I think size does not really matter now a days considering how fast processors are and how cheap memory is. But, if you really want to see small take a look at PureBasic. I just created a Windows App and a Mac App, both 64bit. I do not have a linux box so I can’t test that.
1- Windows 34KB on disk. Memory using Windows 8 0.7MB
2 - Mac 82KB on disk. Memory using Maverick 3.9MB
This is just a simple app, no controls no runtime needed.
PureBasic I believe uses FASM or YASM as its backend, so the size of the applications are really small.
If I compiled these to 32 bit they would probably be smaller.
That maybe, I didn’t build it, it was a customer who provided me with a sample application, so I could figure out why it couldn’t be posted to the Mac App Store… I don’t recall what the reason was, but I keep it around for testing with App Wrapper.
I don’t think that a few MB really matters. With MBS, Einhugur, Valentina and my new Python helper app my application is about 90 MB. What matters more is that my users generate GBs of data and the harddisks are smaller than before. I had to add a check for free disk space!
I use PowerBASIC and view it as my MASM for the 21st century (it does do basic and inline ASM) for those quick ‘down and dirty’ apps to do something quick and not leave a big mess. Even a small commercial project if it is meant for Windows only. No real Windows user is going to buy a small Shareware app for a specific utility need if with an installer it is 7Gb, when PowerBASIC can do it in 300Kb.
Now Xojo is my VB for the new world and I use it to create apps that I need to develop and evolve quickly over time. Right now I’m moving and reworking several large VB apps over to Xojo that PowerBASIC just wasn’t right for and Xojo is, not to mention that an additional customer base in the Mac OS crowd is a great plus.
I agree that a few MBs don’t matter but 100s or few 1000s do when you are talking downloading, especially worldwide … Not everyone has unlimited downloading in this world and if you run an online business you think about these things. For a big program it is not an issue but for a small program…
BUT: if I add 11 applications to my hard disk Applications folder, that means 1TB. Then I really start to care.
That is why I try to group my own utilities project (used locally, not for sale) into one application with a button full window or I use AppleScript to write them (AppleScript weight are usually some KB only).
Did you know that the [LOCAL] documentation size in the boot hard disk have been reduced lately ?
(File size down: by a bit more than 50%, from 133MB to 82MB; the name changed too)
(File name change: probably appears in Xojo 2013r4 )
