Any freeware Basic programming languages?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Latter
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J

John Latter

Hi,

Are there any freeware Basic programming languages? I've heard of
XBasic but I was wondering if anyone could give any recommendations.

It's a long time since I've done any programming and at the moment I'm
toying with the idea of writing a plugin for my Spam filter
(Spamihilator). Any advice on what this might entail (and whether
there are any online tutorials etc.) would be very welcome.

My knowledge of current computer languages/the internet/Windows XP is
negligible but from a brief Google search it would appear that dlls
can be written in a variety of languages. Therefore I'm assuming that
a dll written in Basic would work as well as one written in any other
language.

Please be tolerant of any naivety this post contains!

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
Are there any freeware Basic programming languages? I've heard of
XBasic but I was wondering if anyone could give any recommendations.
Click to expand...

<SNIP>

Have a look here
http://freeware.quantum.2ya.com/programming.htm


--
----------------------------------------
Quantum Illusions: http://quantum.2ya.com
Pegasus Mail Support Site: http://pegasus.quantum.2ya.com
Freeware Site: http://freeware.quantum.2ya.com
DATA Solutions: http://datasolutions.quantum.2ya.com

If you truly want to contact me click the link
http://quantum.2ya.com/email.htm
 
John Latter said:
Hi,

Are there any freeware Basic programming languages? I've heard of
XBasic but I was wondering if anyone could give any recommendations.
Click to expand...

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

They all have their merits, if you'd like to try sharewhare you can
consider liberty basic and a couple of similar tools too.
It's a long time since I've done any programming and at the moment I'm
toying with the idea of writing a plugin for my Spam filter
(Spamihilator). Any advice on what this might entail (and whether
there are any online tutorials etc.) would be very welcome.

My knowledge of current computer languages/the internet/Windows XP is
negligible but from a brief Google search it would appear that dlls
can be written in a variety of languages. Therefore I'm assuming that
a dll written in Basic would work as well as one written in any other
language.
Click to expand...

You're right that DLL's can be written in a variety of languages, most
of them tend to be done in C or C++, some in VB as far as i know, so
check tutorials for the latter.
 
This isn't BASIC, but you can get the last version of Delphi (Visual Pascal)
for free.

http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_delphi.html <-- Get a
serial here (under Keys only - last cell "Personal")
ftp://ftpd.borland.com/download/delphi/personal/BorlandDelphiPersonalEdition.exe
<-- download

Rach


John Latter said:
Hi,

Are there any freeware Basic programming languages? I've heard of
XBasic but I was wondering if anyone could give any recommendations.

It's a long time since I've done any programming and at the moment I'm
toying with the idea of writing a plugin for my Spam filter
(Spamihilator). Any advice on what this might entail (and whether
there are any online tutorials etc.) would be very welcome.

My knowledge of current computer languages/the internet/Windows XP is
negligible but from a brief Google search it would appear that dlls
can be written in a variety of languages. Therefore I'm assuming that
a dll written in Basic would work as well as one written in any other
language.

Please be tolerant of any naivety this post contains!

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to
Click to expand...
homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
 
This isn't BASIC, but you can get the last version of Delphi (Visual Pascal)
for free.

http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_delphi.html <-- Get a
serial here (under Keys only - last cell "Personal")
ftp://ftpd.borland.com/download/delphi/personal/BorlandDelphiPersonalEdition.exe
<-- download

Rach
Click to expand...

Hi again Rach,

I'm just downloading Delphi now and it says its 140MB - is that right
cos its gonna take me 8 HOURS!

John <--- 'STUNNED' :)
homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
Click to expand...

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
I've seen many powerful, freeware applications written in Delphi. However, I
think C and C++ are probably the most popular. In addition, much of the
Windows system is written in and documented in C and C++.
 
Hi again Rach,

I'm just downloading Delphi now and it says its 140MB - is that right
cos its gonna take me 8 HOURS!

John <--- 'STUNNED' :)
Click to expand...

Thats right....

Using a 56k modem at home I thought I wouldn't bother. So I downloaded it at
work in 10 minutes.

Simon
 
I've seen many powerful, freeware applications written in Delphi. However, I
think C and C++ are probably the most popular. In addition, much of the
Windows system is written in and documented in C and C++.
Click to expand...

