BASIC Capabilities?
I just spent the last month of my free time completing a new section at this site on QBasic.

And why did I do such a thing?

Aside from a general interest, I wanted to take a closer look at the roots of programming (BASIC being one of the earliest, widely available languages). As you've seen in my blogs I'm in the process of picking up other languages and am also working on a comparison of languages. By understanding the history of programming I expect to gain a better perspective on current languages.

One clear result of renewing my QBasic skills (which I'll probably use very, very infrequently) is the exposure of significant limitations of the early BASIC languages. The inability to create programs with modern user interfaces, lack of long filename support and almost non-existent graphics and API/DLL support top the list - not to mention problems with working in Windox XP and Vista.

It doesn't mean that you can't still do useful things with QBasic. It continues to be used by thousands of programmers to create utilities, business application and simple games. It can also be a reasonable learning tool for beginning programmers.

But the bottom line is QBasic is out and new BASIC dialects are in. Which ones? That's what I'll be working on. And are the new BASIC dialects up to the challenge of producing applications that rival what can be done with the Microsoft stable of tools? That too, is one of the reasons I'm spending time looking at non-Microsoft options. Just as Vista's luke-warm reception has raised interest in alternatives to Windows, so has their .NET offering (which places a huge learning/cost/legacy/development burden on programmers) raised interest in alternative languages.

If you're a corporate programmer, you mostly don't care about this topic because you'll be using whatever language the company requires. But if you're a free-lance, independent programmer then you'll want the best results with minimum hassle - which simply may not be Microsoft.

If you have thoughts on this topic, please feel free to let me know.

Blog History
In case you want to see more of my comments, the entire blog history is available for reading.

Personal Background
As a 56 year old retiree with 30+ years in the military electronics industry (Texas Instruments and Raytheon) I'm ecstatic that I'm now able to spend more time on my web site and on software development. I'm also having fun with this blog, which lets me speak out on topics I find interesting and important - or simply fun!