BASIC for PCs

[chakka35]

In the olden days (i.e.20 years ago) I used a good old Amstrad PCW with Locoscript word-processing. All now long gone, but it had a facility which I sorely miss: the built-in BASIC programming system which I found fascinating, allowing me to make my own programs without having to get to grips with the more sophisticated languages. Does anyone know whether BASIC is available in PC format?

[wideboy]

QBASIC used to be given away on the Windows CD (try to find a W95 or W98 CD). It was a cut-down version of QUICKBASIC and similar to GW-BASIC. Lots of links and references on the internet. Used to run under DOS so you might have a lot of work to so to get it to work under XP. It isn't available on Microsoft's site but try these:-

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/5451/qbasic/d ownloads/

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Ar ena/5451/qbasic/downloads/qbasic.zip

target='_blank' href="http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/basic.shtml">http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/basic.shtml

Also try looking for Python or TrueBasic.

[wideboy]

That third site was:-

http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/basic.shtml

 

PS. Just tried the zip download and it worked on XP - don't cross out the window to finish, use the File menu. Not sure if there is an 'immediate' mode but a program such as

10 PRINT "HELLO"

does Run!

[boobesque]

or try a freeware program called envelop.

http://www.freebyte.com/programming/compilers/envelop.html

its visual basic but its the same thing isnt it?

[boobesque]

also on that site are many other basic progs but i prefer envelop. have a look and see for yourself

[chakka35]

Many thanks, wideboy and boobesque. I'll do my homework as suggested.

[fo3nix]

http://www.qbasic.com/newbies.shtml

may be of help.

[chakka35]

Thanks, fo3nix.  wideboy, I downloaded qbasic from the second address you gave me.  Forgive my ignorance but when I opened it, it was in that funny code that you sometimes get when trying to do things with e-mails.  How do I convert the code into Engish? 

[wideboy]

Chakka35, did you unzip the file once it was saved? You should have a qbasic.exe blue and white 'dos type' icon (along with a question mark hlp file. Double-clicking the qbasic.exe icon should take you into a black DOS window which then shows the instructions, either help or press ESC to start using qbasic. Any help to you?

[chakka35]

Thank you for your patience with my ignorance, wideboy, but I have no idea what unzipping means.  When I click on the desk-top short-cut for qbasic I am then asked what program (e.g. Microssoft Word) I want to open it in, with the usual resulting code version.  I cannot find any way into DOS.  Help if you can, please

[wideboy]

Sorry, chakka35. Don't try to open the program just now. The file is a compressed one ('zipped' a .zip file) to save time downloading (and originally to get programs to fit on a floppy disc). You need a program to uncompress ('unzip') the file. Most people use 'Winzip'. Download it or find it on most cover discs with computer magazines. That's another learning curve for you but it's worth it, lots of stuff you might want to get from the Internet will be 'zipped'. By the way, a lot of computers are set up to not show the three letter file extensions in windows so you might not have known that the file was a .zip file!

Let me know how you get on.

[chakka35]

Many thanks, wideboy. I'll get on with it.  I'll make my next contact with you a new question so that we don't have to scroll forward to page 6 or whatever next time!

[wideboy]

Good, we're now on page 8!!