Quick BASIC understands a few more commands than QBASIC. Quick BASIC is available for MS-DOS and for Apple Macintosh computers, but the Apple Macintosh version is inferior.

List of differences

When you start using Quick BASIC (version 4.5 for MS-DOS), you’ll encounter these differences from QBASIC.…

Start BASIC (page 377) When you buy Quick BASIC, it comes on five 5¼-inch floppy disks. Here’s how to copy them to your hard disk:

To start using Quick BASIC, turn on the computer without any floppy disk in drive A. When you see the C prompt, type “cd qb45”, like this:

When you press ENTER at the end of that line, the computer will say:

Type “qb” (and press ENTER). The computer will say “Untitled”. (If the computer says “Welcome to QuickBASIC”, press the Esc key.)

File menu (page 382) The file menu can be short or long. The short menu offers just 5 choices; the long menu (which is called the full menu) offers 12 choices. Here’s how to switch from short menu to full menu (or back to short): tap the Alt key, then the letter O, then F.

Save (page 382) On the file menu, one of the choices is “Save As...”. Another choice, a plain “Save”, appears just if the menu is full instead of short. So before choosing just “Save”, make sure the menu is full.

New (page 383) Quick BASIC’s file menu says “New Program” instead of just “New”. Choose “New Program” by pressing the N key.

Open (page 383) Quick BASIC’s file menu says “Open Program” instead of just “Open”. Choose “Open Program” by pressing the letter O.

Instant open (page 384) Suppose you’ve written a program that has no errors, and you’ve saved the program as JOE.BAS. Try this: while JOE.BAS is on the blue screen, tap the Alt key, then R, then X, then ENTER. That makes the computer create a file called JOE.EXE (and also a file called JOE.OBJ). Then you can run JOE fast by typing “joe” at the C prompt, like this:

 

Visual BASIC for DOS is newer and fancier than QBASIC & Quick BASIC.

List of differences

When you start using version 2 of Visual BASIC for DOS, you’ll encounter these differences from QBASIC.…

Start BASIC (page 377) When you buy Visual BASIC for DOS, it comes on two 3½-inch floppy disks. Here’s how to copy them to your hard disk:

To start using Visual BASIC, turn on the computer without any floppy disk in drive A, so that the computer says:

If you’ve put the DO.BAT file onto your hard disk (as I recommended in the MS-DOS chapter), type “do vbdos”. If you’ve not put DO.BAT onto your hard disk, type “cd vbdos”, then on the line underneath type “vbdos” again (so the lower line says “C:\VBDOS>vbdos”).

If the computer says “Visual Basic”, press ENTER.

The computer will say “Untitled” and “Project”.

While holding down the Ctrl key, press the F10 key. The word “Project” will disappear.

File menu (page 382) Visual BASIC’s file menu gives you 14 choices, which are worded differently than QBASIC’s choices.

If you print on paper by choosing Print from the file menu (and then pressing ENTER), the printer will eject the paper automatically.

Instant open (page 384) Suppose you’ve written a program that has no errors, and you’ve saved the program as JOE.BAS. Try this: while JOE.BAS is on the blue screen, tap the Alt key, then R, then X, then ENTER. That makes the computer create a file called JOE.EXE (and also a file called JOE.OBJ). Then you can run JOE fast by typing “joe” at the C prompt, like this:

Print (page 446) To print the entire program onto paper (including even the SUB procedures), press Alt then F then P then ENTER. The printer will eject the paper automatically.

Error numbers (page 466) In Visual BASIC, error #73 is "Feature unavailable”, and you can make advanced errors numbered from 80 to 480.

 

Older versions of MS-DOS came with a more primitive BASIC, called GWBASIC. Yes, GWBASIC came with MS-DOS (and PC-DOS) versions 1, 1.1, 2, 2.1, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 4.

GWBASIC resembles QBASIC but omits some QBASIC commands and uses a more primitive way to edit your programs.

