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Off Topic => Engineering => Topic started by: toasty0 on April 11, 2009, 04:42:05 pm

Title: Small Basic
Post by: toasty0 on April 11, 2009, 04:42:05 pm
A simplified version of Basic for the novice

foreach click goto your download here (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b006d58d-c2c7-44ad-936b-e7e2d7de793e)
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Sarek on April 12, 2009, 02:34:15 am
Small iindeed, it's at least 1000 times bigger than the original version they made for the Altair.  :)

Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Bonk on April 19, 2009, 08:03:06 am
QBasic still lives and is still available from MS. (shhhh...)
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Capt. Mike on April 19, 2009, 11:56:52 am
And here I'm stuck with HP Basic for automated calibrations..of course, the test equipment is 20+ years old, but everythings obsolete after 5 years (except for the military)..I've recently calibrated panel meters from B-52's..probably because I'm the only one older than them

Mike
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: marstone on April 19, 2009, 01:17:41 pm
And here I'm stuck with HP Basic for automated calibrations..of course, the test equipment is 20+ years old, but everythings obsolete after 5 years (except for the military)..I've recently calibrated panel meters from B-52's..probably because I'm the only one older than them

Mike

It has been many years now since I have gotten out of the military, but when most of the world was using computer based teletypes to send reports back to NSA.  My station was using the old MOD-28 (remember the one from the old movies that uses the ticker tape), sad part was, they were better the computer based ones (we did get upgraded twice to get to PC based comunications).  They never broke or had trouble, if things were going real bad, you could "hit" them.  I mean really hit them, or kick them.  They just kept on working.

Newer isn't always better, it just seems that way sometimes.
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: toasty0 on April 19, 2009, 04:01:11 pm
This thread reminds me of this quote:

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. --George Bernard Shaw
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Greenvalv on April 19, 2009, 04:04:23 pm
It has been many years now since I have gotten out of the military, but when most of the world was using computer based teletypes to send reports back to NSA.  My station was using the old MOD-28 (remember the one from the old movies that uses the ticker tape), sad part was, they were better the computer based ones (we did get upgraded twice to get to PC based comunications).  They never broke or had trouble, if things were going real bad, you could "hit" them.  I mean really hit them, or kick them.  They just kept on working.

Newer isn't always better, it just seems that way sometimes.
They just don't make em like they used to, aye?
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Sarek on April 19, 2009, 04:47:37 pm
This thread reminds me of this quote:

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. --George Bernard Shaw

I remember when we typed our programs on punch cards and sat for hours in a big room full of monitors hanging from the ceiling where we could watch our programs in the input queue ... AND WE LIKED IT!  ;D

Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Nemesis on April 19, 2009, 06:21:03 pm
If you want Basic.

FreeBasic (http://www.freebasic.net/index.php/about)

GLBasic (http://www.glbasic.com/main.php?lang=en)

XBasic (http://www.xbasic.org/)

Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: marstone on April 19, 2009, 08:56:17 pm
This thread reminds me of this quote:

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. --George Bernard Shaw

I remember when we typed our programs on punch cards and sat for hours in a big room full of monitors hanging from the ceiling where we could watch our programs in the input queue ... AND WE LIKED IT!  ;D

I never used a punch card for inputting a program, but did use a computer that was nothing more then a keyboard and a printer (it had no monitor).  Everything you did was printed out.
Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: toasty0 on April 22, 2009, 08:37:46 am
I finally had some time this moring to look through this language and was impressed. It has the feel and syntax of a C family language with the ease of the Visual Basic language. Take a look this simple graphics routine:

GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor = "Black"
For i = 1 To 1000
GraphicsWindow.BrushColor = GraphicsWindow.GetRandomColor()
x = Math.GetRandomNumber(640)
y = Math.GetRandomNumber(480)
GraphicsWindow.FillEllipse(x, y, 10, 10)
EndFor


Title: Re: Small Basic
Post by: Panzergranate on April 22, 2009, 10:09:55 am
Sinclair Basic was  and is always the best.... with commands like DEF FN, etc.

But the best was the ability to allow DIM A$ (100,100,100,100,100), though the human brain does take some practice at comprehending multiple, multiple nested arrays....  ;D

My old software lecturer, back in my University days, used to warn of venturing into multiple, multiple nested arrays, but used to say that he envied me for being able to so easily navigate and use them.... some of us have the gift and some haven't.