Turbo BASIC (was Re: QL (was: ZX-81 Question)) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

27 Mar 2002

I happen to use MS QB4.5/dos at work for test systems. This version
supports all the high level structures and variable scopes that HLL like
Pascal or C would.  It's NOT a weak light weight BASIC.  It does produce
fast, low ram load executeables (.exe) for dos environments and has
proven very robust and easy to use.

My beef with BASIC is especially the older versions with GOTO laden
code can easily be a bowl of long pasta to decode.  However, I've seen
people do same with Fortran, ALGOL, Pascal and even C.

Allison
{my native language is ASM.}

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Erlacher &lt;edick(a)idcomm.com&gt;
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org &lt;classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org&gt;
Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 9:13 AM
Subject: Re: Turbo BASIC (was Re: QL (was: ZX-81 Question))

...
 Unfortunately, the generalized tendency to "beat
up" BASIC as a language for
...
 micros, back in the late '70's and
'80's, by those promoting the newer
"block-structured" languages, makes people look askance at work done in
BASIC.
...
 I had a partner who was quite adept at BASIC
programming and put together a
very functional mail order/inventory control/accounts-receivable/payable
package in about a week.  Within a second week, consisting of probably five
visits in seven days, he got it working very well in-situ, and our customer
liked it so well, that he bought two computers (which we were pressed to
provide, not being in the retail businsess) just to support his then growing
...
 business.

I've found basic to be a handy tool, and, though it doesn't easily support
programming in the large, it does allow getting things done here and now. It
...
 has lots of features, most of which I haven't ever
been pressed to use, and
can do anything your computer can support, up to a point.  If only I had a
dime for each time I used it to do a quick calculation ...

Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Hellige" &lt;jhellige(a)earthlink.net&gt;
To: &lt;classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org&gt;
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 7:28 AM
Subject: Re: Turbo BASIC (was Re: QL (was: ZX-81 Question))

  You can
buy the latest incarnation of Turbo BASIC, called Power
Basic.  It's pretty neat. 
 I've been using PowerBasic since '90 or so and really like
 it.  The later versions include things that the first version, which
 is what I have, did not.  I've written fairly complex
 database/accounting packages with it and those packages were roughly
 1/7 the size of a similar package written using the application
 generator in Foxbase or similar.

 Jeff
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