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wxBasic Programming Language

wxBasic demo of Minesweeper clone
Minesweeper ported to wxBasic, running under Linux.

Latest "Beta" Version

Back in 2002, I decided that it was time to rewrite wxBasic from the ground up. This codebase will replace the "official" wxBasic, which was last updated back in March 2002. The new version has an entirely different architecture, and provides quite a number of features that are not available in the old version. At this point, I consider it more bug-free than the "official" release.

The most current version of this beta, dated May 12, 2006, can be found on the bleeding edge page. The main things holding up the release are:

Adding OpenGL support
Finishing up the documentation
Bug fixes

This version basically superscedes the "Official" release, and should be used instead of it, unless you need OpenGL support. I've started a rewrite of the documentation, and will make it the new "Official" version.

Latest "Official" Version

The most current stable version is v0.52 (Basidium-X), was released March 22, 2002. It provides:

OpenGL support
Fixed calls to wxWidgets that returned strings
Fixed 'shroud.wx' program to handle new keywords
Fixed ~class methods to clean up stack properly

What is wxBasic?

wxBasic is an Basic interpreter that is:

Free
Open Source (LGPL)
Cross-platform (currently Windows and Linux)

wxBasic can create stand-alone executables by binding together source code with the interpreter.

wxBasic is written primarily in C, with some C++ linking it to the wxWidgets library. wxWidgets supplies the cross-platform features.

wxBasic runs on Windows using native controls, and Linux using the GTK Library. A Macintosh port is being actively investigated.

What Does wxBasic Code Look Like?

wxBasic looks a lot like QBasic. Creating and calling the wxWidgets code closely parallels the wxWidgets C++ API. The following complete program should give some flavor for the language:

    frame = New wxFrame( NULL, -1, "My Window" )  
    frame.Show(True)

Other wxBasic Users

The wxBasic community is quite active, and you can find a lot of help on the wxBasic bulletin board.

A number of users also have web pages with sections devoted to wxBasic. If you're one of them, send me an email with the link, and I'll be happy to add it here.

Using the Forum

I've been getting a number of 'bot spammers signing up to the forum. On occasion, I'll go through the members list and remove what I consider to be "suspicious" entries. If you are accidentally removed (or have trouble joining the forum), please email me.

Similarly, if you are a legitimate user having trouble signing up on the forum, please send me and email, and I'll try to take care of it.

Contacting Me

Send Me An E-mail.