In earlier editions of this book, I explained GWBASIC in detail. In those editions, the BASIC tutorial emphasizes GWBASIC instead of QBASIC; most of the sample programs are written in GWBASIC. If you’re using GWBASIC, get edition 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20. Phone me at 603-666-6644 to find out which of those editions are still available and their prices.

List of differences

Here’s how GWBASIC differs from QBASIC.…

Start BASIC (page 377) Before using GWBASIC, practice using the keyboard, by giving DOS commands or using a word processor.

(QBASIC would require you to practice DOS’s edit command, but GWBASIC does not.)

The file that makes the computer understand GWBASIC is usually called “GWBASIC.EXE”; but some versions of MS-DOS (and PC-DOS) call it “BASIC.COM” or “BASICA.COM” instead. Some versions of MS-DOS lack the file altogether and can’t do BASIC.

To start GWBASIC, try typing:

If the computer gripes (by saying “Bad command or file name”), try typing:

If the computer still gripes (by saying “Bad command or file name” again), try typing:

If the computer still gripes (by saying “Bad command or file name” again), try saying “dos\gwbasic” or “dos\basica” or “dos\basic”.

If you don’t have a drive C (because your computer doesn’t have a hard disk), find the floppy that contains GWBASIC.EXE or BASICA.COM or BASIC.COM. Insert that floppy into drive A and say “gwbasic” or “basica” or “basic”.

When you get into GWBASIC successfully, the computer will say:

(In QBASIC, the screen would turn blue; but in GWBASIC, the screen stays black, with “Ok” appearing in white lettering.)

If the computer does not say the word “Ok”, you probably used the wrong version of DOS. Make sure your version of DOS came from your computer’s manufacturer. For example, if IBM built your computer, use IBM’s PC-DOS, not a clone version of MS-DOS. If a clone company built your computer, use your clone’s version of MS-DOS, not IBM’s PC-DOS. Using the wrong version of DOS makes the computer print a strange message, the screen go crazy, or the keyboard stop working.

(If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, buy the BASIC cartridge and put it into the left cartridge slot before you turn the computer on. That cartridge makes the Junior understand CIRCLE, PAINT, PLAY, TIMER, and the BASIC words for disks.) If your Junior is attached to a monitor instead of a TV, type “width 80” after the computer says “Ok”.)

Type your program (page 377) Instead of typing this program —

type this:

Notice that you must type a number (such as 10 or 20) in front of each program line. For best results, use these numbers: 10, 20, 30, etc.

Run your program (page 377) To run your program, press the F2 key (instead of QBASIC’s SHIFT F5). When the computer finishes running the program, the computer will say:

Then to see your program again, press the F1 key (or type “list”) and press ENTER.

(If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, you must press the Fn key before pressing F2 or F1.)

Faster typing (page 378) When you press ENTER at the end of the line, the computer will secretly convert “cls” into “CLS” and convert “print” and “?” into PRINT. To see the results of the conversion, type:

Why CLS? (page 378) In GWBASIC, saying CLS is less important than in QBASIC. If you wish, omit the CLS line. When I write GWBASIC programs myself, I usually omit the CLS line.

Edit your program (page 378) To start a new program, say:

That makes the computer forget about all the lines of your previous program. Then type the new program.

To delete just line 20, type this under your program:

That makes the computer forget about line 20.

To insert a line 15 between lines 10 and 20, type line 15 under your program. When you finish typing that line, the computer will automatically rearrange your program and put the lines in increasing order. To see the rearranged program, say “list”.

To edit line 20 (instead of deleting it), use one of the following methods.…

Fix your errors (page 378) If you misspell CLS or PRINT, the computer will say “Syntax error” and show you the errant line. To fix the error, use one of these methods.…

Decimals for big answers (page 379) GWBASIC does not require you to use decimals for big answers. To multiply 200 by 300, you can say just “PRINT 200 * 300”; you do not need to say “PRINT 200 * 300.0”.

Print on paper (page 382) If your computer doesn’t have a PRINT SCREEN key, do a screen dump by pressing the PrtSc key while holding down the SHIFT key. (If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, do a screen dump by pressing the Fn key, then the PrtSc key.)

