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Add to SafariWhen comparing Lobster vs twinBASIC, the Slant community recommends twinBASIC for most people. In the question“What are the best compiled programming languages?” twinBASIC is ranked 12th while Lobster is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose twinBASIC is:
Any code that runs in VB6 will run in twinBASIC (once v1 is released). Code that runs in VBA will also run in twinBASIC, though you need to account for any dependencies on the host application's object model (e.g., the Excel or Access Application object).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Compile time reference counting
Unlike Rust doesn't make the programmer jump through hoops, mainly automatic. Does an analysis similar to the Rust borrow checker to infer lifetimes, but makes life easier on the programmer.
Pro WebAssembly backend
More options for users.
Pro Python-esque syntax
There's an audience who loves that.
Pro Inline structs
Structs are allocated in their parent, and come at zero overhead.
Pro Automatic memory management
Better than Rust. No sadism.
Pro Type inference algorithm
Just works. Goes further than most languages in terms of allowing code without types.
Pro 100% Backward Compatible with VB6/VBA
Any code that runs in VB6 will run in twinBASIC (once v1 is released). Code that runs in VBA will also run in twinBASIC, though you need to account for any dependencies on the host application's object model (e.g., the Excel or Access Application object).
Pro No runtime requirement
The lack of a runtime dependency makes twinBASIC applications very lightweight and portable. Additionally, compiled executables only include necessary code from any referenced libraries. The classic "Hello, World" program compiles down to an 8 KB .exe with no external dependencies.
Pro Compile DLLs to extend VBA functionality
Can be used to extend VBA functionality by compiling standard and ActiveX DLLs in both 32 and 64bit.
Pro 64bit compilation is supported
64bit compilation is supported, as well as 32bit.
Pro At last! a replacement for VB6
At last there is a replacement for Microsoft VB6 - and for VBA too - twinBASIC programming.
Cons
Con Small community
Lead doesn't appear to be so ambitious or has a vision to push making more popular.
Con Compile time reference counting not 100%
Around 5% of time, need to escape to runtime reference counting. Working to get the percentage as low as possible.
Con Lobster not yet totally written in Lobster
Core written in C++. Plans to change that, but has been a long time.
Con Python-like syntax, but different use case and domain
Not Python compatible and often significantly different in purpose and use cases.
