Microsoft QuickBASIC (also QB or sometimes, "QBasic", which is also a different system) is an Integrated Development Environment (or IDE) and Compiler for the BASIC programming language that was developed by Microsoft. QuickBasic runs mainly on DOS, though there was a short-lived version for Mac OS. It is loosely based on GW-BASIC but adds user-defined types, improved programming structures, better graphics and disk support and a compiler in addition to the interpreter. Microsoft marketed QuickBASIC as the introductory level for their BASIC Professional Development System. Image File history File links QuickBASIC 4. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... For other uses, see Software developer (disambiguation). ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... A software release refers to the creation and availability of a new version of a computer software product. ... GW-BASIC 3. ... This article is about the Visual Basic language shipping with Microsoft Visual Studio 6. ... // An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... This article relates to both the original Classic Mac OS as well as Mac OS X, Apples more recent operating system. ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... A software license is a type of proprietary or gratiuitious license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software — sometimes called an End User License Agreement (EULA) — that specifies the perimeters of the permission granted by the owner to the... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... QBasic is an IDE and interpreter for a variant of the BASIC programming language which is based on QuickBasic. ... An integrated development environment (IDE), also known as integrated design environment and integrated debugging environment, is a programming environment that has been packaged as an application program,that assists computer programmers in developing software. ... A diagram of the operation of a typical multi-language, multi-target compiler. ... BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. ... Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), (founded 1975), headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, is the worlds largest software company (with over 50,000 employees in various countries, as of May 2004). ... This article is about the family of closely related operating systems for the IBM PC compatible platform. ... This article relates to both the original Classic Mac OS as well as Mac OS X, Apples more recent operating system. ... GW-BASIC 3. ... A diagram of the operation of a typical multi-language, multi-target compiler. ... An interpreter is a computer program that executes other programs. ...

History

Microsoft released the first version of QuickBASIC on August 18, 1985 stored on a single 5.25" floppy disk. Since version 2.0 QuickBASIC contained an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Users could edit directly in its onscreen text editor. is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... An integrated development environment (IDE), also known as integrated design environment and integrated debugging environment, is a programming environment that has been packaged as an application program,that assists computer programmers in developing software. ...

Although still supported optionally in QuickBASIC line numbers were no longer needed. Program jumps also worked with named labels. Later versions also added control structures such as multiline conditional statements and loop blocks. In computer science, conditional statements are a vital part of a programming language. ...

Microsoft's "PC BASIC Compiler" was included for compiling programs into DOS executables. The editor included an interpreter which allowed the programmer to run the program being edited without leaving the editor, as of version 4.0. The interpreter was used to debug a program before creating an executable file. Unfortunately there were some small, subtle differences between the interpreter and the compiler, so that sometimes a program that ran perfectly well in the interpreter would fail after compilation, or would even not compile at all.

The last version of QuickBASIC was version 4.5 (1988), although development of the Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System (PDS) continued until its last release of version 7.1 in October 1990 (at the same time, the QuickBASIC packaging was silently changed so that the disks use the same compression used for BASIC PDS 7.1.^[1]). The Basic PDS 7.x version of the IDE was called QuickBASIC Extended (QBX), and it only ran on DOS, unlike the rest of Basic PDS 7.x, which also ran on OS/2. The successor to QuickBASIC and Basic PDS was Visual Basic for MS-DOS 1.0, shipped in Standard and Professional versions. Later versions of Visual Basic did not include DOS versions, as Microsoft concentrated on Windows applications. This article is about the Visual Basic language shipping with Microsoft Visual Studio 6. ...

A subset of QuickBASIC 4.5, named QBasic, was included with MS-DOS 5 and later versions, replacing the GW-BASIC included with previous versions of MS-DOS. Compared to QuickBASIC, QBasic is limited to an interpreter only, lacks a few functions, can only handle programs of a limited size, and lacks support for separate program modules. Since it lacks a compiler, it cannot be used to produce executable files, although its program source code can still be compiled by a QuickBASIC 4.5, PDS 7.x or VBDOS 1.0 compiler, if available. Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... GW-BASIC 3. ...

For the Macintosh Operating System QuickBASIC 1.00 was launched in 1988. It was supported only in System 6 and 7 and required a Macintosh with more than 1 MB RAM^[2]. For other uses, see Macintosh (disambiguation) and Mac. ... This article is about the Macintosh operating system version. ...

Current Uses

QuickBASIC continues to be used in some schools, usually as part of an introduction to programming, though is fast becoming replaced by more popular compilers.

Successors

This section may stray from the topic of the article into the topic of another article, FreeBASIC. Please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (help)

Microsoft's Visual Basic was the successor of QuickBASIC. Several commercial compilers were developed including PowerBasic, and Xbasic, with varying degrees of compatibility. Several open source and freeware BASIC compilers have also been developed. FreeBASIC is an open-source 32-bit BASIC compiler available free of charge, with the syntax similar to that of QuickBASIC. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... FreeBASIC is a free/open source (GPL), 32-bit BASIC compiler for Microsoft Windows, protected-mode DOS (DOS extender), Linux, and XBox. ... PowerBASIC is a compiler suite that compiles a dialect of the BASIC programming language with a syntax similar to that of GW Basic, QBasic, QuickBasic, PDS7 (Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System or QBX), and Turbo Basic. ... XBasic is a variant of the BASIC programming language that was developed in the late 1980s for the Motorola 88000 CPU and Unix by Max Reason]. In the early 1990s it was ported to Windows and Linux. ...

See also

• QBasic
• FreeBASIC
• GW-BASIC
• Power Basic
• Visual Basic

QBasic is an IDE and interpreter for a variant of the BASIC programming language which is based on QuickBasic. ... FreeBASIC is a free/open source (GPL), 32-bit BASIC compiler for Microsoft Windows, protected-mode DOS (DOS extender), Linux, and XBox. ... GW-BASIC 3. ... PowerBASIC is a compiler suite that compiles a dialect of the BASIC programming language with a syntax similar to that of GW Basic, QBasic, QuickBasic, PDS7 (Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System or QBX), and Turbo Basic. ... This article is about the Visual Basic language shipping with Microsoft Visual Studio 6. ...

Sources

1. ^ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/65291 Microsoft Knowledge Base article 65291
2. ^ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/31937 System requirements QuickBASIC for Macintosh