PureBasic

PureBasic is a commercially distributed procedural computer programming language and integrated development environment based on BASIC and developed by Fantaisie Software for Windows, Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi. An Amiga version is available, although it has been discontinued and some parts of it are released as open-source. The first public release of PureBasic for Windows was on 17 December 2000. It has been continually updated ever since.

PureBasic has a "lifetime license model". As cited on the website, the first PureBasic user (who registered in 1998) still has free access to new updates and this is not going to change.FAQ
lifetime licence details

PureBasic compiles directly to IA-32, x86-64, PowerPC or 680x0 instruction sets, generating small standalone executables and DLLs which need no runtime libraries beyond the standard system libraries. Programs developed without using the platform-specific application programming interfaces (APIs) can be built easily from the same source file with little or no modification.

PureBasic supports inline assembly, allowing the developer to include FASM assembler commands within PureBasic source code, while using the variables declared in PureBasic source code, enabling experienced programmers to improve the speed of speed-critical sections of code. PureBasic supports and has integrated the OGRE 3D Environment. Other 3D environments such as the Irrlicht Engine are unofficially supported.

Since version 6.00 (June 2022), in addition to compilation using ASM, PureBasic offers compilation with a C backend. This enables access to new platforms (e.g. Raspberry) and should make it easier to add new libraries in the future.

Programming language

Characteristics

PureBasic is a native cross platform 32 bit and 64 bit BASIC compiler. Currently supported systems are Windows, Linux, macOS. The AmigaOS version is legacy and open-source. The compiler produces native executables and the syntax of PureBasic is simple and straightforward, comparable to plain C without the brackets and with native unicode string handling and a large library of built-in support functions.PureBasic home page
/ref> It can compile console applications,
/ref> GUI applications,
/ref> and DLL files.
/ref>

Hello World example

The following single line of PureBasic code will create a standalone x86 executable (4.5 KiB (4,608 bytes) on Windows version) that displays a message box with the text " Hello World".

MessageRequester("Message Box", "Hello World")

And the following variant of the same code, which instead uses an inline Windows API call with no need for declarations or other external references, will create an even smaller 2.0 KiB (2,048 bytes) standalone x86 executable for Windows.

MessageBox_(0, "Hello World", "Message Box", 0)

The following is a console version of the Hello World example.

OpenConsole() ; Open a console window.
Print("Hello, World!")
Delay(5000) ; Pause for 5 seconds

Procedural programming

PureBasic is a "Second generation BASIC" language, with structured conditionals and loops, and procedure-oriented programming supported. The user is not required to use procedures, so a programmer may opt for a coding style which includes , and .

Below is a sample procedure for sorting an array, although SortArray is now a built-in function of PureBasic.

Procedure bubbleSort(Array a(1))
Protected i, itemCount, hasChanged

itemCount = ArraySize(a())
Repeat
hasChanged = #False
itemCount - 1
For i = 0 To itemCount
If a(i) > a(i + 1)
Swap a(i), a(i + 1)
hasChanged = #True
EndIf
Next
Until hasChanged = #False
EndProcedure

Below is a sample program that displays a sizeable text editor with two menu items.

;Create Window:
OpenWindow(0, #PB_Ignore, #PB_Ignore, 800, 600, "Simple Text Editor", #PB_Window_SystemMenu , #PB_Window_MinimizeGadget , #PB_Window_MaximizeGadget , #PB_Window_SizeGadget)

;Add 2 menus:
CreateMenu(0, WindowID(0))
MenuItem(1, "&OK")
MenuItem(2, "&Cancel")

;Add Editor:
EditorGadget(0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
SetGadgetFont(0, LoadFont(0, "Courier New", 10))

;Process window messages until closed:
Repeat
Select WaitWindowEvent()
Case #PB_Event_Menu
Select EventMenu()
Case 1: MessageRequester("OK clicked directly or with '&' mnemonic.", GetGadgetText(0))
Case 2: Break
EndSelect
Case #PB_Event_SizeWindow: ResizeGadget(0, 0, 0, WindowWidth(0, #PB_Window_InnerCoordinate), WindowHeight(0, #PB_Window_InnerCoordinate))
Case #PB_Event_CloseWindow: Break
EndSelect
ForEver

PureBasic does not escape double quotes in strings so these must be concatenated with .

Object-oriented programming

Fred, the developer of PureBasic, has stated that PureBasic will never be object oriented.PureBasic won't be object oriented
/ref> However, numerous users have created object oriented support systems.PureObject: PureBasic OOP support
/ref>OOP tutorial
/ref>Another OOP PreCompiler
/ref>

Data types

Variable data type specified when you first use it (and optionally - in the future), and is separated from the name of the point. There is a set of basic types - (float and double numbers), (integers - from single-byte and 8-byte), - strings.

* used to count the length of a string will not exceed the first null character ().

In addition to basic types, the user can define the type of construction via

Structure type_name
field_name.type ; Single field. Perhaps the structures attachment.
field_name ounttype ; Static arrays.
; ...
; Optional construction StructureUnion .. EndStructureUnion allows you
; to combine multiple fields into one area of memory
; that is sometimes required for the conversion types.
StructureUnion
type_name.type
; ...
EndStructureUnion
EndStructure

Variables can be single (actually, standard variables), dynamic array (declared using the , a linked list (), an associative array (in new versions of language) ()

Form Designer RAD

PureBasic has its own form designer to aid in the creation of forms for applications, but other third-party solutions are also available.PureVision
Professional form design for PureBASIC.ProGUI
DLL library comprising more than 100 well documented commands to quickly incorporate rich, customizable GUI components into your applications. The original non-integrated ''Visual Designer'' was replaced with a new integrated ''Form Designer'' on 14 Feb 2013.PureBasic 5.10 is released
/ref>

User community

PureBasic provides an online forum for users to ask questions and share knowledge. On 17 february 2025 the English language forum had 6,484 members and contained 70,174 threads comprising 578,646 posts since 17 May 2002.English forum
Official forum.

Numerous code sharing sites show PureBasic is used to create tools
/ref> and games in a fast and easy way,PureArea
/ref> and share large amounts of open-source code.
/ref>

Further reading

*

This book is now freely downloadable
*

References

General references

*
*
*
*
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External links

*

Official Purebasic Forums (English)

PureBasic Team Blog
- Official Blog "Random thoughts on PureBasic development"

;Articles
*
PureBasic - The Perfect Cross-Platform & Native Development Language
(2015)

;Libraries and Open Source Code Archives
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purebasic
1998 software
BASIC compilers
BASIC programming language family
High-level programming languages
Integrated development environments
Linux integrated development environments
MacOS programming tools
Procedural programming languages
Programming languages
Programming languages created in 1998
User interface builders
Windows integrated development environments