Well I've paused the Delphi download cos if I've correctly understood
what Borland say here:

http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_cbuilder.html#

then the compiler for C++ is only 8pointsomethingmegabytes, and unless
there's something else to be added, I'll be finished in half-an-hour!

I hope..

:)

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
I'm almost through downloading the ArkLinux ISO. I think I have around
450MB so far, so just one more night to go.
Click to expand...

Good grief!
Now if only it will pass the md5sum check :O)
Click to expand...

Don't even think about it..

:)

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
Thats right....

Using a 56k modem at home I thought I wouldn't bother. So I downloaded it at
work in 10 minutes.

Simon
Click to expand...

That's given me an idea - I'm downloading C++ at the moment but if I
decide to go back to Delphi then my brother only lives about 100 yards
away & he's got broadband.

Which is one of the reasons we don't speak a lot.

Oh well, needs must! ('sigh')

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
These two are the best freeware basic alternatives I have found:

RapidQ is a freeware basic with a very active usergroup.
The language is a little like visual basic but a lot easier to learn
and easier to read.
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.basicguru.com/rapidq/

BCX is a freeware basic to C++ compiler which is very fast.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BCX
http://bcx.basicguru.com

You can combine the two if want very high speed from BCX and the easy
to use interface of RapidQ, as the text below describes:
...

For the benefit of RQ programmers who might be interested in
BCX but are not yet certain whether you want to download and
install BCX and LCC-Win32, I invite you to download the 1/2 meg
BCXHelp.Chm file from this location:

http://bcx/basicguru.com/BCXHelp.Chm

It should give you a general idea of how rich the BASIC
language is. And, unlike RQ, BCX is in it's fourth year
of ACTIVE development.

You might only want to use BCX to supplement RQ. If you can
identify the really slow calculations in RQ, you can create
SUBS and FUNCTIONS in BCX and export them as DLL's that you
then call from RQ.
...

Both of them are extendable with API functions, assembler, etc..
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info Roger!

I was all set to use C++ but I still feel a tug towards Basic as a
language that I have an ancient familiarity with.

On the other hand, if I'm writing a plugin for somebody else's
program, do you know if I might have a problem ensuring that the C
output of BCX is in the format required?

Perhaps I had better leave it until tomorrow - it's 11.15 pm here and
things are getting blurry!

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
John Latter said:
I was all set to use C++ but I still feel a tug towards Basic as a
language that I have an ancient familiarity with.

On the other hand, if I'm writing a plugin for somebody else's
program, do you know if I might have a problem ensuring that the C
output of BCX is in the format required?
Click to expand...

I know that the code BCX produces can be compiled with many different
C (C++) compilers. I read a list of 4-5 of them somewhere.

So I guess you can choose one which produces the right format.

I use RapidQ myself so I know a lot more about that, but I have heard
some about BCX too.

The list of available Basic commands in BCX is very impressive.

The collection of sample programs for RapidQ is enormous. You can find
ready-to-use web browsers, text editors, mp3-players ..any kind of
program you can imagine, so you can take one of them and continue to
work on it for your own purposes. I think that is a great plus for a
programming language. You do not have to start from scratch, you can
learn a lot from the example programs and use them as a start for your
own programs.

That it is so easy to read is also a great advantage if you are not an
experienced programmer.

A disadvantage for RapidQ is that the basic files are a bit
unorganised, it takes some work to get the latest updates together.

Ask for a list of the necessary files in the yahoo rapidq mailing list
and it will be easier. I published such a list a month ago or so.
But since then somebody published new include files which are even
better than the old ones. (they allow very small executables)
 
fLameDogg said:
On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 at 16:45 GMT, Blinky the Shark
Click to expand...
A nut is what I am. I do feel kind of proud when I actually manage to
grab a whole ISO. Granted, it's usually obsolescent by the time it's
done. . . .
Click to expand...

Urk! I hadn't thought of that.

I once ordered a spankin' new state-o-the-art mobo, and in the five days
it took to come via UPS, the company released their *really* new
state-o-the-art mobo -- new chipset, FSB, sunroof, etc. :)
I'll have to start collecting the chicken bones immediately :O)
Click to expand...