WIDTH 40 (page 382) After running a program that says WIDTH 40, you can return to a normal screen by saying:

File menu (page 382) GWBASIC doesn’t have a file menu. Instead of using a file menu, type these commands:

So when you finish using GWBASIC, say:

Instant open (page 384) Suppose you’ve saved a GWBASIC program called JOE. To use JOE, say:

That makes the computer use GWBASIC and instantly run JOE. Moreover, if JOE’s bottom line says SYSTEM, the computer will automatically exit from GWBASIC when JOE finishes running.

SLEEP (page 384) GWBASIC doesn’t understand SLEEP. Instead of saying —

say:

Instead of saying —

say:

DO…LOOP (page 386) GWBASIC doesn’t understand DO or LOOP. Replace the DO by an apostrophe, and replace the LOOP by a GOTO that says to go to the line containing the apostrophe. So instead of saying —

say:

(If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, here’s how to abort a program: press the Fn key, then the BREAK key.)

Decimal numbers (page 387) GWBASIC does not let a line number include a decimal point.

GOTO (page 388) GWBASIC doesn’t let you name the lines: you can’t make a line be named JOE, and you can’t say GOTO JOE. Though you can’t say GOTO JOE, you can say GOTO 10. Lines must be numbered, not named.

Variables page 389) When you list the program, the computer will automatically capitalize all variables: x will become X.

Long variable names (page 391) When you list the program, the computer will automatically capitalize all variables: profit.in.1996 will become PROFIT.IN.1996.

Multi-line IF (page 395) GWBASIC doesn’t understand multi-line IF. Use a single-line IF instead.

You can make the single-line IF be up to 255 characters long, even though the screen’s just 80 characters wide. When you reach the screen’s right margin, continue typing: the extra characters will appear underneath. Don’t press ENTER until you’ve typed the entire single-line IF.

Here’s a long single-line IF:

ELSEIF (page 395) Since GWBASIC doesn’t understand multi-line IF, GWBASIC doesn’t understand ELSEIF.

Use a single-line IF instead. In the middle of the single-line IF, you can say ELSE IF. Put a space between the ELSE and the IF.

Here’s a single-line IF that contains ELSE IF:

SELECT (page 396) GWBASIC doesn’t understand SELECT. Instead, say IF and ELSE IF. For example, instead of saying —

say:

Different relations (page 398) If you accidentally say “=<” instead of “<=”, your program will still work. The GWBASIC understands and accepts “=<” and won’t bother turning it into “<=”.

EXIT DO (page 399) Since GWBASIC doesn’t understand DO, it doesn’t understand EXIT DO. Instead of saying EXIT DO, tell the computer to GOTO the line under the loop. For example, instead of saying —

say:

LOOP UNTIL (page 399) Since GWBASIC doesn’t understand DO, it doesn’t understand LOOP UNTIL. Instead of saying LOOP UNTIL, use an IF. For example, instead of saying —

say:

END, STOP, or SYSTEM (page 408) Here’s how END, STOP, and SYSTEM differ from each other:

Syntax errors (page 411) If you type “prind” instead of “print”, or you type extra characters at the end of a line, or you forget to type a matching parenthesis, the computer will say:

If you try to say PRINT 5 + 2 but forget to type the 2, the computer will say:

Logic errors (page 411) If you say GOTO 10 but no line is numbered 10, the computer will say:

PAUSE key (page 412) If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, here’s how to pause: press the Fn key, then the PAUSE key.

F keys (page 412) GWBASIC uses the F keys completely differently:

Each line in your GWBASIC program must begin with a line number. If you type a line that does not begin with a line number, the computer will run that line immediately when you press the ENTER key at the end of the line. For example, if you say —

the computer will print the answer (6) immediately when you press the ENTER key at the end of the line.

The only way to create a breakpoint is to put a STOP line into your program.

