Do you still use Qbasic?

How many people, here, still use Qbasic once in a while??

[Bonker Gudd]

I have!
Wrote a DOS program to calculate numbers for a raffle.
Anyone who wants it can have it (the code that is!) :rolleyes:

[compuGEEK]

I absolutely love QBasic! I've dabbled with game programming quite recently, although I suck at the graphics part it....

Is Qbasic powerful for game programming?

[Bob Baddeley]

I use it all the time. There are no runtime files, and the programming for underground things is a lot easier. There's basically no need for API. It's awesome.

bob

[HaxSoft]

Hi you all

I have used QBasic 4.5 and version 7.1

For graphics programming, I used the FastGraph library from Ted Gruber Software. It was a graphics library that supported up to 640x480 pixels in 256 colors.

When I bought it, that was awesome (all the games were running 320x300 pixels in 256 colors). I guess the current versions of FastGraph support VB and true color and all that. Yes it is still available from http://www.fastgraph.com. There is a shareware version for download there, BUT I paid for it, and that was one of the best investments I ever made.

QB 7.1 and 4.5 were both great for that stuff when you have FastGraph included. I built an entire library to add GUI to my DOS programs written in QB. Alone, graphics are difficult if not impossible with QB.

I still use QB when I want to write a quick routine or just test something out. Then if it works well, I load it into VB. QBasic is great when you just wanna experiment with something, whereas VB has all those forms and stuff.

[JOEsurf]

i still love the traditional qbasic
done quite a number of progs in qb
but if u compare in terms of user interface, maybe i would prefer vb, other than that, i like qb

QB is mainly good for writing samll calculation program or such games liked LORD or BRE.

[frunkenstein]

I really like qbasic.

denniswerrn posted a working link of where to download Quick Basic 7.1 in the General Questions. If anyone wants it, they should check it out.

[sparkle52988]

I use QBasic.

[bcx7]

i still use qbasic

i sometimes right the code in qbasic and then put it into vb.

one thing good about qbasic is that you have the out and inp commands.

vb doesn't and i've been wanting to use the i/o ports in vb but i cant. i don't know of any other or similar commands (i've got vb5) to inp and out.

but vb is more powerful and runs in windows. qbasic is the opposite but still good.

Has anyone ever tried making a GUI in Qbasic?

I havent but these people have.
http://www.master-creating.de/

Alright, thanks, I'll check it out!

Yes I have that too. It's much more confusing than using VB6.

[Superkat86]

I used Qbasic/Quick Basic for years before I learned vb

[catocom]

I've written more in QB than anything, and I still
use it quite often.
I mostly write childrens programs with it know.

There are still alot of parents out there that
can't afford an updated computer, and QB programs
will run good on even an old 286.
I think everyone should be able to have a useful
computer, and QB makes that more possible.

Also I use it on an old computer to test with, ASM
and just to play with. Let it crash who cares.

[Dejvi]

I use QB from time to time, I made a Phonebook, after which I experimented with ScreenModes and mouse employment, tried to make some kind of graphical enviroment and I can say I did it. I found various programs involving graphical enviroment using QB, some of them are pretty good, better then mine certainly.

[Stefen Enns]

I still use QBasic occasionally. I've written a few small applications in it, and it's great for games. Plus, it's fully compatible with Pentium II processors, unlike Turbo Pascal. :)

[Lemon Lime]

i usually use it for quick stuff.
QB helps me to think clearly when im not VBing
i have qbx7.1 and qb4.5
both are nicest ways of life i ever had

[Lior]

Hashpraza, "Nicest way of life", QB ?!
Think again.

[SteveCRM]

can anyone give me the source to gorillas? I just found qbasic a second ago on my windows cd. Thanks :)

[oetje]

Originally posted by bcx7
i still use qbasic

i sometimes right the code in qbasic and then put it into vb.

one thing good about qbasic is that you have the out and inp commands.

vb doesn't and i've been wanting to use the i/o ports in vb but i cant. i don't know of any other or similar commands (i've got vb5) to inp and out.

but vb is more powerful and runs in windows. qbasic is the opposite but still good.
With a dll called vbio.dll, you can do the inp and out commands in vb. Just search the net for it.

[Lemon Lime]

you're right oetje
but, what I/O port do u need that is not handled by api?
i need only one:
&H3DA
bit 4 is Vsync of the screen and if i dont use Directx Api all animations are blinking
thatz all

[oetje]

I have a digital train from Marklin, and I control that at my computer. It works with the COM port, and I wanna add some extra devices, like miniature cars that really drive. These things are controlled via the paralell port. Therefore I'm going to use vbio.dll. (I don't know anything about using the API for this.)

[Lemon Lime]

So, What's the problem?
beside, to use vbio.dll you need the "declare" statments.
in three letters i'm calling it: "API"
I really didn't knew about the vbio.dll so thanks.
But i really cant understand you'r problem with cars or something...
do you want to control these cars with the LPTx: port?

