What is the best free basic compiler ?

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TI-994A
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by TI-994A »

Psychophanta wrote:What is the best free basic compiler for linux and windows?
From personal experience, there is no such thing as free.

In this case, the amount of time and effort it would take to install and set up the environments, just to get started on any of the free compilers, is simply going to be frustrating. Then, support and documentation are almost non-existent, having to depend solely on lethargic communities, kept alive by a handful of enthusiasts who are often programming novices themselves. And good luck with bug fixes.

The eighty bucks that you invest in PureBasic, for a lifetime license, on three desktop platforms, each with their own IDE and form designer, is truly pennies on the pound, virtually free in itself. It literally works out of the box, with built-in and online documentation, chock-full of easy-to-follow examples, and has been supported by its diligent and responsive team of developers for over twenty years now. Plus, it boasts a very active and supportive forum community.

Clearly, a no-brainer! :wink:
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by Bitblazer »

Some professional IDE's including compilers with cross platform and inline assembler support even offer a complete free version. For example here. I heard their community is also active and helpful.
webpage - discord chat links -> purebasic GPT4All
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by mk-soft »

I have been using Purebasic for over 15 years. Also in productive systems (industry).
First with windows, then also with Linux.
When I had no more desire on windows and switched to macOS, everything ran with Purebasic as usual. With which programming language do you have that already?

With Purebasic.

Professionally I have to do also with other programming languages and I can do troubleshooting in these as support.
But I write own productive small applications or services with Purebasic and these run for years without problems.

If just in case a server was down and after it was converted and restored on a VM system, my own service for data collection started again without doing anything.
All other services had to be installed and set up again.

The money for Purebasic was worth it in any case, and they donate too :!:


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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by Kuron »

mk-soft wrote:I have been using Purebasic for over 15 years. Also in productive systems (industry).
First with windows, then also with Linux.
When I had no more desire on windows and switched to macOS, everything ran with Purebasic as usual. With which programming language do you have that already?

With Purebasic.
That speaks volumes to Keeping it Pure!
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by skywalk »

Free is a trap. :evil:
PureBasic is the correct answer. :idea:
The nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from. ~ Andrew Tanenbaum
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the.weavster
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by the.weavster »

TI-994A wrote:From personal experience, there is no such thing as free.
skywalk wrote:Free is a trap. :evil:
For the last 2.5 years I've supported myself and my family creating software that runs with Python / PyPy. I use Geany as my IDE. For databases I use either SQLite or Firebird.

All free :wink:
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by MrBean »

decimal basic from japan, old style basic with IDE, but not completely compatible with MS basic
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA008683/english/
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by ogheri »

if it really NEEDS TO BE FREE then perhaps freebasic plus fbedit for a beginner
otherwise purebasic at only 80 bucks cant be beaten

I d dare even to say that even powerbasic at 100$ is still quite ok

but if it must also be "easy easy easy" for a beginner to start, probably the easiest is liberty basic...

but ehm... how "beginner" is a beginner that is not even able to google this by himself and decide by himself...?

I question the willingness this person has to learn if he / she doesnt want even to google himself / herself for the language and ide and compiler to start with in the first place!
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by Rinzwind »

It is for a friend which is making a programming youtube channel for BASIC.
If this friend knows zero about Basic, he should not make a YouTube video about it. There are already way to many cheap dry listings of Things on YouTube mentioned by YouTubers who clearly did not use any of the mentioned Things. Just another click bait video.

Related: be aware that many YouTubers silence commenters that do not agree with their view. As commenter you wouldn't know it until you check if your comment is actually there logged in and out. If all comments are positive you know something is fishy. YouTube actively supports far left/far right communities that way by giving them a bubble view.
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by Caronte3D »

Albert90 wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:27 pm Sorry if this sounds ignorant, but I'm just wondering why PureBasic, as a programming language, needs to be 'bought'. It's a programming language isn't it, just like Java or C#, and getting into those is totally free.

Is there no free way to get into it?
My English in not good to answer your question (I hope someone do it), but I want to tell you $70 for a lifetime license of PureBasic is a gift.
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Re: What is the best free basic compiler ?

Post by jacdelad »

Albert90 wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:27 pm Sorry if this sounds ignorant, but I'm just wondering why PureBasic, as a programming language, needs to be 'bought'. It's a programming language isn't it, just like Java or C#, and getting into those is totally free.

Is there no free way to get into it?
Hi Albert,
it depends on the developer. PureBasic is developed by a small team that lives from it. The others you mentioned are developed by bigger teams and used to catch programmers to use it and buy further add-ons or the fitting OSes. It's like Linux and Windows, free or not free.

Also, before buying, you can excessively try the demo with just some limitations. I did it and was quickly convinced.
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