Is BASIC still available?

[chakka35]

Decades ago I used to love programming in BASIC on my old Sinclair Spectrum. Can you get BASIC for modern computers?

[HowardKennitby]

now called Visual Basic .NET

[boxtops]

No, it's well out of date, modern computers are streets ahead of BASIC.

[rojash]

As HK says there's VB.Net.

Also JustBasic http://justbasic.com/

ThisBasic http://www.thinbasic.com/

Chipmunk Basic (which is cross-platform) http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/

PureBasic http://purebasic.com/

and many others...
Not sure what world boxtops lives in :-)

[beso]

Things have come a long way in Basic since the likes of QuickBasic found on old DOS systems. Visual Basic (VB.NET) is a very high level programming language and a signinficant learning curve to become efficient as a programmer.

VB.NET supports graphic interfaces but you can still write a text application that runs in a console window. Many programs for Windows are written in VB.NET. When you download an application and it needs a particular ".NET Framework" this actually is the runtime environment for VB.NET that it requires.

These applications are usually written and compiled to exe files in Microsoft's Visual Studio. There is a free "Express" version that is more than enough for most programmers to work in. It is pretty slick with syntax recognition, prompts with the properties and methods of the objects and makes suggestions of what needs to be coded instead of the mistakes it picks up.

Visual Studio also supports the C programming language.

However you can still write ordinary Basic in a text editor and give the file a vbs extension. This will run on Windows and is plenty powerful enough for simple programming including the use of the Windows Management Interface and ActiveX Objects such as ADODB recordsets and connection which allows the script to work with database objects.

Of course the text editor doesn't help you with the syntax. That is where the applications suggested by Rojash come in.

If you have Microsoft Office you can use VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). This is a relatively simple syntax that is less object oriented than full on VB.NET and quite a good place to start learning the higher level stuff. It allows Office automation to actually drive Windows itself and its "Intellisense" helps with the syntax, though not to the extent found in Visual Studio 10 Express.

[Prudie]

I was also a dab hand at programming in BASIC on my BBCB and used to teach it at secondary school level. It's irrelevant that technology has moved on, it was an excellent tool to write mathematical programmes and teach logical processes (and was great at finding solutions to Sunday Times brainteasers). If I wanted to do something like that now I wouldn't know where to start. I'll look at the links given.

[oldbillbuck]

I read the other day, i'm sure, that there is nowadays a shortage of programmers. Could this be that kids can no longer play around with BASIC, as in the old days, with the Spectrum and similar computers and thus progress to more serious programming with the interest that has been developed.

[boxtops]

You're right prudie - I only ever did simple stuff, but it told me how programming works.

[Wak]

In the 1980s I wrote a program in Basic for the Connect Four game on the Sinclair Spectrum and it took about 2 minutes to make a next move decision.
I later rewrote this program in Machine Code which made the same decision in about 1 secs. An amazing difference in the programming but I fear it would be all to much for me now.

[chakka35]

Many thanks to you all for your replies. Even if BASIC were hopelessly out-of-date it wouldn't worry me. I just want to have fun rather than do serious programming. Thanks again.