Editing Blitz BASIC (section)

==History==
The first iteration of the Blitz language was created for the [[Amiga]] platform and published by the [[Australia]]n firm Memory and Storage Technology. Returning to [[New Zealand]], Blitz BASIC 2 was published several years later (around 1993 according this press release <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amigareport.com/ar115/p1-5.html |website=AmigaReport |access-date=30 April 2020 |title=Blitz Basic 2 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331051337/https://www.amigareport.com/ar115/p1-5.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>) by Acid Software, a local Amiga game publisher. Since then, Blitz compilers have been released on several [[computing platform|platforms]]. Following the demise of the Amiga as a commercially viable platform, the Blitz BASIC 2 source code was released to the Amiga community. Development continues to this day under the name AmiBlitz.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/AmiBlitz|title=AmiBlitz|website=[[GitHub]]}}</ref>

===BlitzBasic===
[[Idigicon]] published BlitzBasic for [[Microsoft Windows]] in October 2000. The language included a built-in API for performing basic 2D graphics and audio operations. Following the release of Blitz3D, BlitzBasic is often synonymously referred to as Blitz2D.

Recognition of BlitzBasic increased when a limited range of "free" versions were distributed in popular UK computer magazines such as ''[[PC Format]]''. This resulted in a legal dispute between the developer and publisher, which was eventually resolved amicably.

===BlitzPlus===
In February 2003, Blitz Research Ltd. released BlitzPlus also for Windows. It lacked the 3D engine of Blitz3D, but did bring new features to the 2D side of the language by implementing limited Windows control support for creating native [[graphical user interface|GUIs]]. Backwards compatibility of the 2D engine was also extended, allowing compiled BlitzPlus games and applications to run on systems that might only have [[DirectX]] 1.

===BlitzMax===
{{Infobox programming language
| name = BlitzMax
| logo = 
| paradigm = [[imperative programming|imperative]], [[object-oriented programming|object-oriented]], [[modular programming|modular]], [[reflection (computer programming)|reflective]]
| year = 2004
| designer = Mark Sibly
| developer = Blitz Research
| discontinued = Yes
| latest release version = 1.51
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2015|09|21}}
| typing = [[Static typing|Static]], [[Weak typing|Weak]], [[Strong typing|Strong]] (optional)
| implementations = 
| dialects = Official BlitzMax, bmx-ng
| influenced_by = BlitzBasic
| influenced = Monkey
| operating_system = [[Windows]], [[Mac OS X]], [[Linux]]
}}

The first BlitzMax compiler was released in December 2004 for [[Mac OS X]]. This made it the first Blitz dialect that could be compiled on *nix platforms. Compilers for Microsoft Windows and [[Linux]] were subsequently released in May 2005. BlitzMax brought the largest change of language structure to the modern range of Blitz products by extending the type system to include object-oriented concepts and modifying the graphics API to better suit [[OpenGL]]. BlitzMax was also the first of the Blitz languages to represent strings internally using [[UCS-2]], allowing native-support for string literals composed of non-[[ASCII]] characters.

BlitzMax's platform-agnostic command-set allows developers to compile and run source code on multiple platforms. However the official compiler and build chain will only generate binaries for the platform that it is executing on. Unofficially, users have been able to get Linux and Mac OS X to cross-compile to the Windows platform.

BlitzMax is also the first [[modular programming|modular]] version of the Blitz languages, improving the extensibility of the command-set. In addition, all of the standard modules shipped with the compiler are open-source and so can be tweaked and recompiled by the programmer if necessary. The official BlitzMax [[cross-platform]] [[graphical user interface|GUI]] module (known as MaxGUI) allows developers to write GUI interfaces for their applications on Linux ([[FLTK]]), Mac ([[Cocoa (API)|Cocoa]]) and Windows. Various user-contributed modules extend the use of the language by wrapping such libraries as [[wxWidgets]], [[Cairo (graphics)|Cairo]], and [[Fontconfig]] as well as a selection of database modules. There are also a selection of third-party 3D modules available namely MiniB3D<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/topics.php?forum=119|title=Blitz News|website=www.blitzbasic.com|access-date=12 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126114117/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/topics.php?forum=119|archive-date=26 January 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> - an open-source OpenGL engine which can be compiled and used on all three of BlitzMax's supported platforms.

In October 2007, BlitzMax 1.26 was released which included the addition of a [[reflection (computer programming)|reflection]] module.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=72891#814878|title=BlitzMax update 1.26 now available!|website=www.blitzbasic.com|access-date=11 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526130312/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=72891#814878|archive-date=26 May 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> BlitzMax 1.32 shipped new [[thread (computing)|threading]] and [[Lua (programming language)|Lua]] scripting modules and most of the standard library functions have been updated so that they are [[unicode]] friendly.<ref>[http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=83917#947391 BlitzMax V132 for Windows and MacIntel now up!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526130325/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=83917#947391 |date=26 May 2011}} on blitzbasic.com</ref>

===Blitz3D SDK===
Blitz3D SDK is a 3D graphics engine based on the engine in Blitz3D. It was marketed for use with [[C++]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], BlitzMax, and [[PureBasic]], however it could also be used with other languages that follow compatible calling conventions.

===Max3D module===
In 2008, the source code to Max3D – a C++-based cross-platform 3D engine – was released under a [[BSD license]]. This engine focused on OpenGL but had an abstract backend for other graphics drivers (such as DirectX) and made use of several open-source libraries, namely [[Open Asset Import Library|Assimp]], [[Boost (C++ libraries)|Boost]], and [[Open Dynamics Engine|ODE]].

Despite the excitement in the Blitz community of Max3D being the eagerly awaited successor to Blitz3D, interest and support died off soon after the source code was released and eventually development came to a halt. There is no indication that Blitz Research will pick up the project again.

===Open-source release===
BlitzPlus was released as [[open-source software|open-source]] on 28 April 2014 under the [[zlib license]] on [[GitHub]].<ref>[http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php BlitzPlus Source Code Released] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716133612/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php |date=16 July 2016}} by simonh (2014-04-29)</ref><ref>[http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=102907 Blitz3D open sourced!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906075242/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=102907 |date=6 September 2016}} on Blitz3D Forums by (2014)</ref> Blitz3D followed soon after and was released as Open Source on 3 August 2014.<ref>[http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php Blitz3D Now Free and Open Source!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716133612/http://www.blitzbasic.com/Home/_index_.php |date=16 July 2016}} by simonh (2014-08-03)</ref><ref>[https://github.com/blitz-research/blitz3d blitz3d] on GitHub</ref> BlitzMax was later released as Open Source on 21 September 2015.<ref>[https://github.com/blitz-research/blitzmax blitzmax] on GitHub</ref>