miniBasic

for the Windows CE operating system

miniBasic is FREEWare from B&B Systems - Distribute Freely!

Copyright (c) 1996 - Brian Dormer / B&B Systems

WEB: http://www.mindspring.com/~bnbweb

EMAIL: bnbweb@mindspring.com

miniBasic is a technology demonstration of Basic for Windows CE. miniBasic is a TOY - It is NOT intendend to be a commerial quality development system (but, as far as we know, IT IS THE FIRST available development system that runs stanalone on Windows CE). Although miniBasic has been tested somewhat, it may crash. You could, possibly, lock up your HPC and lose all your data (although it hasn't happend to us yet). Use this program at your own risk! In any case, It's good computing practice to backup your HPC every now and then.

miniBasic was developed for the purposes of demonstrating Basic running on Windows CE and to provide a test-bed for refining the technology to bring a full-featured Basic to Windows CE. miniBasic is primitive - it's not even as sophisticated as some of the early microcomputer Basics (Radio Shack Level 1 Basic springs to mind). Even with these limitations, it's still lots of fun to play with!

B&B Systems expects to release a commercial product - Pocket Basic for the Windows CE operating system - in 2Q 1997.

miniBasic Commands

Immediate commands:

• NEW
• LIST
• OLD filename (note: no quotes Ex: OLD FOO.BAS)
• RUN
• SAVE filename (note: no quotes Ex: SAVE FOO.BAS)
• BYE

Program statements:

• var = exp
• INPUT variable
• PRINT string
• PRINT exp
• GOTO exp
• IF exp THEN exp
• FOR var = exp TO exp
• NEXT variable
• GOSUB exp
• RETURN
• REM any text
• END

Expressions

• ( exp )
• number (whole numbers only)
• variable (valid variable names are 1 character a..z)
• Unary -
• * / (multiply, divide - also boolean and, or)
• + -
• = <>
• > <
• <= >=
• (Boolean expressions are 0 for false and 1 for true)
  

Variables:

• all variables are integers
• variable names a to z
• all variables are initialized to 0
• there are no string variables

Editing:

• Line number range 1-999
• A line number with nothing following it, deletes the line.
• SAVE'd Program files cannot exceed 10240 bytes

Input format:

• ALL INPUT IS CONVERTED TO UPPERCASE.
• EXACTLY ONE space is needed between the OLD or SAVE command and the filename. No Quotes on the filenames.

Other notes:

• Very Minimal error checking is performed.
• There are almost no error messages.
• You can edit SAVEed programs in Pocket Word

Email us at : bnbweb@mindspring.com

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