywords and operators.
ChangeRingOperator + plus
ChangeRingKeyword see print
Print 5 plus 5
ChangeRingOperator plus +
ChangeRingKeyword print see
We have new styles (Optional) for Input/Output.
Example :
Put "What is your name? "
Get cName
Put "Hello " + cName
Example :
Load "stdlib.ring"
Print("What is your name? ") # print message on screen
cName=GetString() # get input from the user
print("Hello #{cName}") # say hello!
We have new styles (optional) for control structures.
Example :
While True
Put "
Main Menu
---------
(1) Say Hello
(2) About
(3) Exit
" Get nOption
Switch nOption
Case 1
Put "Enter your name : "
Get name
Put "Hello " + name + nl
Case 2
Put "Sample : using while loop" + nl
Case 3
Bye
Else
Put "bad option..." + nl
End
End
Example :
Load "stdlib.ring"
While True {
print("
Main Menu
---------
(1) Say Hello
(2) About
(3) Exit
")
nOption = GetString()
switch nOption {
case 1
print("Enter your name : ")
name = getstring()
print("Hello #{name}\n")
case 2
print("Sample : using switch statement\n")
case 3
Bye
else
print("bad option...\n")
}
}
Check the next chapters:-
Getting Started - Second Style
Getting Started - Third Style
Control Structures - Second Style - May looks like Lua and Ruby
Control Structures - Third Style - May looks like C (uses braces)
Syntax Flexibility
Note
All of these styles are provided automatically by the compiler at the same time, It’s better to select one style for the same project (you can create your style as a mix from these styles) for example you can use Put/Get and Braces.
New Functions and Changes
Changed:
get() function : changed to sysget()
sort() function : can now work on list of objects
find() function : can now work on list of objects
Added:
clockspersecond()
CurrentDir()
ExeFileName()
ChDir()
ExeFolder()
varptr()
space()
nullpointer()
object2pointer()
pointer2object()
Check the next chapters
System Functions
Object Oriented Programming (OOP)
Low Level Functions
StdLib functions and classes written in Ring
Ring 1.1 comes with a library called StdLib, it’s written in Ring by the help of Ring Team
The library provide a useful group of new functions and classes
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
Puts("Test Times()")
Times ( 3 , func { see "Hello, World!" + nl } )
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
Puts("Test Map()")
See Map( 1:10, func x { return x*x } )
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
Puts("Test Filter()")
See Filter( 1:10 , func x { if x <= 5 return true else return false ok } )
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
See "Testing the String Class" + nl
oString = new string("Hello, World!")
oString.println()
oString.upper().println()
oString.lower().println()
oString.left(5).println()
oString.right(6).println()
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
oList = new list ( [1,2,3] )
oList.Add(4)
oList.print()
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
oStack = new Stack
oStack.push(1)
oStack.push(2)
oStack.push(3)
see oStack.pop() + nl
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
oQueue = new Queue
oQueue.add(1)
oQueue.add(2)
oQueue.add(3)
see oQueue.remove() + nl
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
ohashtable = new hashtable
See "Test the hashtable Class Methods" + nl
ohashtable {
Add("Egypt","Cairo")
Add("KSA","Riyadh")
see self["Egypt"] + nl
see self["KSA"] + nl
see contains("Egypt") + nl
see contains("USA") + nl
see index("KSA") + NL
print()
delete(index("KSA"))
see copy("*",60) + nl
print()
}
Example:
Load "stdlib.ring"
otree = new tree
See "Test the tree Class Methods" + nl
otree {
set("The first step") # set the root node value
see value() + nl
Add("one")
Add("two")
Add("three") {
Add("3.1")
Add("3.2")
Add("3.3")
see children
}
see children
oTree.children[2] {
Add("2.1") Add("2.2") Add("2.3") {
Add("2.3.1") Add("2.3.2") Add("test")
}
}
oTree.children[2].children[3].children[3].set("2.3.3")
}
see copy("*",60) + nl
oTree.print()
Check the next chapters:
StdLib Functions
StdLib Classes
RingLibSDL
Ring 1.0 provided RingAllegro to be able to create games using the Allegro game programming library
Now Ring 1.1 provide RingLibSDL also so we can have the choice between Allegro or LibSDL
Example:
Load "libsdl.ring"
SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING)
win = SDL_CreateWindow("Hello World!", 100, 100, 640, 480, SDL_WINDOW_SHOWN)
SDL_Delay(2000)
SDL_DestroyWindow(win)
SDL_Quit()
See the RingLibSDL Chapter.
