<s>
Blitz	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
is	O
the	O
programming	O
language	O
dialect	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
Blitz	O
compilers	O
,	O
devised	O
by	O
New	O
Zealand-based	O
developer	O
Mark	O
Sibly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Blitz	O
language	O
evolved	O
as	O
new	O
products	O
were	O
released	O
,	O
with	O
recent	O
incarnations	O
offering	O
support	O
for	O
more	O
advanced	O
programming	O
techniques	O
such	O
as	O
object-orientation	B-Language
and	O
multithreading	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
iteration	O
of	O
the	O
Blitz	O
language	O
was	O
created	O
for	O
the	O
Amiga	B-Device
platform	I-Device
and	O
published	O
by	O
the	O
Australian	O
firm	O
Memory	O
and	O
Storage	O
Technology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Returning	O
to	O
New	O
Zealand	O
,	O
Blitz	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
2	O
was	O
published	O
several	O
years	O
later	O
(	O
around	O
1993	O
according	O
this	O
press	O
release	O
)	O
by	O
Acid	O
Software	O
(	O
a	O
local	O
Amiga	B-Device
game	O
publisher	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
then	O
,	O
Blitz	O
compilers	O
have	O
been	O
released	O
on	O
several	O
platforms	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
the	O
demise	O
of	O
the	O
Amiga	B-Device
as	O
a	O
commercially	O
viable	O
platform	O
,	O
the	O
Blitz	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
2	O
source	O
code	O
was	O
released	O
to	O
the	O
Amiga	B-Device
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Idigicon	O
published	O
BlitzBasic	B-Language
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
in	O
October	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Blitz3D	O
,	O
BlitzBasic	B-Language
is	O
often	O
synonymously	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
Blitz2D	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recognition	O
of	O
BlitzBasic	B-Language
increased	O
when	O
a	O
limited	O
range	O
of	O
"	O
free	O
"	O
versions	O
were	O
distributed	O
in	O
popular	O
UK	O
computer	O
magazines	O
such	O
as	O
PC	O
Format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
February	O
2003	O
,	O
Blitz	O
Research	O
Ltd	O
.	O
released	O
BlitzPlus	O
also	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
lacked	O
the	O
3D	O
engine	O
of	O
Blitz3D	O
,	O
but	O
did	O
bring	O
new	O
features	O
to	O
the	O
2D	O
side	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
by	O
implementing	O
limited	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
control	O
support	O
for	O
creating	O
native	O
GUIs	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Backwards	O
compatibility	O
of	O
the	O
2D	O
engine	O
was	O
also	O
extended	O
,	O
allowing	O
compiled	O
BlitzPlus	O
games	O
and	O
applications	O
to	O
run	O
on	O
systems	O
that	O
might	O
only	O
have	O
DirectX	B-Application
1	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
compiler	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
December	O
2004	O
for	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
made	O
it	O
the	O
first	O
Blitz	O
dialect	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
compiled	O
on	O
*	O
nix	O
platforms	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compilers	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
and	O
Linux	B-Application
were	O
subsequently	O
released	O
in	O
May	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzMax	B-Language
brought	O
the	O
largest	O
change	O
of	O
language	O
structure	O
to	O
the	O
modern	O
range	O
of	O
Blitz	O
products	O
by	O
extending	O
the	O
type	O
system	O
to	O
include	O
object-oriented	B-Language
concepts	O
and	O
modifying	O
the	O
graphics	O
API	O
to	O
better	O
suit	O
OpenGL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzMax	B-Language
was	O
also	O
the	O
first	O
of	O
the	O
Blitz	O
languages	O
to	O
represent	O
strings	O
internally	O
using	O
UCS-2	O
,	O
allowing	O
native-support	O
for	O
string	O
literals	O
composed	O
of	O
non-ASCII	O
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzMax	B-Language
's	O
platform-agnostic	B-Operating_System
command-set	O
allows	O
developers	O
to	O
compile	O
and	O
run	O
source	O
code	O
on	O
multiple	B-Operating_System
platforms	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unofficially	O
,	O
users	O
have	O
been	O
able	O
to	O
get	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
to	O
cross-compile	O
to	O
the	O
Windows	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzMax	B-Language
is	O
also	O
the	O
first	O
modular	B-Architecture
version	O
of	O
the	O
Blitz	O
languages	O
,	O
improving	O
the	O
extensibility	O
of	O
the	O
command-set	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
standard	O
modules	B-Architecture
shipped	O
with	O
the	O
compiler	O
are	O