Bottom line (page 420) The screen’s bottom line normally contains a message reminding you that F1 is LIST, F2 is RUN, F3 is LOAD, F4 is SAVE, etc. To make that message disappear, say —

or write a program containing a line saying KEY OFF. After saying KEY OFF, you can give a LOCATE command that puts info on line 25. For example, this program puts an “x” at the screen’s bottom right corner:

Whenever your want the bottom line’s message to reappear, say:

Screen modes (page 420) If you’re using DOS 1, 1.1, 2, 2.1, or 3, you must use screen mode 0, 1, or 2. If you’re using DOS 3.1 or 3.2, you must use screen mode 0, 1, 2, or 3. If you’re using DOS 3.3 or higher, you can use any screen mode from 0 to 10. GWBASIC doesn’t understand screen modes 11, 12, or 13. Screen mode 10 works just on monochrome monitors. If you’re using DOS 3.3 or higher with an EGA or VGA color monitor, choose screen mode 9.

If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, you can use screen modes 0, 1, and 2, plus the following special versions of modes 3, 4, 5, and 6:

Modes 5 and 6 require at least 128K of RAM and require you to give this command beforehand:

You can put that command in your program.

Avoid the bottom (page 421) To avoid any problems about the screen’s bottom line, say KEY OFF at the beginning of your program. Make the top line say KEY OFF and CLS and choose a screen mode, like this:

PLAY (page 422) If you’re using DOS 1 or 1.1, the symbols “>” and “<” don’t work.

If your computer’s an IBM PC Junior, try the following experiment.… Turn up the volume on your TV or monitor. Then say:

Then make the Junior’s three voices sing simultaneously, like this:

While the first voice is singing “gab”, the second voice sings “efg”; the third voice sings “ccd”.

Printing the date & time (page 426) If you’re using DOS 1 or 1.1, your computer doesn’t understand TIMER.

RANDOMIZE TIMER (page 430) If you’re using DOS 1 or 1.1, instead of saying RANDOMIZE TIMER say RANDOMIZE VAL(RIGHT$(TIME$, 2)).

Capitals (page 435) GWBASIC doesn’t understand UCASE$ and LCASE$.

Trim (page 436) GWBASIC doesn’t understand LTRIM$ and RTRIM$.

General rules (page 438) GWBASIC doesn’t permit long integers. In GWBASIC, all integers are short. If you try to create an integer bigger `than 32767, GWBASIC will make your number be a real number instead of an integer.

Biggest real numbers (page 438) The biggest permissible single-precision real number is 1.701411E38. The biggest permissible double-precision real number is 1.701411834604692D38.

Accuracy (page 439) GWBASIC handles a double-precision real number’s 16^th digit accurately but makes slight mistakes with the 17^th digit.

Tiniest decimals (page 439) The tiniest single-precision number that the computer can handle is 2.938736E-39. The tiniest double-precision number that the computer can handle is 2.938735877055719D-39. If you try to go tinier than those numbers, the computer will say zero.

What to do (page 439) If your program involves trigonometry (SIN, COS, TAN, ATN) or exponents (^, SQR, EXP, LOG), and you want those computations done with double-precision accuracy, you must say “gwbasic/d” (instead of “gwbasic”) or say “basica/d” (instead of “basica”).

Prime numbers (page 440) Since GWBASIC doesn’t permit long integers, omit the DEFLNG line (or say DEFINT instead of DEFLNG and use integers no bigger than 32767).

SUB procedures (page 445) GWBASIC programmers say “routine” instead of “procedure”. They talk about the “main routine” and “subroutines” instead of a “main procedure” and “SUB procedures”.

GWBASIC doesn’t understand the word SUB. Instead of saying —

say this:

Notice that the main routine’s bottom line should say END, and the subroutine’s bottom line should say RETURN.

When you say “GOSUB 1000”, the computer does a “GOTO 1000” but also remembers where it came from, so the computer can return there when you say “RETURN”.

GWBASIC’s subroutines act like any other lines in the program: the subroutines do not use a separate part of the RAM. For example, if the main routine says “X = 4”, the X will then be 4 in the subroutine also. If the subroutine says “X = 100”, the X will then be 100 in the main routine also. All variables are automatically global and COMMON SHARED, so you don’t need to say so. Subroutines can’t have arguments or parameters.