I just fried up a coupla thighs. I'll start rubbing. :)

The *chicken* bone, dammit...
 
I know that the code BCX produces can be compiled with many different
C (C++) compilers. I read a list of 4-5 of them somewhere.

So I guess you can choose one which produces the right format.

I use RapidQ myself so I know a lot more about that, but I have heard
some about BCX too.

The list of available Basic commands in BCX is very impressive.

The collection of sample programs for RapidQ is enormous. You can find
ready-to-use web browsers, text editors, mp3-players ..any kind of
program you can imagine, so you can take one of them and continue to
work on it for your own purposes. I think that is a great plus for a
programming language. You do not have to start from scratch, you can
learn a lot from the example programs and use them as a start for your
own programs.

That it is so easy to read is also a great advantage if you are not an
experienced programmer.

A disadvantage for RapidQ is that the basic files are a bit
unorganised, it takes some work to get the latest updates together.

Ask for a list of the necessary files in the yahoo rapidq mailing list
and it will be easier. I published such a list a month ago or so.
But since then somebody published new include files which are even
better than the old ones. (they allow very small executables)
Click to expand...

Hi Roger,

After I downloaded C++ last night I opened it into a folder and read
the 'Readme" doc which said:

.. Run freecommandlinetools.exe; choose the
drive and folder into which you want to
install the free C++Builder 5 command line
tool development system.

2. From the bin directory of your installation:
a. Add "c:\Borland\Bcc55"
to the existing path
b. Create a bcc32.cfg file which will set
the compiler options for the Include
and Lib paths (-I and -L switches to
compiler) by adding these lines:
-I"c:\Borland\Bcc55\include"
-L"c:\Borland\Bcc55\lib"
c. Create an ilink32.cfg file which will set
the linker option for the Lib path by
adding this line:
-L"c:\Borland\Bcc55\lib"

I blinked and went to bed.

I think maybe I should walk before I run. The info you've given
regarding RapidQ and BCX is very useful and I would like to thankyou
for taking the trouble of posting it :)

I'm going to download RapidQ and BCX and have a look at them both - I
would prefer only having to become familiar with only one of them but
the point you make here is very valid:
The collection of sample programs for RapidQ is enormous. You can find
ready-to-use web browsers, text editors, mp3-players ..any kind of
program you can imagine, so you can take one of them and continue to
work on it for your own purposes. I think that is a great plus for a
programming language. You do not have to start from scratch, you can
learn a lot from the example programs and use them as a start for your
own programs.
Click to expand...

One the other hand I'm a little deterred by "the basic files are a bit
unorganised, it takes some work to get the latest updates together" -
I'll see how it goes!

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech
 
AFAIK the BCX translator emits code targetting for the LCC-Win32 C
compiler, it may be that it works elsewhere too, but it's targetted
for one compiler (and it's a good one)
Click to expand...

Yes, but I think it can also be compiled by other compilers. The
message I read said that, but I am not absolutely sure I remember
correctly.

I thought RapidQ had ceased to be developed a few years ago when the
author got a job, basically. It's left in eternal beta isn't it?
Click to expand...

We still use the compiler William Yu left us when he went into
commercial environments, but the include files have been developed to
adjust for many of the problems in the compiler, and a new compiler is
also being developed. So the rapidq language is going forward.
 
John Latter said:
One the other hand I'm a little deterred by "the basic files are a bit
unorganised, it takes some work to get the latest updates together" -
I'll see how it goes!
Click to expand...

This is not a big problem, it just means that if you download the
package from basicguru.com you get an old version.
To get the newer version you need to look up the rapidq site on yi.org
and download the files in the directory for system files.

I don't have the links right now but if you get involved in rapidq it
will be no problem to find it.

Another problem is that it takes time to download all the example
programs one is interested in one by one. I would prefer zipped up
collections of programs. But that is also a minor problem.

The organisation of the files on the rapidq sites could be better
thought out.

I don't know enough about BCX to answer any detailed question, I just
thought I'd give you that alternative to explore if you are
interested. Rapidq is a lot easier to start with and there are a lot
more example programs available, BCX is probably faster and more
powerful but takes more work to get involved in.
 
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