[Edited by Lemon Lime on 08-21-2000 at 05:54 PM]

[Koralt]

Yep! I still use it for designing algorithms and for making a few simple games ... =)

Actually, I've made a few really detailed games which use 100% pure QB... =D

[Balder]

With my last QB project, a pretty nice 2 player Tetris game, I spent twice as much time with graphic design than with coding (and I don´t mean any voodoo3 graphics here).
I was quite frustrated for a while there, but then, about a year ago, I found VB and and a new world was in front of me.

I don´t think I will ever return to QB entirely. But still QB i great for "coding pratice", when to create samples of a larger project.
Now I´m learning 3D algorithms and using QB to try them out.

But whatever happens, the Quick Basic in my heart will go on...

[Lior]

Well...I've got only one thing to say 'bout Qbasic:

Its OVER!!!!
Like the DOS days are over too!

Don't stay behind, its like watching a black-white TV!

Switch now to VC++, the MOST powerful tool for Windows programming.

Megatron, I just imagine myself if all of your knowledge in VB, would be the same level in VC++....you would worth a lot (A LOT!) of money.

But who knows, maybe you DO program in VC++. Do you?

[kb244]

Lior , you might be interested to know the VC++ compiler I belive actually requires a console to compile, Dos isnt dead, it's just hidden under the surface, the console is very useful and can perform task that are usally too slow to perform in windows, the loss of DOS makes WinME misserable, mainly because it makes it impossible to dualboot between other OSes(or set them up for that matter) makes it impossible for PartitionMagic 5 to "Reboot into DOS" so it can do some drive sentative changes, it makes it nearly impossible to repair your windowsME without dos when it craps up on you. In all the world of instability, DOS is the only thing that can still survive the torement (That , or you could just move over to linux :D ) QBasic (as this thread's topic) is still pretty fun, especially for first time programmers who cant go out and buy VC++ (or dont want to pirate it, or cant because they have crappy dialup modems)

so before you say "IT's OVER!!" think to yourself, and actually see the number of people who use QB, or even Dos for that matter.

Also DOS isnt a B/W TV, DOS is the controls on the front of your TV when your remote control explodes in your hands due to a General Fault Protection error.

Originally posted by Lior
Megatron, I just imagine myself if all of your knowledge in VB, would be the same level in VC++....you would worth a lot (A LOT!) of money.

But who knows, maybe you DO program in VC++. Do you?

Yes, I do some VC++ programming as well. Unfortunatley though, I don't think it's enough to get me a job. I have been trying to learn more for the past year or so, but I guess I'm just too lazy. :)

[Lemon Lime]

dear lior,
as far as i remember it, you are the biggest fan of the microsoft's disk operation system aka MS-DOS!!!

dont tell me that u r not coz i saw you'r 500 mhz goes black screen with white letters like so:
C:\Windows\Desktop>
here we have a good example of black&white!!!

PS:
long time no seen!!!.
& u didn't call me @wed after the game...
nevero,.
cya later.

I use C++ VERY rarely but often for learning it:). QB is cool because when you compile, NO FILES need to be distributed.

I use it occasionally, but VB has took over...

[Lemon Lime]

dear Escaflowne.
as far as i can tell, projects in qb4.5+ are complielble
and you can produce STAND ALONE EXE!!!
i dont know about c/c++ but in vb some DLLs are required to run standard EXEs.
there is a program that removes this dependency, but it is a shareware so it saves the exe as "something evaluation something.exe"

it's not so bad, but i didn't liked the idea.

[Paul282]

That's why I use VB less and less, and Powerbasic more and more.

32bit windows stand alone exe is about 10-20k, also 32bit dlls (not the activex stuff)

Pointers, registers, inline ASM, unsigned variables, 64bit integer support, free threading and optional C style null terminated strings are also a plus.

don't know what more poeple don't use it... sometimes it's a bit more work than vb, especially in the GUI area and there is no OO but that doesn't bother me much.

The IDE needs a bit of work but that's apparently got the priority in the next version.

If you like QB you'd love powerbasic

fast too, especially if you compare string functions

[kb244]

C++ is standalone compilable, especially in dos, Qbasic can be statically linked (putting it's lib into the exe making it bigger, but you are still distributing the library) C++ will compile only the parts required to run the program, not the whole library like QB, also depending on the computer, C++ can go both ways, it mostly writes to itself only what it needs, but for like windows, someitmes, it will use for example the MFC dlls, to conserve space of the C++ program when someone wants to use Mircrosoft's C++ wrapper, most of the time, you can write a program in C++ and only need to distribute the exe, this is quite untrue of VB, and QB (because you jam it into the exe anywyas, you are still distributing it, it's jsut that it's not as big as a VB runtime, so it doesnt bother most of us)

[Kaverin]

Yeah, I use QBasic 4.5 all the time. Especially if I need to hack something out really quick and can't be bothered with event driven stuff in VB, or I don't want to hang myself in C. :D I kept trying to make games for it though, and never got into anything complex, since graphics are a pain, and without graphics, a game can be boring unless it has a good story (like text RPGs). I did make Yahtzee with it though. I kept it in the original form that I wrote it because I like to look back and laugh at how sloppy (and yet functional) it was. And I loved the fact that when I got 4.5, I could get out of the old QB environment (back when DOS was a real OS hehe), and actually make a stand alone EXE. I picked up some C along the way (with QuickC 2.01 and TC++ for DOS), then VB (started with ver 3). Anyway.. *steps off the soapbox*

