In this thread SmUX2k claims QBasic had web access with a utility called curl. Call me pedantic, but that is borderline nonsense imho. Why? First of all there is no version of utility for MS-DOS which means this solution wouldn't work on the platforms QBasic was designed for. Second, it is just a clever trick using an external program.
I know networking existed for DOS and access to the early internet was possible with just software for that OS. Out of curiousity, has anyone ever accessed the internet using some BASIC dialect for DOS actually running under DOS?
This reminds me of an e-mail I once recieved decades ago, someone thought that calling the Sound Recorder in Windows 95 to play wave files using the SHELL statement in QBasic meant they had made a program capable of text to speech. If they had used actual port I/O and snippets of assembly code (CALL ABSOLUTE) I might have been mildly impressed by a program reciting the letters in a text.
In this thread SmUX2k claims QBasic had web access with a utility called curl. Call me pedantic, but that is borderline nonsense imho. Why? First of all there is no version of utility for MS-DOS which means this solution wouldn't work on the platforms QBasic was designed for. Second, it is just a clever trick using an external program.
I know networking existed for DOS and access to the early internet was possible with just software for that OS. Out of curiousity, has anyone ever accessed the internet using some BASIC dialect for DOS actually running under DOS?
This reminds me of an e-mail I once recieved decades ago, someone thought that calling the Sound Recorder in Windows 95 to play wave files using the SHELL statement in QBasic meant they had made a program capable of text to speech. If they had used actual port I/O and snippets of assembly code (CALL ABSOLUTE) I might have been mildly impressed by a program reciting the letters in a text.
This seems more suited for the General developers forum.
I am curious why your interested in software that runs on MS-Dos.
Your post, however, was meta. This is the post race, everything here is discontinuous nonsense, but what you posted wasn't nonsense, which makes it discontinuous nonsense. So it both was and wasn't at the same time.
Nah, such outdated languages don't really have any relevance anymore, so for me it is more chit chat than a real discussion. I am not really interested in obtaining software that runs under DOS if that is you what mean, it is more that I am interested in old programming languages and by extension old software. Mostly for nostalgic reasons and a curiousity about how such old software works. While it isn't really all that useful or practical to know in most cases, it can still be fun and interesting to learn about the inner workings of old software and even hardware. While it serves no practical purpose, I have for example tried pushing Q(uick)BASIC to its limit by writing programs capable of using EMS/VESA/the mouse/soundcard/MIDI. It is interesting to see how those things we take for granted in a more modern language have to be manually implemented in an older language. Also, an interesting topic for debate here is where to draw the line between a program that depends on something minor external utility and a program that is essentially a script making another program do most of the work.
If those things interest you, go ahead reply in depth to what I brought up or ignore it. It's not that important, just fun to me.
PS:
I didn't want to hijack a thread about HTML parsing for the purpose of debating whether or not calling curl QBasic constitutes giving QBasic true access to the web. This thread seemed as good as any a place to post something like this. It appears to be full of random topics by other people anyway.
I am not sure how to take that, but I guess it is good to be pedantic at times, I believe it is important to not just throw something together that works but to think about how you write it when developing a program. Also, it occurs to me, that if you are going to use a utility that needs at least Windows 95 to work, you might as well use a programming language more suited to that os.
Last edited by Peter Swinkels; Mar 1st, 2024 at 05:19 PM.
I am not sure how to take that, but I guess it is good to be pedantic at times, I believe it is important to not just throw something together that works but to think about how you write it when developing a program. Also, it occurs to me, that if you are going to use a utility that needs at least Windows 95 to work, you might as well use a programming language more suited to that os.
How should you take it??? You told us to call you pedantic, so I did. You should take it literally.
Your post, however, was meta. This is the post race, everything here is discontinuous nonsense, but what you posted wasn't nonsense, which makes it discontinuous nonsense. So it both was and wasn't at the same time.
That's Quantum theory in a nutshell
Last edited by Zvoni; Tomorrow at 31:69 PM.
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One System to rule them all, One Code to find them,
One IDE to bring them all, and to the Framework bind them,
in the Land of Redmond, where the Windows lie
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People call me crazy because i'm jumping out of perfectly fine airplanes.
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Code is like a joke: If you have to explain it, it's bad
Yeah, I noticed that, but I got too distracted trying to decide whether Peter's cat was dead or alive.
Now you’re just trying to get entangled in philosophical questions….
Last edited by Zvoni; Tomorrow at 31:69 PM.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One System to rule them all, One Code to find them,
One IDE to bring them all, and to the Framework bind them,
in the Land of Redmond, where the Windows lie
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
People call me crazy because i'm jumping out of perfectly fine airplanes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code is like a joke: If you have to explain it, it's bad
Last edited by Zvoni; Tomorrow at 31:69 PM.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One System to rule them all, One Code to find them,
One IDE to bring them all, and to the Framework bind them,
in the Land of Redmond, where the Windows lie
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
People call me crazy because i'm jumping out of perfectly fine airplanes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code is like a joke: If you have to explain it, it's bad
We've been having a spot of weather, but that pretty much quit yesterday. A bit of rain coming next week...then spring will return. Still, it has been cold the last couple days. I knew my tree was getting over eager when it put on blossoms last week! That was followed by two days of snow and freezing temperatures.
Quit around here. Haven't heard from Dil in several days. Maybe he's busy packing and moving that 800miles.
Not yet, but it has been under discussion. Sort of shocked me the other day "Maybe you should sell your house and move in here."
Gulp.
I even think she really has given in on being wrong, which was the pivotal issue that led to all of the strife in the last two months. If it comes up she still waffles, she hates being wrong, but she already admitted it.
Of course being blocked on the phone if she has a fit over nothing is one thing. Locked out of the house quite another.
But nothing like that is going to happen tomorrow.
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Originally Posted by Peter Swinkels
