Difference between qbasic and quickbasic
John Rodgers
>From: an55...@anon.penet.fi (The Source)
>Subject: Difference between qbasic and quickbasic
>Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 05:21:40 GMT
>Would someone please tell me what the difference is (if any!) between
>QBasic and QuickBasic. All I know is that QBasic comes with MS-DOS
>5.0 and up. Is QuickBasic a compiler, rather than an interpreter?
>Does it cost money?
>Please let me know, and yes the anonymous mail address works.
>The Source
Almost every version of DOS, Microsoft and IBM, came with some version or
flavor of BASIC ( Beginner's All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). IBM DOS
Ver 7.0 comes with QBasic and Microsoft DOS 6.xx came with Microsofts last
issue of any form of BASIC that "doesn't do WINDOWS"
Microsoft QuickBasic 4.x "was" MS's advanced compiler that it SOLD to
programers to turn BASIC programs into EXEs. They no longer sell or support
this product. You will have to find a copy someone no longer wants or a new
retail copy that has not sold yet(fewer of these exist now I hear)
PAX,
TCF
Too Cool Fool 03-31-96 John Rodgers
90% of politicians give the other 10% a bad reputation.
http://www.flinet.com/~coolfool/wiz/
Byron Smith
Hi John Rodgers! Hope you're doing well (this isn't a flame either, just a
mild correction).
>Almost every version of DOS, Microsoft and IBM, came with some version or
Actually, the IBM DOS versions lack QBasic, since QBasic is copyrighted by
Microsoft and as far as I know, was not licensed for use in any of the IBM DOS
packages.
>flavor of BASIC ( Beginner's All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). IBM DOS
>Ver 7.0 comes with QBasic and Microsoft DOS 6.xx came with Microsofts last
IBM DOS 7.0, last I heard, had the REXX programming language but not QBasic.
I haven't heard of any IBM operating systems having QBasic in them unless you
bought OS/2. I have no idea what OS/2 Warp (3.0) has, but the 2.1 I had, had
QBasic 1.0 included (not the QBasic 1.1 that is the latest now) but changed
slightly (IBMized, as far as I could tell).
>90% of politicians give the other 10% a bad reputation.
Does this mean that only 90% get caught doing something wrong?
--
Byron Smith (un...@sat.net)
Syntax Error Home Page
http://www.sat.net/~unol
Leonard Erickson
> Would someone please tell me what the difference is (if any!) between
> QBasic and QuickBasic. All I know is that QBasic comes with MS-DOS
> 5.0 and up. Is QuickBasic a compiler, rather than an interpreter?
QuickBasic is a compiler.
> Does it cost money?
Yes. It used to be around $50, then MS jumped the price to around $150!
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
sha...@krypton.rain.com <--preferred
leo...@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort
som...@mail.sdsu.edu
an online service that has it. The Academic version is $45 and The
standard version is $130. The address is
http://www.software.net/prdo.htm?pkin250294
Look it up if you really want it. I'm not sure if they still have the
academic version in stock, though.
+---> Mbeanis N Alzin <---+
+---> Chief Conspirator <---+
+---> ols...@mail.sdsu.edu<---+
I Alone123
>I have been looking for QuickBasic 4.5 for a while, and yesterday I found
>an online service that has it. The Academic version is $45 and The
>standard version is $130. The address is
That's A LOT!!! I got mine in academic version and i didn't realize that
it costed so much. Then I found it in DOS. please tell me that the one
that came with DOS for free isn't as good as 4.5!!!!
Egbert Zijlema
> it costed so much. Then I found it in DOS. please tell me that the one
> that came with DOS for free isn't as good as 4.5!!!!
It is'nt, because 4.5 is a compiler that makes stand alone executables
while the free DOS-version is an interpreter. It only runs BAS-files
while QBasic is loaded.
Besides: the names are different. The DOS-version's name is QBasic, which
is an (incomplete) subset of Quick Basic, the compiler.
--
Egbert Zijlema
PO-box 60,
NL-9700 MC GRONINGEN
E-mail: E.Zi...@uni4nn.iaf.nl
Voice: +31 50 5844275
Fax: +31 50 5844308
Daniel P Hudson
>In article <4jpbue$9...@gondor.sdsu.edu>, som...@mail.sdsu.edu writes:
>That's A LOT!!! I got mine in academic version and i didn't realize that
>it costed so much. Then I found it in DOS. please tell me that the one
>that came with DOS for free isn't as good as 4.5!!!!
Unless you prefer interpreters and emmulating system calls such as
INTERRUPTX through a CALL ABSOLUTE routine, then 4.5 is better.
It's a compiler that comes with some extra commmand that are well
worth it, the only bug you should watch out for is saving files,
be sure to specify TEXT only and not BINARY.
Byron Smith
>In article <4jpbue$9...@gondor.sdsu.edu>, som...@mail.sdsu.edu writes:
>
>
>>an online service that has it. The Academic version is $45 and The
>>standard version is $130. The address is
>
>it costed so much. Then I found it in DOS. please tell me that the one
>that came with DOS for free isn't as good as 4.5!!!!
Well, actually the one that comes free with DOS isn't even the same animal.
The free one is QBasic (now 1.1), originally known as the QuickBASIC
Interpreter in its early development (hence the confusion). *QuickBASIC*
itself is (was?) a compiler-based system sold by Microsoft that Microsoft has
since abandoned. I understand Microsoft does not even sell it directly
anymore, or ever plan to update it or any of their DOS-based languages. It's a
shame, really. I bought my copy of QB45 for $42 way back when...