If you say DEFINT A-Z at the beginning of the program, all variables in all routines will be short integers.

Loops (page 458) Instead of saying —

say:

PUT (page 459) GWBASIC doesn’t understand “STRING * 20”. Instead of saying —

say:

Instead of saying —

say:

Notice that line 40 begins with the word LSET, and line 50 does not end with the word RECORD.

Here’s the rule about LSET: if a variable (such as RECORD$) is in a FIELD statement, you cannot put that variable into an ordinary “=” statement; instead of saying RECORD$ = "Love makes me giggle”, you must say LSET RECORD$ = "Love makes me giggle”. You cannot put the variable into an INPUT statement: instead of saying INPUT RECORD$, you must say INPUT A$ and then LSET RECORD$ = A$.

In the OPEN statement, the number after “LEN=“ is called the record length. If you want the record length to be more than 128 (because the string is long), you must warn the computer. For example, to warn the computer that you’ll want a record length of 200, say “gwbasic/s:200” (instead of just “gwbasic”), or say “basica/s:400” (instead of just “basica”).

GET (page 459) Instead of saying —

say just:

Multi-field records (page 460) GWBASIC doesn’t understand the word TYPE. Instead of saying —

say:

Instead of saying —

say:

Lengths (page 460) Saying “LEN(record)” doesn’t work well. Instead of saying “LEN(record)”, just say the record length. For example, if the record length is 25, say 25. If the record length is 25, the number of records in the file is LOF(1) \ 25.

End of the file (page 460) If the record length is 25, and each record consists of part A$ and part B$, these lines print all the records:

Numeric data (page 460) In a GWBASIC random-access file, each record must consists of strings, not numbers. If you want to store numbers in the file, you must turn the numbers into strings.

To turn an integer into a string, use the function MKI$ (MaKe from Integer). It turns the integer into a 2-byte string, even if the integer is long. For example, to turn the integer 17999 into a 2-byte string called A$, say “FIELD 1, 2 AS A$” and say “LSET A$ = MKI$(17999)”.

The function MKS$ (MaKe from Single-precision real) turns a real number into a 4-byte string. The function MKD$ (MaKe from Double-precision) turns a double-precision number into an 8-byte string.

Suppose you turn a number into a string (by using MKI$, MKS$, or MKD$), and PUT the string into a file, and later GET the string back from the file. You’ll want to convert the string back to a number. Use the function CVI (ConVert to Integer) or CVS (ConVert to Single-precision) or CVD (ConVert to Double-precision). For example, if A$ is a 2-byte string that stands for an integer, you can make the computer print the integer by saying PRINT CVI(A$).

LOC (page 460) Instead of saying “PUT 1, 7” or “PUT 1, 8”, you can leave the record’s number blank and say just “PUT 1”. That makes the computer PUT the next record. Saying “PUT 1” has the same effect as saying “PUT 1, LOC(1) + 1”. If you say “GET 1”, the computer will GET the next record.

Multiple files (page 460) If you want the computer to handle two random-access files simultaneously, use two OPEN statements. In the first OPEN statement, say “AS 1”; in the second OPEN statement, say “AS 2”. In the first FIELD statement, say “FIELD 1”; in the second FIELD statement, say “FIELD 2”. For the second file, say 2 instead of 1 in the OPEN, FIELD, PUT and GET statements and in the LOF and LOC functions.

Error numbers (page 466) In GWBASIC, you can make these errors:

 

I’ve described five BASIC versions:

They work on IBM-compatible computers using PC-DOS or MS-DOS.

If your computer is not IBM-compatible or does not use PC-DOS or MS-DOS, it probably uses a more primitive version of BASIC. Those primitive versions are explained in editions 1-20 of this book. For example, those editions explain versions of BASIC for the Mac, Apple 2, Commodore 64, Commodore Vic, Coleco Adam, CP/M computers, and computers made by Atari, Texas Instruments, and Timex/Sinclair.

To find out which editions are still available and which ones explain your computer, phone me at 603-666-6644 anytime!