MyAnimeList clients are at their infancy. Before the API came out, MAL Updater was your only choice and it only worked on Windows. The problem is that not everyone used Windows and used different OSes. MyAnimeList is a staple for most anime viewers and bloggers out there who use it to keep track what they are watching.
If you recall a few months ago, I have complained there was a lack of a MyAnimeList Client for Mac OS X. I haven’t checked hard enough and there was a program called iMAL that allows you to update MAL… The only problem is the program is very unstable and every time I tried to use it, it crashes on me… and I even recompile it and it’s even more unstable. Another alternative is AniChou, which is open sourced. The only problem there is the interface looks like crap (except in Liunx) and it was difficult to install since I have to install additional packages to make it work on Mac OS X. With that, MAL Updater has way too much features, the interface is cluttered and it’s closed sourced, which isn’t good. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Unofficial MAL API made this possible since the APIs are alot easier to use than the official API and they are planning to add Manga support right after they made some fixes to some search bugs…
After I complained about not being a really good MyAnimeList client for Mac OS X and discovering a easier API to use, I went to work and created this. I used RealBasic 2009 to create this client and wanted to make as close to a Mac experience as possible without having to learn Objective-C and Cocoa (and I don’t want to spend time trying to fix memory leaks). I was able to at least get the most basic features to work after three days of programming (you can check out some of the early screenshots I made of the program in early development). It took that long since RealBasic was a little different from Visual Basic .net and I haven’t worked on that stuff ever since I switched to a Mac in late 2006. Just within a week, I added status updating with 2.x and you could add new titles to the list, update them or even delete them for the list.
However, by the time I have used melative for my live micro-blogging when I go and watch some episodes of Anime… so guess what, I have decided to add melative support to MAL Client OS X since media is all about experience. MAL lacks the ability to express what you want to say about a episode you are watching. This reduces the need to update both melative and MAL separately, when you can do it the same time. If you have nothing to say when you go update, it will just sync the information you updated on MAL to your melative library.
The reason I didn’t add any additional features like auto-sorting of media files and skinning support since it’s unnecessary. Most people would use AnimeSuki, IRC, or even licensed retail discs anyways, so I don’t see the point of MAL Client OS X do the work since you have it done already. Skinning support is a niche feature, especially on Mac OS X and Linux. Rarely, you will see any skinned programs on those platforms and it’s too Windows-like and make things more complicated. MAL Client OS X is all about simplicity and not all about features. Having a lot of features in the world don’t make your program any better if the implementation sucks and not easy to use. This is the reason I created MAL Lite, a simple, lightweight, minimalist client for Windows and Linux as an alternative. Along with it, I made a GUI for MAL Updater OS X scripts so it will be a lot friendlier and people can scrobble their anime while they are watching it.
There is a reason I used RealBasic over Adobe AIR. For one, RealBasic can make native apps and uses less RAM as a result. Adobe Air, on the other hand is notorious for using a lot of RAM and is not native. Also, I can access the OS features with RealBasic and do a lot more than I could in AIR…
The future… Once manga support gets added, I will start working on adding it to the program. Hopefully, the program will hit the final stages with version 1.0, and by then, RealBasic 2010 will be out with Cocoa support…
I was just thinking to myself yesterday that MacOSX needed a MAL client, and I even made plans to start development on it. I needed some sort of project when I finished completely learning cocoa and I had thought of this. I was quite surprised to suddenly see this so soon after the idea occurred to me.
I gave it a whirl just now and I quite like it. Not everything I am looking for but it’s only in development… I have some high hopes for this project. I am very glad you chose not to use AIR though.
.-= tohno-kun´s last blog ..Image Example =-.
I agree, the “official” MAL Updater has way too many features. It also eats up my memory like there’s no tomorrow.
I should try my hands at playing around with that Unofficial API for some things I do.
Now if only someone could make a MAL iPhone app.
.-= JANAiBlog´s last blog ..Fanboy Rave: Electromagnetic Girlfriend is Many Kinds of Awesome =-.
@JANAIBlog: Keep in mind that you need to know a programing language before you can actually use the APIs… the best way to start is using Visual Basic .NET (Microsoft has a Express version of it, which is free) or if you trying to make a web program, Ruby or PHP (which is most supported). C and C++ is too difficult for a beginner… but you need to know a programming language good enough before you can actually build something.
Learning a new Programming language is hard, but it’s fun in the end… or can be frustrating at the same time,…
MAL Updater eats memory -_- …
Tips on programming languages, learn javascript, it is the most versatile language and there will likely be some good desktop application javascripting in the near future. That’s the direction with the very fast new runners coming out, like V8.
.-= Ryan A´s last blog ..Sweet Blue Flowers =-.
MAL sucks. Period.
.-= Kairu´s last blog ..12 Moments in Anime: Yuuki.. ;_; =-.
@Kairu: Again, who doesn’t? Xinil say screw the API and let the developers have to scrape HTML or the users make their own API… Some people say MAL is like Facebook BUT Facebook is alot developer friendly… MAL on the other hand got their developers in a deep hole..
Also, the official API haven’t been touched for months… so yeah.
Never knew MAL Updater ate so much RAM… Must be too much bloat/poor memory management/no Garbage Collection…
I actually already know some programming. I learned C++ and PHP in school and I also know JS pretty well. So it’s just a matter of me getting some experience with APIs.
.-= JANAiBlog´s last blog ..Fanboy Rave: Electromagnetic Girlfriend is Many Kinds of Awesome =-.
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