Incidentally, that reminds me. Provantage sells QuickBASIC 4.5 for $128 ($2
cheaper, if that $130 doesn't include s/h). I don't know if they sell for the
academic community, but their catalog can be browsed on
http://www.provantage.com.
E:\WorldNet\mail\unol.sig
70.217.31], pleased to meet you
like if you want any kind of a future in Basic then PowerBASIC is one of the
best ways to go.
Byron Smith
>E:\WorldNet\mail\unol.sig
>70.217.31], pleased to meet you
>like if you want any kind of a future in Basic then PowerBASIC is one of the
>best ways to go.
Sorry, my news winsock software decided to exhibit a bug.
mervyn.baldwin
A program line
L=.721347 *LSUM / LM
'type of L being previously defined in DEFDBL A-Z
It's possible, very occasionally to get into this line with
LM = 0. It's easily avoided, of course, but, when it isn't
avoided the various dialect of MS basic reach differently
GWBasic gets "division by zero" and then continues.
QBasic and QuickBASIC (4.0 and 4.5) all stop dead with
"overflow". Curious!
Curiouser - if I *feed* it a zero I get "division by zero"
Curiouser still - If I look at the last value of L calculated
I get a perfectly sensible and varied number with QBasic or
QB4.0, but with QB4.5 I *always* get
L = -1.#IND
Does anybody know what that means? Is it INDefinite or
INfinity Double precision or what? and does this imply
that QB4.5 uses the FPU differently from the other QBs?
--
Best wishes,
Mervyn Baldwin.
v...@abaldwin.demon.co.uk
Paul Edward Joseph King
: > That's A LOT!!! I got mine in academic version and i didn't realize that
: > it costed so much. Then I found it in DOS. please tell me that the one
: > that came with DOS for free isn't as good as 4.5!!!!
: It is'nt, because 4.5 is a compiler that makes stand alone executables
: while the free DOS-version is an interpreter. It only runs BAS-files
: while QBasic is loaded.
: Besides: the names are different. The DOS-version's name is QBasic, which
: is an (incomplete) subset of Quick Basic, the compiler.
There is more... QuickBASIC has access to libraries, with the added
ability to create your own. Library access means you can use the
CALL INTERRUPTs to access the various DOS services. This means you can do
things like give complete directory listings (unlike "Files" command),
give recursive disk usages, write your own mouse driver, and on and on.
This is nor so easily done with straight BASIC.
Paul King
--
Paul King bv...@torfree.net | Food scientist for hire
pk...@idirect.com |
| All statements are my own. Standard disclaimer.
----------------------------+------------------------------------------------
Ian Musgrave
(Paul Edward Joseph King) writes:
>From: bv...@torfree.net (Paul Edward Joseph King)
>Subject: Re: Difference between qbasic and quickbasic
>Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 22:52:27 GMT
>Egbert Zijlema (E.Zi...@uni4nn.iaf.nl) wrote:
>: > That's A LOT!!! I got mine in academic version and i didn't realize that
>: > it costed so much. Then I found it in DOS. please tell me that the one
>: > that came with DOS for free isn't as good as 4.5!!!!
>: It is'nt, because 4.5 is a compiler that makes stand alone executables
>: while the free DOS-version is an interpreter. It only runs BAS-files
>: while QBasic is loaded.
Strictly speaking QuickBasic 4.x is a package that comes with an
interpreter/editor (QB.EXE) *and* a compiler (BC.EXE). But since the
interpreter/editor allows you to invoke BC.EXE and compile within the editor
environment, most people don't notice it. There are some situations where
command line compilation with BC.EXE and LINK.EXE are desirable.
>: Besides: the names are different. The DOS-version's name is QBasic, which
>: is an (incomplete) subset of Quick Basic, the compiler.
QBASIC.EXE vs QB.EXE, the QBASIC interpreter is also slower than the QB4.x
interpreter, due to different handling of the code to be interpreted.
>There is more... QuickBASIC has access to libraries, with the added
>ability to create your own.
And modules, which make boiler plate code easy to port between applications.
COMMAND$ to access the command line. In fact QBASIC does not allow most, if
not all the QB4.5 metacommands (and $INCLUDE is really handy).
>Library access means you can use the
>CALL INTERRUPTs to access the various DOS services. This means you can do
>things like give complete directory listings (unlike "Files" command),
>give recursive disk usages, write your own mouse driver, and on and on.
>This is nor so easily done with straight BASIC.
You CAN emulate CALL INTERRUPT in QBASIC, which will give you all the benifits
above. See Douggie Greens code FAQ, available by sending email to
basi...@blissinx.demon.co.uk with 'send-me-new-code-faq' for the
emulation code and several examples or David Burbridges Home page
http://whitworth.me.ic.ac.uk/people/students/djbur/qbasic.htm
and the USEFL201 package to down load with the emulator and
many nice code examples.
For a free program, QBASIC is quite handy, and a reasonable introduction to
structured programming.
Cheers! Ian
---------------------------------------------
Ian Musgrave Ph.D Ian.Mu...@med.monash.edu.au
Prince Henry's Institue of Medical Research
PO Box 5152, Clayton 3168, Australia.
Phone +61 3 550 4286 FAX +61 3 550 6125
Auric__
> Why do I get @@@@@... while I run this program?
> ==============
> CLS x = 1 WHILE x = 1 PRINT "@";
> SLEEP 1
> WEND
> END
> ==============
Because it's an infinite loop. Why did you post this as a reply to a thread
that's 21 years old?
--
Should I speed the process to its logical conclusion
and poke out my own eardrums now?