BASIC-256

Introduction

BASIC-256 is an easy to use version of BASIC designed to teach anybody (especially middle and high-school students) the basics of computer programming. It uses traditional control structures like gosub, for/next, and goto, which helps kids easily see how program flow-control works. It has a built-in graphics mode which lets them draw pictures on screen in minutes, and a set of detailed, easy-to-follow tutorials that introduce programming concepts through fun exercises.

Check out "Why Johnny Can't Code," the article that inspired BASIC-256.

We welcome all tutorials and sample programs written for BASIC-256, as well as any feedback or ideas.

The original author may be contacted at drblast [at] users.sourceforge.net the current maintainer is available at renejm [at] users.sourceforge.net.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 12:32

Easy Install under FreeBSD

As of 2011-10-11, Basic256 is available on the FreeBSD ports tree.

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 06:14

ComputerMasti includes BASIC-256 tutorials in school curriculum.

ComputerMasti has created an open-source Computer Science curriculum for grades 9-12 and it includes BASIC-256 as one of the programming languages covered.

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Wednesday, July 06, 2011, 13:05

0.9.6.66

Built new Windows installer and LINUX/MAC TAR archive. This version includes the new user interface control statements and corrections to the off-line help viewing.

Jim.

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Monday, February 14, 2011, 21:29

0.9.6.61

Uploaded the latest SVN and Windows installer to Sourceforge. Includes new functions OSTYPE (what type of system is this) and MSEC (return execution time in milliseconds).

Off-line help now generated from the wiki at http://doc.basic256.org. The windows installer is smaller and allows the off-line help and examples to be optionally installed.

Happy Valentine's Day - Jim

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Wednesday, January 05, 2011, 11:41

0.9.6.56

Uploaded the latest SVN and Windows installer to Sourceforge. Includes new functions DIR, COUNT, COUNTX, INSTRX, REPLACE, REPLACEX, EXPLODE, and EXPLODEX. These functions allow for better string searching and manipulation, even using regular expressions.

Also included is Sergei's off-line or on-line help feature.

Jim

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Thursday, December 09, 2010, 06:01

0.9.6.50

Uploaded the latest SVN and Windows installer to Sourceforge. Includes new icons on menus/toolbars, and a few minor fixes by Sergey.

Jim

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Sunday, December 05, 2010, 10:00

Backports for Ubuntu 10.4 and 10.10.

Ryan Kavanagh has completed a backport of BASIC-256 0.9.6.48 for Ubuntu Lucid 10.4 and Maverick 10.10. The installation for the two most recent Ubuntu releases has been made VERY EASY. Click for Instructions.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 20:47

New Web Forum

The forum on the documentation and web pages have become a bit too difficult to maintain. A new forum has been set up at http://forum.basic256.org.

Jim

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Monday, October 25, 2010, 11:43

0.9.6.46

Started working on the port to Macintosh. Have it compiling but not all features working yet. Time will be at a premium but I will continue working on it.

Jim

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 14:03