Demo Project - Game Engine for 2D Games
In practice we would create a game engine in a language like C/C++ to get the best performance then provide Ring classes to use the engine.
But many 2D Games are simple and creating a game engine in Ring will be fast enough in many cases
Also this would be a good demo project to learn about the language concepts where we build things using Object Oriented Programming (OOP) then access the power that we have using declarative programming using nested structures or using natural programming.
In this project we selected the first way (declarative programming using nested structures)
Example:
Load "gameengine.ring" # Give Control to the Game Engine
func main # Called by the Game Engine
oGame = New Game # Create the Game Object
{
title = "My First Game"
text {
x = 10 y=50
animate = false
size = 20
file = "fonts/pirulen.ttf"
text = "game development using ring is very fun!"
color = rgb(0,0,0) # Color = black
}
text {
x = 10 y=150
# Animation Part ======================================
animate = true # Use Animation
direction = GE_DIRECTION_INCVERTICAL # Increase y
point = 400 # Continue until y=400
nStep = 3 # Each time y+= 3
#======================================================
size = 20
file = "fonts/pirulen.ttf"
text = "welcome to the real world!"
color = rgb(0,0,255) # Color = Blue
}
Sound { # Play Sound
file = "sound/music1.wav" # Sound File Name
}
} # Start the Events Loop
See the “Demo Project - Game Engine for 2D Games” chapter.
RingSQLite
Ring 1.0 provided support for ODBC to use any database and provided native support for MySQL.
Now Ring 1.1 provide native support for SQLite database too.
Example:
oSQLite = sqlite_init()
sqlite_open(oSQLite,"mytest.db")
sql = "CREATE TABLE COMPANY(" +
"ID INT PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL," +
"NAME TEXT NOT NULL," +
"AGE INT NOT NULL," +
"ADDRESS CHAR(50)," +
"SALARY REAL );"
sqlite_execute(oSQLite,sql)
sql = "INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY) " +
"VALUES (1, 'Mahmoud', 29, 'Jeddah', 20000.00 ); " +
"INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY) " +
"VALUES (2, 'Ahmed', 27, 'Jeddah', 15000.00 ); " +
"INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)" +
"VALUES (3, 'Mohammed', 31, 'Egypt', 20000.00 );" +
"INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)" +
"VALUES (4, 'Ibrahim', 24, 'Egypt ', 65000.00 );"
sqlite_execute(oSQLite,sql)
aResult = sqlite_execute(oSQLite,"select * from COMPANY")
for x in aResult
for t in x
see t[2] + nl
next
next
see copy("*",50) + nl
for x in aResult
see x["name"] + nl
next
sqlite_close(oSQLite)
Better Code Generator for Extensions
We are using the code generator (written in Ring) every day to add new libraries to Ring.
The generator is used to create RingQt and RingAllegro
Also in Ring 1.1 it’s used to create RingLibSDL.
more features are added like
Set/Get structure members (numbers & pointers)
Using constants
Better Generated Code
See the Code Generator chapter.
Using Self.Attribute in the Class Region to define new attributes
We can use Self.Attribute in the Class Region (after the class name and before any methods) to define new attributes.
class Person
name # Define name as attribute if it's not a global variable
address
phone
class person2
self.name # Must Define the attribute
self.address
self.phone
Using This.Attribute in nested Braces inside the Class Methods
We can use nested braces {} while we are inside methods to access another objects, In this case the current object scope will be changed while we are inside the brace and Self will point to the object that we access using braces {}. In this case we can use This.Attribute and This.Method() to access the object that will be created from the current class.
Check the Object Oriented Programming chapter for more information.
Also Check the Weight History Application in GUI Development using RingQt chapter.
Better Documentation
Ring 1.1 documentation (800 pages) is better than Ring 1.0 documentation (340 pages)
Many chapters are added for providing better information about the language like:
Language Reference
Scope Rules
FAQ
And more!