Hollywood (programming language)

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Hollywood

Hollywood-ide3.jpg
Hollywood IDE on Windows
Basic data

developer Andreas Falkenhahn
Publishing year November 2002
Current  version 8.0
(February 8, 2019)
operating system AmigaOS , MorphOS , WarpOS , AROS , Windows , macOS , Linux , Android , iOS
category programming language
License Proprietary
German speaking Yes
www.hollywood-mal.de

Hollywood is a programming language developed by Andreas Falkenhahn (Airsoft Softwair) , which is sold commercially and which focuses on the creation of multimedia applications.

Hollywood is available for AmigaOS , MorphOS , WarpOS , AROS , macOS , Linux and Windows . The Hollywood Cross-Compiler makes it possible to compile programs for all platforms supported by Hollywood from the same system. For example, Hollywood on Windows can be used to compile programs for all supported platforms. The programs generated in this way are completely independent. B. can also be started from a USB stick . An extension can also be used to compile APK files for Android .

With the additional program Hollywood Designer, the software can also be used as a presentation program or authoring system.

General

Hollywood's focus is on ease of use and platform independence. It is primarily designed for games and multimedia applications. The range of languages ​​currently amounts to around 700 commands, which cover the application areas 2D graphics, music / sound output, file operations, text output, animations, sprites , layers, fading effects, image manipulation, saving image files and AVI video files , date and time functions, and input functions (Keyboard, joystick, mouse) as well as mathematical operations and processing of character strings. Hollywood is programmed using so-called Hollywood scripts ( file extension * .hws), which are dynamically compiled and can also be saved as independent programs. All Hollywood programs run in a sandbox , so that they cannot crash, but instead get out in an orderly manner in the event of errors.

Platform independence

The Hollywood concept attaches great importance to platform independence, which is why Hollywood scripts cannot access the API of the respective operating system. This is to ensure that Hollywood programs can run immediately on all supported platforms. In addition, in other areas, emphasis was placed on leveling out differences between the various platforms as far as possible, for example Hollywood uses specially adapted routines for the output of TrueType fonts so that the text is displayed exactly the same on every platform. In addition, Hollywood can handle Amiga-specific file formats such as IFF-ILBM images, IFF-8SVX tones or IFF-ANIM files under Windows , Linux and macOS .

GUI development

Various GUI toolkits exist for Hollywood . RapaGUI is a cross-platform plug-in for Hollywood, which enables the development of graphical user interfaces for Windows, macOS, Linux, AmigaOS (and compatibles) and Android. RapaGUI uses the buttons provided by the respective operating system, which means that GUIs created with RapaGUI do not differ from the native user interface of the respective operating system. With MUI Royale there is a Hollywood plug-in that allows the programming of user interfaces for the Magic User Interface . Another GUI toolkit for Hollywood is HGui. In contrast to RapaGUI and MUI Royale, HGui draws all buttons itself and therefore looks exactly the same on every platform.

Compiler

A special feature of the Hollywood compiler is that all external files can be automatically integrated into the program to be compiled. This is also possible for fonts . This enables programs to be created that actually only consist of a single file and can thus be easily transported and passed on. The Hollywood compiler can also create Hollywood applets ( file extension * .hwa). These applets are much smaller than regular Hollywood programs, in order to be able to play them, the free Hollywood player must be installed. On Android, the Hollywood Player can be installed free of charge as an app via Google Play . Finally, Hollywood scripts can also be exported as AVI video files .

history

Hollywood originated from the Amiga computer. Inspired by Amiga programming languages ​​such as AMOS , Blitz Basic and Amiga E , the author Andreas Falkenhahn started developing Hollywood in spring 2002 after graduating from high school. Version 1.0 appeared in November 2002 exclusively for 68000 -based Amiga systems. One month later the program appeared for the PowerPC -based MorphOS . With version 1.9, support for WarpOS took place in April 2004 . In addition, the first version by Hollywood Designer appeared in spring 2004, making Hollywood accessible to non-programmers. AmigaOS  4 has been supported since March 2005. From version 2.0 (January 2006) Hollywood uses the Lua programming language as an integrated VM , but with heavily modified syntax and functionality. In addition, Hollywood version 2.0 and higher also runs on the x86 architecture thanks to the support of the AROS operating system . From version 3.0 (January 2008) Hollywood supports Windows and macOS for the first time, two non-AmigaOS-inspired operating systems. From version 4.5 (January 2010) Hollywood is also available separately for Windows including an integrated development environment . From version 4.8 (April 2011) Hollywood can also create programs for Linux . With version 5.0, which was released in February 2012, videos can now also be played and vector graphics formats such as SVG can be loaded. From version 5.1 Android is also supported. From version 6 the core components display, audio and DOS are completely abstracted. These can now be completely replaced by external plugins, e.g. B. Hollywood's internal graphics driver can be implemented through its own implementation, e.g. B. OpenGL uses to be replaced. In addition to numerous other innovations, native menu bars of the respective operating system are also supported, the vector graphics renderer is now permanently installed, the I / O implementation is now optimized for streaming and ARM Linux is now supported as an additional target of the compiler (e.g. for the Raspberry Pi ). With Hollywood 7.0, Unicode and 64-bit architectures are supported for the first time .

