[Bri C]

Now nobody Laugh !!!!!!!!

Many years ago I was self taught in BASIC language and achieved a good standard on BBC BASIC (I heard that giggle) touching on machine code (if not fully understanding it). With the progression through the Amiga ranks and thier BASIC which was a joke, onto PC`s, I have missed the endless hours of enjoyment writing programs that are no good to man or beast than only my personnel satisfaction. I have tried a very good BBC basic emulator but its just not the same.

You young 'uns won`t know what BBC/Amiga is so can any of you older techies understand where I`m coming from, sigh with the memories, sympathies and point me in the right direction

[Arcadion]

The first languages I learnt were BASIC on old 8bit machines (VZ200, Spectrum) and later on Amiga BASIC :P You want to buy a BASIC interpreter? Personally I would suggest installing Linux and learning how to code in C++, that was my next step after BASIC.

[PCBTech]

What was wrong with Amiga Basic??? lol

Came from C64 basic to that.... LOL But more importantly on the Amiga I learned this awesome new powerful language called C.

As he mentioned above C++ is a great language. And if you are of the Microsoft flavor, I really liked what they did with C#

I miss the Amiga days... lol Still have 2 of them in boxes in the basement... lol

[Bri C]

Thanks Guys,

I was under the impression that C was like machine code which I struggled with on the beeb. Is it possible to post a sample code of say 5 lines so I could look at it

Do I have this right. LINUX is the programming enviroment which you would install and then write and run your program in that. i.e. similar to the BBC BASIC emulator ???????

go with caution guys I am feeling you are going have trouble making me understand this

Anybody else want to confuse the picture

[Arcadion]

Linux is an operating system, like Windows, UNIX, or MacOS, it runs your whole computer. I suggested it as it comes with a huge amount of free, high-quality software development tools which you would have to pay $$$ for if you wanted to program in Windows instead. I'll post a "hello world" written in C++ (it's the standard first program you write in any language, it displays the aforementioned text on the screen).

#include <iostream.h>

main()
{
cout << "Hello world!" << endl;
return 0;
}

[Bri C]

Thanks ARCADION,
????????THINK????? I understand. I am now going to follow that line further and will search the web for info. Any other thoughts please post me.

What happened to

10 cls
20 print;"HELLO WORLD"

[Arcadion]

Because it is a compiled rather than an interpreted language, C++ will print your "Hello world" 100x faster than BASIC!

[OBP]

Bri C, my OBP stands for OldBasicProgrammer, Commodore Pet, BBC and Wang GWbasic.
You are not alone.

[dnavarrojr]

I have been a "professional programmer" for nearly 27 years and I don't use Visual Basic. I use a language called PowerBASIC (www.powerbasic.com) which is a true compiler. In fact, it has a built-in assembler that allows you to mix BASIC and ASM source code line by line. "Hello, World!" compiles to roughly 7k as a Windows executable and does not require any external DLLs file (completely stand-alone). It has built-in support for TCP/IP and Printing. The only drawback it has is that you can't create ActiveX controls and using existing ActiveX controls can get a little tricky.

The support is really great. And there is a ton of example source code on their web site and posted in their forums.

They still sell a DOS compiler that is still be maintained and they are at work on a Linux version of the compiler. I personally like their console compiler which lets me write console apps that run in a DOS box using good old PRINT statements like DOS BASIC.

[dnavarrojr]

Let me post a Hello World application written in PowerBASIC for comparison:

FUNCTION PbMain()
PRINT "Hello, World!"
END FUNCTION

Compiles to 7.2k in PBCC

[Bri C]

ARCDION

Ahhhhhhh yes so its faster but more complicated.

Thanks

[tsunam]

in python (a free open source language, the same hello world could look like

#!/bin/usr/python

print "Hello, World"

in bash (a shell for linux)

#!/bin/bash

print "Hello, world"

[Athought]

I'm in the same situation as this gentleman, i grew up programming a C-64. And have gone back (for leasure) to learn some modern languages, and its very tough to understand the complexity and snytax of some. BASICly its hard to find a starting point for old timers like myself.

I found Linux to be an excelent learning experience. I got lazy with Windows, everything is installed and configured for you (except any hardware i buy), so i think you loose touch on how your computer really works, and what you can do with it. Python is a good language to start with, and there are hundreds of free compliers and editors out there.

[Arcadion]

Originally Posted by Bri C

ARCDION

Ahhhhhhh yes so its faster but more complicated.

Thanks

More powerful is a better word, you can do things in C++ that BASIC can only dream of

[RedAxl]

Hi guys!

You reminded me of my favorite BASIC game.

GORILLA

Now I am missing it!

It's your fault BRI C. (Just a joke )