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Oct 14th, 2004
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QBASIC and Visual Basic

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I find it interesting that QBASIC is mentioned for several reasons:

1. This language and any of its predacessors are hardly used these days. And, if they are, it's most likely for nostalgic reasons. At one time, I remember, some schools used it for introductory programming courses. For a time, in the mid 90s, some nostalgic frenzy seemed to have spiked (I remember messing around with BasicA on a Commodore 64 and I'm sure others were having fun with it on Apple 2s) its usage; Gorillas (wassit?) was a fun game. But, certainly, it's no more widely used now (if used as much) as languages like Pascal and certainly not C, C++, Java, C#, etc. I remember finding it quite novel in Windows 3.1 Workstation, ten years ago. Are people still actively developing in QBASIC?

2. The similarities between QBASIC and Visual Basic are nominal at best. Does .NET even support QBASIC? Hell, does Windows XP even come with QBASIC installed? (I'm a Linux-only user)

3. Is there anything useful about QBASIC that warrants its use over another language? Or even a reason to dedicate a topic to it? Some calculators use a BASIC interpretor still... perhaps that?



Sorry, I had to break from the work I was doing and eat my jello and drink my coffee (I know, it's weird).
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Junior Poster
subtronic is offline Offline
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Oct 14th, 2004
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

I have to disagree with you on several points.

It is still used a lot. Check out all the forums that are still active.
It is still taught in school as a first programming language.

It is very similar in syntax to PowerBasic for windows which is much better
than VB and a lot less expensive anyway.(And the best support on the planet)

Their console compiler is like using qbasic in text mode (though all the api
stuff and any other dll are available too).

Windows programming can be a little overwhelming and I think qbasic still has
a place.
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Buff is offline Offline
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Oct 15th, 2004
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

Quote originally posted by Buff ...
I have to disagree with you on several points.

Windows programming can be a little overwhelming and I think qbasic still has
a place.
Ah, perhaps that is the distinction. I was taught Pascal in high school and my natural progression was C and Linux. It's weird for me to think that there's an entire Windows programmer / programming culture out there. I suppose if your goal is to graduate to a more comprehensive language (which I'm assuming PowerBasic is based on what you've said), then teaching syntax and basic concepts with QBASIC would make sense.

Thanks for the insight
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Oct 16th, 2004
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

Plus it (PB) allows inline assembly language statements.

With the availability of User Defined Types, Structures, Subs, Functions,
a whole range of data types (integer, long integer, Quad integer, word, dword,
Currency, currencyx (2 decimal places)) and asciiz strings (called other
things in other languages it's basically a string ending in 0 hex.), variable
length strings (of course), fixed length strings, string and numeric arrays
just to name some.), PB is a powerful windows programming tool.
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Buff is offline Offline
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Oct 17th, 2004
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

Quote originally posted by Buff ...
Plus it (PB) allows inline assembly language statements.

With the availability of User Defined Types, Structures, Subs, Functions,
a whole range of data types (integer, long integer, Quad integer, word, dword,
Currency, currencyx (2 decimal places)) and asciiz strings (called other
things in other languages it's basically a string ending in 0 hex.), variable
length strings (of course), fixed length strings, string and numeric arrays
just to name some.), PB is a powerful windows programming tool.
Sounds like it. It's too bad I'm unable to bring myself to use Windows (if for nothing else to program in this language just for the sake of programming). I use to be into music production, but since I've been out of College I've been quite busy with other things... I think if I do get back into music production, I'll use a Mac. Even though I firmly (pun intended) believe that Steve Jobs is a tool.
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Mar 25th, 2005
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

I also learned Pascal first.

I hate C.

And I need real time programming with millisecond accuracy, which Microsift has taken away.
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Nov 4th, 2007
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

Click to Expand / Collapse  Quote originally posted by Real-tiner ...
And I need real time programming with millisecond accuracy, which Microsift has taken away.
M$ hasn't taken it away. It was never in Standard C in the first place so it was compiler dependent. I believe there is an API to handle what you want, which means it would be available in most any language on Windows, since it's part of the OS. Check http://msdn.com
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Re: QBASIC and Visual Basic

Is there any way i can convert my .bas files to VB 6 format
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