Development environment

Hollywood is supplied with its own development environment for use under Microsoft Windows. The macOS and Linux version only contains the Hollywood compiler for operation from the command line. On Amiga platforms, a graphical tool is available to start the demo applications supplied to compile your own applications, a separate development environment is not supplied. However, the common Amiga development environments such as Cubic IDE and Codebench have special Hollywood extensions with which Hollywood scripts can be easily created.

Hello world program

For example, a hello world program in Hollywood might look like this: 

  Print("Hallo Welt!")
  WaitLeftMouse
  End

This program automatically opens a new window on the desktop , outputs the text "Hello World" and then waits for the left mouse button to be pressed. As soon as this is pressed, the program is ended. A window is opened automatically in the Hollywood programming language. Unless otherwise stated, Hollywood opens a separate window for each script in the standard resolution of 640 × 480 with a black background.

Hollywood designer

Hollywood designer

Hollywood-designer.jpg
Hollywood Designer under AmigaOS 4
Basic data

developer Andreas Falkenhahn
Publishing year November 2002
Current  version 5.0
(April 19, 2020)
operating system AmigaOS , MorphOS , WarpOS , AROS
category Presentation program
License Proprietary
German speaking Yes
www.hollywood-mal.de

The Hollywood Designer is an additional program for Hollywood with which presentations can be created. The Hollywood designer offers a WYSIWYG surface based on the film concept. Any number of slides can be created and provided with text, graphics and sound. The slides are then displayed one after the other or in a specially defined order with numerous dissolve effects.

In addition, it is also possible with the Hollywood Designer to create interactive applications, e.g. B. Kiosk systems that require user input. The finished presentation / application is then started automatically with Hollywood and can of course also be saved as an independent program for various platforms or as a video file. For advanced users, Hollywood code can also be integrated directly into the project and the complete Hollywood instruction set can be accessed.

From a technical point of view, the Hollywood designer does nothing more than automatically generate scripts for Hollywood according to the user's specifications. However, this process takes place completely hidden, so that the user of the Hollywood Designer can create presentations and multimedia applications without programming knowledge. However, the Hollywood Designer cannot be used without Hollywood. A Hollywood installation is mandatory for the Hollywood designer.

The first version of Hollywood Designer appeared in April 2004. At the moment the program is only available for AmigaOS -compatible operating systems, but thanks to the Hollywood Cross-Compiler it can also save programs for Windows , macOS and Linux .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of features
  2. ↑ Anton Preinsack: Interview with Andreas Falkenhahn. In: Amiga Future , 78, 2009, p. 14.
  3. ↑ Michael Christoph: Cheater Hollywood. Now also under Windows . In: Amiga Future , 71, 2008, p. 26 ff.
  4. ↑ HGui . Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ Martin Cornelius: Hollywood 4.5 or Multimedia is back . In: Amiga Future , 83, 2010, pp. 30–31.
  6. ↑ Magnus Johnson: Interview with Andreas Falkenhahn. In: Total Amiga , 21, 2005, p. 14.
  7. ^ Robbie Schäfer: Hollywood Multimedia . In: AMIGAplus , 132, 2003, pp. 24-26.
  8. ↑ List of projects using Lua
  9. ↑ Hollywood Portal
  10. ↑ Hollywood plug-in for Cubic IDE
  11. ↑ Codebench with Hollywood support
  12. ↑ Info channel created with Hollywood Designer that is used in Norway
  13. ^ Robert Williams: Hollywood 1.9 and Designer . In: Total Amiga , 18, 2004, pp. 18–22 (English).
  14. ↑ Christoph Gutjahr: Hollywood 1.9, Malibu and Hollywood Designer. The trio dream factory . In: AMIGAplus , 147, 2004, pp. 44-47.
  15. ^ Robert Williams: Hollywood 2.0 The Sequel . In: Total Amiga , 23, 2006, pp. 40–42 (English)
  16. ↑ Martin Steigerwald: Pure multimedia . In: Amiga Magazin , 7/2004, pp. 7–9.