[Edited by Kaverin on 10-17-2000 at 11:14 PM]

[Lemon Lime]

Dear kb244
thanks for the information about qb and vb but i just wanted u to know that (you probably already know that) ASM has no other codes added to the EXE.
i have had the MSDN 5 pro 'till few years and it was amazing using this tool to remove the VB dll requirments with.
unfortunately, my hard drive formatted and the cd was lost at my friend home so now he bought me the vb5 pro only.
I know that it is not so fair but i let him.
anyway the developer network is *T*H*E* tool.
as i heard, the vb7 would be in the only MSDN 7 version and nothing else.
cy'a

I use QBASIC only now and then to test out simple logical arguments before I implement them in VB. I regard Qbasic to be far too slow to be of any use outside of hobby purposes. But its an excellent and quick way of experimenting with mathematical concepts without having to waste memory on the VB IDE when the project is still an idea in my head.

But for the games writers out there have a look at


http://www.blitzbasic.com

Now there's a basic dialect for writing games.

[Edwin_Drood_1870]

I have used it a little but it's sorta awkward.

And people on this board think they argue

I'm currently working for a company that has used QB
(compiled into EXE's) to develop a large pathology system
for use by medical laboratories. The system is a big
commercial success and the sofware is used by a large
number of labs in England.

Part of my job is to convert the QB application to VB6. The
old QB programs use flat files and we still have to support
that structure in the VB version, so we are probably the
only 21st century software house that doesn't store their
data in humungous databases. For all the usefulness of
databases, you can't beat the speed of finely tuned routines
accessing flat files. "Boring" I hear you say? Not when you
get to write your own recordset routines ;)


:D

I was paid quite for almost three years to program exclusively in ProBasic (same as Qbasic, but it came with some additional libraries) and writing batch files.

Some VP decided that Probasic and msDos 6.0 were not Y2K compliant (never mind that we had set up a small system and set the date forward) so we had to but ass last year to re-write almost 200 apps.

I almost laughed my ass off when we came into work after the holiday and saw the old system plugging along with no errors --- after the company spent 1/4 million on contractors and new hardware to build the y2k compliant system.....almost needless to say I don't work there anymore.

We supported a client for approx 6 years on an old COBOL Prime System. Their software was over 20 years old, with only the odd bug or two cropping up. During the course of our support we managed to re-write a few of the systems in dBase 111+ and then VB.

So of course they had to get in a Y2k expert, who claimed the whole system would need to be scraped, and totally re-written. Too make a long story short, we got a call in Feb for help..after spending a million or so the new system had totally collapsed and they were reverting to the existing system.

Managers are clearly employed for their inability to control IT projects and jump at any so called expert that tells them what they want to hear.

[carlitoau]

i used it before i lean't vb.... and i still use it today!

[MoGryph]

I do- absolutely.

If I have a completely DOS environment I have to work in,
or I have no other tools at my disposal (no licensing)to
make my own needed tools, I'll compile a QBasic program to
make some nice Command Line tools.

[sTyLeZ]

I still use QB quite a bit.

For all you that want a good graphics library, check out FutureLib from Future Software at http://www.qb45.com

[DiEDa]

i love QB.... but C is better

[superkat]

I still use qb and right now I am making a game creator for it. If you are interested please email me Superkat86@altavista.com

[frunkenstein]

Frunkenstein would like that...

I'll send you an email under the name David ohlund

=)

I use qBasic.... i learnt it when i was 7.

QB was great.. but i hear PowerBasic is still better.. anyone knows were to get it?

[KingDavid]

hears an os written in qb 4.5.

http://members.nbci.com/alexjon/

[Lord Orwell]

Megatron, i attempted to create a gui for an upgrade to a program i had previously written that was designed to edit and decode disk fat and sectors. I had written custom routines to show mouse, hide mouse when drawing drop down menus, detecting which menu item was clicked, etc. I finally gave up, but i have a small library of (16-color) functions i wrote that make progress bars, etc. I never had a svga library. But qbasic was a nice tool to help learn assembly/source, since it was actually possible to have assembled code in your project by declaring an array or string with the assembly bytes in it and reading the address of the array. I used this method for call-backs from the mouse. You could program up to 4 mouse events depending on what keys you held down while clicking buttons. Each could call a different sub.

[AndySoft]

I use QB a LOT and it rocks! http://neozones.com and http://qbasic.qb45.com are awesome QB sites...

[Arcom]

QBasic/QuickBasic is a legend!

I use it frequently and especially when I need to convince my techer that QB is waaaaaaay better and more powerful than that horrible Turbo Pascal :)

QBasic is much better than Pascal.. but i don't think its more powerful

[Lord Orwell]

Well it DOES allow you interrupt access and mouse use. ;)

[Arcom]

QB also allows you to use dynamic arrays which is impossible in Turbo Pascal

Dynamic arrays? Couldn't you just use a linked list? or pointers? Or does Turbo Pascal not have any of these?