FreeBASIC is a

free and open source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

multiplatform

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

and

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

based on

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

licensed under the

GNU GPL The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, protected-mode

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

(

DOS extender A DOS extender is a computer software program running under DOS that enables software to run in a protected mode environment even though the host operating system is only capable of operating in real mode. DOS extenders were initially developed ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free-software Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD, one of the first fully functional and free Unix clones on affordable ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

. The Xbox version is no longer maintained. According to its official website, FreeBASIC provides syntax compatibility with programs originally written in Microsoft QuickBASIC (QB). Unlike QuickBASIC, however, FreeBASIC is a command line only

, unless users manually install an external

integrated development environment An integrated development environment (IDE) is a Application software, software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, an ...

(IDE) of their choice.

Compiler features

On its backend, FreeBASIC makes use of GNU Binutils in order to produce console and

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

applications. FreeBASIC supports the linking and creation of C static and dynamic

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and has limited support for C++ libraries. As a result, code compiled in FreeBASIC can be reused in most native development environments. While not an

optimizing compiler An optimizing compiler is a compiler designed to generate code that is optimized in aspects such as minimizing program execution time, memory usage, storage size, and power consumption. Optimization is generally implemented as a sequence of op ...

, FreeBASIC can optionally transcompile to C to compile with optimizations. FreeBASIC supports

inline assembly In computer programming, an inline assembler is a feature of some compilers that allows low-level code written in assembly language to be embedded within a program, among code that otherwise has been compiled from a higher-level language such as ...

, multi-threading, and does not use automatic garbage collection. C style preprocessing, including multiline macros, conditional compiling and file inclusion, is supported. The preprocessor also has access to symbol information and compiler settings, such as the language dialect.

Syntax

Initially, FreeBASIC emulated Microsoft QuickBASIC syntax as closely as possible. Beyond that, the language has continued its evolution. As a result, FreeBASIC combines several language dialects for maximum level of compatibility with QuickBASIC and full access to modern features. New features include support for concepts such as

object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an a ...

operator overloading In computer programming, operator overloading, sometimes termed ''operator ad hoc polymorphism'', is a specific case of polymorphism, where different operators have different implementations depending on their arguments. Operator overloading ...

function overloading In some programming languages, function overloading or method overloading is the ability to create multiple functions of the same name with different implementations. Calls to an overloaded function will run a specific implementation of that f ...

namespace In computing, a namespace is a set of signs (''names'') that are used to identify and refer to objects of various kinds. A namespace ensures that all of a given set of objects have unique names so that they can be easily identified. Namespaces ...

s and others.

Newline A newline (frequently called line ending, end of line (EOL), next line (NEL) or line break) is a control character or sequence of control characters in character encoding specifications such as ASCII, EBCDIC, Unicode, etc. This character, or ...

characters indicate the termination of programming statements. A programming statement can be distributed on multiple consecutive lines by using the underscore ''line continuation char'' (_), whereas multiple statements may be written on a single line by separating each statement with a colon (:). Block comments, as well as end-of-line remarks are supported. Full line comments are made with an

apostrophe The apostrophe (, ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one o ...

', while blocks of commented code begin with /' and end with '/. FreeBASIC is not case-sensitive.

Graphics library

FreeBASIC provides built-in, QuickBASIC compatible graphics support through FBgfx, which is automatically included into programs that make a call to the SCREEN command. Its backend defaults to

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

and

DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...

. This abstraction makes FBgfx graphics code cross-platform compatible. However, FBgfx is not hardware accelerated. Users familiar with external graphics utilities such as OpenGL or the Windows API can use them without interfering with the built-in graphics library.

Language dialects

As FreeBASIC has evolved, changes have been made that required breaking older-styled syntax. In order to continue supporting programs written using the older syntax, FreeBASIC now supports the following dialects: * The default dialect (''-lang fb'' as a

command-line argument A command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interacting with software via command (computing), commands each formatted as a line of text. Command-line interfaces emerged in the mid-1960s, on computer terminals, as an interactive and more user ...

) supports all new compiler features and disallows archaic syntax. * The FB-lite dialect (''-lang fblite'') permits use of most new, non-object-oriented features in addition to older-style programming. Implicit variables, suffixes,

GOSUB 
Basic or BASIC may refer to:

 Science and technology
* BASIC, a computer programming language
* Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base
* Basic access authentication, in HTTP
 Entertainment
* Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film
 ...

/ RETURN, numeric labels and other features are allowed in this dialect. * The QB dialect (''-lang qb'') attempts to replicate QuickBASIC behavior and is able to compile many QuickBASIC programs without modification.

Example code

Standard programs, such as the

"Hello, World!" program A "Hello, World!" program is usually a simple computer program that emits (or displays) to the screen (often the Console application, console) a message similar to "Hello, World!". A small piece of code in most general-purpose programming languag ...

are done just as they were in QuickBASIC. Print "Hello, World!" sleep:end 'Comment, prevents the program window from closing instantly FreeBASIC adds to this with support for

object-oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impleme ...

features such as methods, constructors,

dynamic memory allocation Memory management (also dynamic memory management, dynamic storage allocation, or dynamic memory allocation) is a form of resource management applied to computer memory. The essential requirement of memory management is to provide ways to dyna ...

properties Property is the ownership of land, resources, improvements or other tangible objects, or intellectual property. Property may also refer to: Philosophy and science * Property (philosophy), in philosophy and logic, an abstraction characterizing an ...

and temporary allocation. Type Vector Private: x As Integer y As Integer Public: Declare Constructor (nX As Integer = 0, nY As Integer = 0) Declare Property getX As Integer Declare Property getY As Integer End Type Constructor Vector (nX As Integer, nY As Integer) x = nX y = nY End Constructor Property Vector.getX As Integer Return x End Property Property Vector.getY As Integer Return y End Property Dim As Vector Ptr player = New Vector() *player = Type(100, 100) Print player->getX Print player->getY Delete player Sleep 'Prevents the program window from closing instantly In both cases, the language is well suited for learning purposes.

References

External links

* * * ;IDEs
WinFBE
- Modern FreeBASIC Editor for Windows
VisualFBEditor
- Cross-platform graphical IDE
fbide.freebasic.net
nbsp; — FBIDE Integrated Development Environment for freeBASIC

nbsp; — FBEdit source code editor for FreeBASIC, version 1.0.7.6c * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freebasic BASIC compilers Free and open source compilers Object-oriented programming languages Free computer libraries Self-hosting software Articles with example BASIC code Free software programmed in BASIC DOS software Programming tools for Windows Linux programming tools Programming languages created in 2004 Software using the GNU General Public License Programming languages High-level programming languages 2004 software BASIC programming language family Statically typed programming languages