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Author	Topic: FreeBASIC
John Spikowski Member	posted February 04, 2005 02:27 AM Chris, Thanks for the feedback on FreeBASIC. I think I could round up some benchmark Basic code if you want me to send it to you for a comparison tests. Forum Members, Has anyone taken a look at the code and determined how difficult a port to PBCC might be? The compiler might be easier to expand on if written in PowerBASIC. HotBASIC turned out to be a cool Basic. Even variables have properties. To get the length of a string all you have to do is i=s$.Length and the GUI is basically the same a RapidQ but on steroids. Jim (author) just released a UNIX/Linux console version the other day. (beta) It's been fun "kicking the tires" on Basic languages to see how far things have come. John IP: Logged
Antoni Gual Member	posted February 14, 2005 08:02 AM Can a FreeBasic user speak here? I'm Not a complete stranger I remember some of the names in this forums from the times of Will Yu's ABC packets. Perhaps you remember my JPEG viewer... As a hobbyst I have always used QB, some of you know my JPG viewer. I never did the step to PB (too different syntax). I helped with RapidQ, and I was very disappointed when Mr Yu sold it. Now i think I have found my compiler. Freebasic was started as a single person (André Victor Vicentini) project in September 2004. It was first compiled in PDS 7.1, now it compiles itself and it's developed by a team of a dozen people. We have a new release every 3 weeks, bugs are solved and posted to CVS in a week. I'm not part of the developing team, I think i'm only skilled enough to detect bugs. The main issue for compatibility with QB is a design option: QB makes all undeclared/unsuffixed variables SINGLE, while FB makes them INTEGER. Some odd constructs As for speed, it compares with GNU-C in number-crunching, is faster in graphics than QB, and it lags only in console output (because of the support that QB oddity called VIEW) The language was born with -------------------------- -pointers -32 bit inline assembler -can link with Mingw (GNU C) libraries. -Can use GNU C tools: debugger, resource compiler.... -OPTION EXPLICIT -arrays on UDT, including variable length strings -unions and enums, as in C, mainly to make easier the port of C headers -bit shift operators -suport for multithreading -unsigned integers,shorts and bytes -byval,byref,redim preserve, dir$ as in PDS 7.1 In 5 months we have seen implemented: -------------------------------------- -QB Graphics modes and primitives built-in (no external headers or libs to link) supported in fullscreen or windowed mode, plus new hi-res and truecolor modes. (Agelo Mottola) -Ports to Linux (Angelo) and DOS32 (DrV) -QB style ERROR processing -A preprocessor -Print USING -Escape processing in chars -Headers for different libraries as SDL, Windows API, OpenGl, Allegro -An IDE. I use MED anyways... We expect to have in two months: -------------------------------- -Macros with variables -Variable init at declare -Full debugger support -Objects (needed to make easier the interface with COM, DirectX) -A GUI compiler, allowing to create GUI graphically and traslating it to FB code (no DLL added) -Serial comms support -Several IDES with multi-document support -Built-in Printer support -A true documentation. Nowadays is: use as QB, and check the change log... EDITED: I was not being fair. The graphics part is fully documented. END OF EDIT Not so bad for a 5 months old compiler.... ------------------ Antoni Gual [This message has been edited by Antoni Gual (edited February 14, 2005).] IP: Logged
Antoni Gual Member	posted February 14, 2005 09:45 AM quote: Has anyone taken a look at the code and determined how difficult a port to PBCC might be? The compiler might be easier to expand on if written in PowerBASIC. How about joining FB effort?. Experience from people here would help make a better compiler, and if QB idioms have been included, PB idioms can be included too. Please feel free to join http://forum.qbasicnews.com/index.php?c=13 ------------------ Antoni Gual [This message has been edited by Antoni Gual (edited February 14, 2005).] IP: Logged
Greg Lyon Member	posted February 16, 2005 08:58 PM I've been kicking FreeBASIC around. Pretty impressive for only being around 5 months. It even does some of the graphics commands like SCREEN, PSET, CIRCLE, LINE etc. It's designed to be QuickBASIC compatible. I dug out some old QB programs (on floppies ) and most of them would compile and run with minor changes. It produces Win32 Console or GUI apps. PowerBASIC has it beat by a longshot at this point, but watch out PB. ------------------ Greg IP: Logged
Paul Dwyer Member	posted February 16, 2005 11:10 PM I like where it's going, Still a little young for me to convert to but I'll be keeping my eye on it for sure. If enthusiasm from the developers stays at this level it should be great. Does it have a debugger? ------------------ Paul Dwyer Network Engineer Aussie in Tokyo IP: Logged
Greg Lyon Member	posted February 16, 2005 11:56 PM Yeah, I would only use it for hobby type programs at this point. I was just surprised at how good it is. I'll be keeping an eye on it too. It doesn't have a debugger, but it does have an "Add debug info" compiler option. Haven't tried to use it though. ------------------ Greg IP: Logged

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