Talk:QBasic

Moved from main article:

Does anyone know for sure whether QBASIC or QB 4.5 came first, or have a QB timeline? (question by anon)

Yes, I do. QB 4.5 came first. I have adjusted the article to make this clear. -- Derek Ross

This is not an "important" question about the language, but a question about the history... and I love those questions. You can learn a lot at Download QB (http://www.download-qb.tk/), which let's you download QBasic compilers, GW-BASIC interpreters, and Visual Basic Compilers, as well as reading about the history of these languages. QuickBasic came before any of the QBasic things, which came with DOS and didn't compile (in the help file they encourage users to buy VB-DOS in order to compile QBasic programs - I remember reading that for the first time, even before I had internet access, and thinking "How crummy!"). QBasic was, basically, QuickBasic without the compiler and some other helpful features. It has the library built in, which let's you run machine language code (QuickBasic has the library in an external file, and in order to use it you have to start QB.EXE with the switch "/l" from the commandline).

please can you explain how to write an algorithm in Qbasic language.please explain it in detail because we're new in it. thanks

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I think the correct capitalization is QBasic, but I'll have to check on this.

Bkell 06:04, 15 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Okay, I finally got tired of the incorrect "QBASIC," so I went ahead and moved the page. Hope no one complains too much. --Bkell 06:24, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

You're right. Thanks :-) --cprompt 23:29, Jun 12, 2004 (UTC)

From the manual "...the QuickBASIC Extended (QBX)..." therefore it should be QBASIC, (all capitals =) In moust places the manual refers to the short form QBX.

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Say, I noticed on special keys that CTRL-PAUSE is listed. I always thought of it as CTRL-BREAK (pause and break are on the same key usually). Could someone check QBasic and see what the help refers to? --cprompt 23:29, Jun 12, 2004 (UTC)

Yes, you're right. It is usually CTRL-BREAK, even in the manual and help. And someone should change that, although it isn't important - as you say, they are the same!

External links

This article is starting to accumulate too many external links. I've seen this before in Mozilla and Firefox -- a clear case of fan syndrome. The solution is to remove all 'non-notable external links, but what links are considered notable are an open question. I haven't programmed in QBasic in years, so I haven't been following the scene closely. --Ardonik.talk() 03:30, Sep 18, 2004 (UTC)

I checked the sites for activity and got rid of hype in their descriptions. I didn't remove any site as I do not follow QBasic (I guess some sites will disappear over time). Pavel Vozenilek

QB community

An IP addressed user added the following, which I removed because it is non-encyclopedic in style. Perhaps someone could turn this into a sentence or two, if it is accurate (are there enough people still using QBasic to be called a "comunity"?):

QBasic has grown and developed a culture and community around it (yes, the phrase "the qbasic community" is an actual phrase, and has a lot of meaning to it!) You can't write a professional program in it, with everyone using Windows and Linux and Mac, although at one time there was such a thing as professional and, yes, even commercial, programs written in QB. QB is still a very popular programming language, because it is easy to use, and is very user friendly, and because there is such a community for it people are happier to learn to program in QB than to program in a language with only a very small community, such as Python. Yes, the QB community has grown quite large! And QB has become more than a programming language. It has a history, a culture, and is quite well-known. Critics scoff, but QB is truly a great language!

--Fastfission 03:51, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Yes, there are enough people using it. There is a HUGE online community. Take a look at some of the sites listed as external links. http://www.neozones.com/, http://www.qbasicnews.com/, and others. I personally do not use QBasic except for simple programs that are un-important but would take too long to write in other languages. But I like to point out that QBasic has a huge community, partly because it's where I got my start.