ThinBasic

Infobox programming language
name = ThinBasic

developer = Eros Olmi and Roberto Bianchi
latest_release_version = v1.6.0.10
latest_release_date = July 5 - 2008
dialects = BASIC
operating_system = Windows
license = Freeware
website = http://www.thinbasic.com/

thinBasic is a BASIC-like computer programming language interpreter, specifically written for computer automation. As the project continues, it can be used for a wide range of tasks.

Features

* Rich set of about 1300 predefined keywords, provided by modules
* User-defined functions with local, static or global variable declaration can take up to 32 parameters
* Wide range of data types:
** Dynamic ( STRING up to 2Gb automatically managed) and fixed length ( STRING * n, ASCIIZ * n) strings
** Integer datatypes: BOOLEAN, BYTE, WORD, INTEGER, DWORD, LONG, QUAD
** Floating point datatypes: SINGLE, DOUBLE, EXT, CURRENCY
** Other: VARIANT, GUID
** Pointers

* User defined types: TYPEs, UNIONs
* All main flow control statements:
** SELECT CASE
** IF ... THEN/ELSEIF/ELSE/END IF
** loops ( infinite, conditional, FOR, WHILE, DO/LOOP WHILE ..., DO/LOOP UNTIL ...)

* Dynamic calling of functions (using function name composed at runtime using string expression) gives great power

* Modules for extending keywords and functionality
** User interface
** Console
** File handling
** Formula evaluation
** 3D graphics
** Game devices input
** Script self-compilation
** Internet communications
** Statistics
** Tokenizer
** Printing
** Machine code and assembler
** ...
* OpenGL, XML, ODE handling via header files
* Comes with IDE: thinAir
** Syntax highlighting
** Optional organization of code to projects
** Code templates
** Optional script obfuscation
** Creation of independent executable from script

* Module development using SDK for many languages ( PowerBASIC, FreeBASIC, IBASIC, C, MASM, ... )

References

* Web site: http://www.thinbasic.com/
* Community forum: http://community.thinbasic.com/
* Online help: http://www.thinbasic.com/public/products/thinBasic/help/html/index.html
* Download page: http://www.thinbasic.com/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=66

Code samples

Console program, which asks user about name and then greets him:' Specifies program will use functions from console moduleUSES "Console"

' Creates global variable to hold user nameGLOBAL UserName AS STRING

' Asks user for the nameConsole_Print("What is your name?: ")

' Stores it to variableUserName = Console_ReadLine

' If length of username is 0 then no name is specified, else program will say helloIF Len(UserName) = 0 THEN Console_PrintLine("No user name specified...") ELSE Console_PrintLine("Hello " + UserName + "!") END IF

' Waits for any key from user before program endsConsole_WaitKey

Comparison of traditional and special technique to call functions:' Use File module for handling filesUSES "FILE"

' Assign file name to variable, notice assignment can be done at time of declaring variableGLOBAL MyFile AS STRING = "c:File.txt"GLOBAL ReturnValue AS LONG

' Determine file extension, convert to upper case' and according to the type call appropriate functionSELECT CASE UCASE$(FILE_PATHSPLIT(MyFile, %Path_Ext)) CASE "TXT" ReturnValue = Load_Txt(MyFile) CASE "BMP" ReturnValue = Load_BMP(MyFile)

END SELECT

FUNCTION Load_TXT( fName as string ) AS LONG

' Code to load TXT file here

END FUNCTION

FUNCTION Load_BMP( fName as string ) AS LONG

' Code to load BMP file here

END FUNCTION' Use File module for handling filesUSES "FILE"

' Assign file name to variable, notice assignment can be done at time of declaring variableGLOBAL MyFile AS STRING = "c:File.txt"GLOBAL ReturnValue AS LONG

' Functions are named Load_, so we can determine' the function name we need at run time and save some lines of codeCALL "Load_"+FILE_PATHSPLIT(MyFile, %Path_Ext) ( MyFile ) To ReturnValue

FUNCTION Load_TXT( fName as string ) AS LONG

' Code to load TXT file here

END FUNCTION

FUNCTION Load_BMP( fName as string ) AS LONG

' Code to load BMP file here

END FUNCTION

Pros and cons

Advantages:
* Takes full advantage of resources provided by Windows platform ( registry, user interface, work with processes, COM, DLLs)
* Usually fast execution
* Speed optimizations can be done using machine code and assembler
* Under continuous development

Disadvantages:
* Only for Windows platform
* Performance of applications can be lower comparing to output of compilers, thanks to language interpreter nature
* Object-oriented programming classes are not implemented

Compatibility

thinBASIC has been developed under Microsoft Windows XP Professional using PowerBASIC, and requires Internet Explorer version 5.50 or above.

* Extensively tested: Windows 2000 and Server, XP, Vista, Server 2003
* Partly supported: Windows 98 SE, Me
* Unsupported: Windows 95

See also

* Basic4GL
* Baltie
* Blitz Basic
* Brutus2D
* Darkbasic
* FreeBASIC
* Game Maker
* Interactive fiction development systems
* List of BASIC dialects
* List of BASIC dialects by platform

External links

* [http://www.thinbasic.com/ Official website]
* [http://psch.thinbasic.com/ Graphics tutorials]
* [http://tab.thinbasic.com/ thinBASIC Adventure Builder]
* [http://www.shnetworks4.net/~asciiwor/pcopy/issue50/ PCOPY! Issue #40] , November 16th 2007, About ThinBasic, Eros Olmi.
* [http://www.shnetworks4.net/~asciiwor/pcopy/issue50/ PCOPY! Issue #50] , March 15th 2007, 3D graphics in ThinBASIC, Petr Schreiber.
* [http://community.thinbasic.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1865.0;attach=2694 ThinBasic Journal #1] , July 5th 2008, PDF