open-source	B-Application
and	O
so	O
can	O
be	O
tweaked	O
and	O
recompiled	O
by	O
the	O
programmer	O
if	O
necessary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
official	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
GUI	B-Application
module	B-Architecture
(	O
known	O
as	O
MaxGUI	O
)	O
allows	O
developers	O
to	O
write	O
GUI	B-Application
interfaces	O
for	O
their	O
applications	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
(	O
FLTK	B-Language
)	O
,	O
Mac	O
(	O
Cocoa	B-Operating_System
)	O
and	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Various	O
user-contributed	O
modules	B-Architecture
extend	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
by	O
wrapping	O
such	O
libraries	O
as	O
wxWidgets	B-Language
,	O
Cairo	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Fontconfig	B-Device
as	O
well	O
as	O
a	O
selection	O
of	O
database	O
modules	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
also	O
a	O
selection	O
of	O
third-party	O
3D	O
modules	B-Architecture
available	O
namely	O
MiniB3D	O
-	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
OpenGL	B-Application
engine	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
compiled	O
and	O
used	O
on	O
all	O
three	O
of	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
's	O
supported	O
platforms	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2007	O
,	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
1.26	O
was	O
released	O
which	O
included	O
the	O
addition	O
of	O
a	O
reflection	B-Language
module	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzMax	B-Language
1.32	O
shipped	O
new	O
threading	B-Operating_System
and	O
Lua	B-Language
scripting	I-Language
modules	B-Architecture
and	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
standard	O
library	O
functions	O
have	O
been	O
updated	O
so	O
that	O
they	O
are	O
unicode	O
friendly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
marketed	O
for	O
use	O
with	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
C#	B-Application
,	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
,	O
and	O
PureBasic	B-Application
,	O
however	O
it	O
could	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
other	O
languages	O
that	O
follow	O
compatible	O
calling	O
conventions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2008	O
,	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
to	O
Max3D	O
-	O
a	O
C++	B-Language
-based	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
3D	O
engine	O
-	O
was	O
released	O
under	O
a	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
license	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
engine	O
focused	O
on	O
OpenGL	B-Application
but	O
had	O
an	O
abstract	O
backend	O
for	O
other	O
graphics	O
drivers	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
DirectX	B-Application
)	O
and	O
made	O
use	O
of	O
several	O
open-source	B-Application
libraries	O
,	O
namely	O
Assimp	B-Language
,	O
Boost	B-Language
,	O
and	O
ODE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzPlus	O
was	O
released	O
as	O
open-source	B-Application
on	O
28	O
April	O
2014	O
under	O
the	O
zlib	B-License
license	I-License
on	O
GitHub	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
BlitzMax	B-Language
was	O
later	O
released	O
as	O
Open	O
Source	O
on	O
21	O
September	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hello	O
World	O
program	O
that	O
prints	O
to	O
the	O
screen	O
,	O
waits	O
until	O
a	O
key	O
is	O
pressed	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
terminates	O
:	O
Program	O
that	O
demonstrates	O
the	O
declaration	O
of	O
variables	O
using	O
the	O
three	O
main	O
data	O
types	O
(	O
strings	O
,	O
integers	O
and	O
floats	B-Algorithm
)	O
and	O
printing	O
them	O
onto	O
the	O
screen	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
See	O
below	O
for	O
the	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
and	O
BlitzBasic	B-Language
versions	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2011	O
,	O
BRL	O
released	O
a	O
new	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
programming	O
language	O
called	O
Monkey	O
and	O
its	O
first	O
official	O
module	B-Architecture
called	O
Mojo	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Monkey	O
has	O
a	O
similar	O
syntax	O
to	O
BlitzMax	B-Language
,	O
but	O
instead	O
of	O
compiling	O
direct	O
to	O
assembly	O
code	O
,	O
it	O
translates	O
Monkey	O
source	O
files	O
directly	O
into	O
source	O
code	O
for	O
a	O
chosen	O
language	O
,	O
framework	O
or	O
platform	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Windows	O
,	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
,	O
iOS	B-Application
,	O
Android	O
,	O
HTML5	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Adobe	B-Operating_System
Flash	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
