Training Example: BlitzMax – Review the Data, Give Your Score & Compare to the Real AI Evaluation

[H2] Code. Build. Play.
Get StartedDownloadsBlitzMax is a fast cross-platform, open-source, programming language.
[H2] Cross-platform
Build, deploy and run your apps on many popular platforms.
[H2] Modular
The BlitzMax community have developed scores of great cross-platform drop-in modules, from game-coding frameworks to database connectivity.
[H2] Community
BlitzMax users are friendly, creative, helpful and welcoming to all.

[H2] Win32 x86/x64 (mingw)
BlitzMax_win32_mingw_0.154.3.58.7z
Windows edition, with both x86 and x64 MinGW-w64 12.2.0 distributions.
Includes SDL2 backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Archive, Image, Math, Net, Random, Text, Collections and Steam.
[H2] Win32 x64 (mingw)
BlitzMax_win32_x64_mingw_0.154.3.58.7z
Windows edition, aimed at x64 development, with x64 MinGW-w64 12.2.0.
Includes SDL2 backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Archive, Image, Math, Net, Random, Text, Collections and Steam.
[H2] win32 x86 (mingw)
BlitzMax_win32_x86_mingw_0.154.3.58.7z
Windows edition, aimed at x86 development, with x86 MinGW-w64 12.2.0.
Includes SDL2 backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Archive, Image, Math, Net, Random, Text, Collections and Steam.
[H2] Linux x64
BlitzMax_linux_x64_0.138.3.53.tar.xz
BlitzMax, Linux edition, aimed at x64 development, with x64 MaxIDE.
Includes SDL backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Image, Net, Random, Text, Steam and Gtk MaxGUI.
[H2] macOS arm64
BlitzMax_macos_arm64_0.138.3.54.zip
BlitzMax, arm64 macOS edition.
Includes SDL backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Image, Math, Random, Net, Text and Steam.
See the Release Notes for setup information.
[H2] macOS
BlitzMax_macos_x64_0.138.3.54.zip
BlitzMax, x64 macOS edition.
Includes SDL backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Image, Math, Random, Net, Text and Steam.
See the Release Notes for setup information.
[H2] Raspberry Pi
BlitzMax_rpi_arm_0.138.3.54.tar.xz
BlitzMax, RaspberryPi edition, aimed at 32-bit ARM development, with MaxIDE.
Includes SDL backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Image, Net, Random, Text and Gtk MaxGUI.
[H2] Raspberry Pi arm64
BlitzMax_rpi_arm64_0.139.3.56.tar.xz
BlitzMax, RaspberryPi edition, aimed at 64-bit ARM development, with MaxIDE.
Suitable for the latest 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS.
Includes SDL backend, mojo2, Crypto, Audio, Image, Net, Random, Text and Gtk MaxGUI.

BlitzMax is a strongly-typed, garbage-collected, open-source programming language
with built-in support for advanced 2D graphics, sound, unicode and is ideally suited to
making all kinds of apps and games.
BlitzMax primarily targets the main three desktop platforms - Windows, Linux and macOS -
but also supports building native binaries for Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi and
NX (Switch homebrew).
To get you started, we'll walk you through downloading and installing BlitzMax, introduce you
to MaxIDE, and !.... something something!
[H2] Getting BlitzMax
The first thing to do is to get yourself a copy of BlitzMax for your platform of choice.
Head on over to the Downloads section.
[H3] Which is the download for me?
For Windows, there are 3 releases available. Each provides a different version of the MinGW
toolchain depending on whether you are targetting 32-bit or 64-bit Windows applications.
If you are not sure, just pick the 32/64 bit release, which allows you to build applications for both.
The Linux and macOS releases rely on the system-provided compiler tools, therefore
you are free to target whichever architecture your toolchain supports.
[H2] Prerequisites
The Windows releases come with everything you need to start making your apps. For other
platforms you may need to install a set of developer tools before you'll be able
to compile your BlitzMax sources. See the relevant section on the left for your
target platform for specific details on what you may need to install.
[H2] Installation
Installing BlitzMax itself is just a case of extracting the downloaded archive. We use
7zip on Windows, and xz on Linux.
Once that's done, you can launch MaxIDE, the BlitzMax developer environment.
The very first time you start MaxIDE, it will prompt you to generate the documentation.
After that, and assuming you have installed any necessary development tools,
you are all set to start writing your first BlitzMax application.
[H2] Hello World with MaxIDE
We are going to begin our BlitzMax adventures with a traditional Hello World example.
First, we need to create a new, empty BlitzMax source (.bmx) file. There are several ways
you can do this.
Choosing New from the File Menu
Clicking on the New file icon (the first on the left) on the toolbar.
Using the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-N (or ⌘-N on macOS)
Enter the following text into the editor :
Print "Hello World!"
With that done, we're all set to run it now.
Again, there are several ways you can accomplish this :
Choosing Build and Run from the Program Menu.
Clicking on Build and Run icon (the tilted rocket) on the toolbar.
Using the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-R (or ⌘-R on macOS)
The Output window will appear, and a fair amount of text will spew forth. Don't be alarmed.
On your very first build, BlitzMax needs to compile the core modules. But generally, once
those are built, you'll never need to rebuild those again, and so you'll only usually
see your own source files compiling.
After the successful build and run, the Output window will show something along the
lines of :
Building untitled1
[ 97%] Processing:untitled1.bmx
[ 98%] Compiling:untitled1.bmx.gui.debug.win32.x64.c
[100%] Linking:untitled1.debug.exe
Executing:untitled1.debug.exe
Hello World!
Process complete
The interesting part in all of that, of course, are the words "Hello World!".
That's it. Now, go and create!
[H2] Further Reading
Check out the Language Guide for a breakdown on syntax and language features.
We also have some great tutorials, covering a variety of different topics.
Win32 →