Как запустить qbasic на windows 10

QB64 is a version of QBasic that is developed to run on modern-day Operating systems. But before going into the step of installing it on our machine, let’s get some information about QBasic.

QBasic is a beginner-friendly and easy-to-learn programming language. Qbasic stands for Quick Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. 

Qbasic language was developed by Microsoft in the year 1985, was used in the DOS Operating system, and was also available in windows 95/98.

Read more about the History of QBasic in this article:  QBasic Programming – Beginner’s Friendly.

QBasic is very easy to learn because of its simple structure, easy-to-understand commands, and flexibility. This is well documented and all the commands and sample programs are easily available on the internet.

However, since it was developed for the MS-DOS operating system, you cannot run it in modern operating like Windows 7 & 10 easily. It will show some compatibility issues. However, there are ways through which we can run and start programming in QBasic, the ways are by using DOS Box which emulated a DOS environment on our main operating system, and also by using a VMWare (Virtual Machine).

You can read about how to download and install QBasic for Windows 7 & 10 using Box Emulator and VMWare here.

Since we know that the above two steps are a bit tricky and most beginners will get confused install it in DOS Box and in a virtual machine, therefore here in this article we find out a simple way on how to Download QBasic for windows 7 & windows 10 (64bit).

So the solution to the problem is QB64 (previously known as QB32).

What is QB64?

QB64, it was developed by Rob Galleon who wanted to make QuickBasic/QBasic compatible with modern operating systems. It converts the BASIC code in C++, which later gets compiled into binaries for Windows 10, Linux or Mac OS.

QB64, in general, is a BASIC compiler for modern Operating systems (Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X) which is developed and designed to be compatible with QuickBasic and QBasic. QB64 not only helps to code QBasic programs, but it also helps us to run older QBasic programs too. It extends the programs to use all the features of today’s system as well as helps to use OpenGL ( library ), to render the programs to multiple different platforms.

Features of QB64 :

vWATCH64

It is an amazing feature that shows real-time debugging in your program. It generates a modified version of your source code, which helps in real-time variable watches and breakpoints.

InForm

It is an application development tool, which consists of a graphical library and an editor to design forms and also helps to export the result of it to generate a program.

So, you can follow the steps below to download and install it in windows 10.

EASY STEPS TO INSTALL QBASIC ( QB64 ) IN WINDOWS 7 & 10

STEPS TO DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL:

Step 1: First download QB64 from its official site. There you will find two versions QB64 v1.3 and QB64 Dev Build. Download QB64 v1.3

It will redirect you to a GitHub page, which contains all the files required for different operating systems. Since we are using QB64 for windows 64bit, we will download qb64_1.3_win_x64.7z . For 32-bit download qb64_1.3_win_x86.7z.

Step 2: Next extract the file in your system and copy the extracted folder Program Files folder in the C drive.

Step 3: At last, just double click qb64.exe and you are ready to program in QBasic.

If you want to add an icon on your desktop for easy access, just right-click the qb64.exe in your extracted folder and go to Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).

This is the easiest and most simple way to download QBasic for Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10.

QBasic Adventure

QBasic is a programming language from the 80s. It’s not used much any more, but it used to a very popular language for beginners.

There was no internet back then. Some magazines would have the code for programs written out. You had to type all the code into your computer before you could run the program!

It was pretty weird.

Installing on Windows

1. Download the windows QBasic zip
http://codeclubakl.github.io/qbasic/qbasic-dosbox-win.zip
2. Extract the whole zip file (‘Extract all…’)
3. Go into the folder qbasic-dosbox-win
4. Double-click on qb.bat

Installing on a Mac (Apple OS X)

1. Download the mac QBasic zip
http://codeclubakl.github.io/qbasic/qbasic-dosbox-mac.zip
2. Extract the zip file by double-clicking it
3. Go into the folder qbasic-dosbox-mac
4. Right-click on qb.command and choose ‘open’

Installing on Linux

We haven’t prepared an easy Linux download yet. You’ll have to install DOSBox, download QBasic 4.5, then run DOSBox from the terminal giving it the path to qb.exe. Ask a mentor for help if you want.

Use QBasic online (for a Chromebook or any computer)

Click on this link to use QBasic online:

QBasic 4.5 Online – http://codeclubakl.github.io/qbasic/online

Our online version has a few problems:

• You cannot save your work. The save button won’t really save it
• The help files are missing, so you can’t press F1 to get help on a command.

However it will let you get started. You could kind-of save your work by taking a screenshot?

The QBasic Editor

If it’s working you will see this:

Try it out

Type this into the editor:

CLS
PRINT "Hello!"

Then press F5 (you might need to press Function + F5 on a laptop). QBasic will run the program.

CLS means ‘clear the screen.’

PRINT writes letters onto the screen.

You should see a black screen that says Hello! and then Press any key to continue.

Well done! Press a key to go back to the blue editor.

Making an Adventure Game

We will make a story game where the player can go to different places.

We need to:

• Print words to the screen.
• Ask the player to type in their choice.
• Do something different based on their choice.

Step 1: Ask a question

CLS
PRINT "Should we go north or south?"
INPUT mychoice$
PRINT "OK, let's go."

Run this program (F5).

The computer runs the program line-by-line, starting from the top.

At INPUT line it stops and waits until you type in something and press ENTER.

It saves your answer into a variable called mychoice$. We will use this next.

Step 2: React to the user’s choice

This is the same code as above, with one line added.

CLS
PRINT "Should we go north or south?"
INPUT mychoice$
PRINT "OK, let's go."
IF mychoice$ = "north" THEN PRINT "You found a secret cave!"

Can you guess what this will do? Try reading the code out loud if it helps.

Press F5 to run the program. Can you find the secret cave?

Step 3: Jumping around

Normally, the computer runs the program line-by-line.

We can use GOTO to jump to a different line instead.

In this example, start: is a label. It doesn’t do anything by itself, but you can jump to it. cave: is also a label.

CLS
start:
PRINT "Should we go north or south?"
INPUT mychoice$
IF mychoice$ = "north" THEN GOTO cave
PRINT "We can't go that way. Please try again."
GOTO start

cave:
PRINT "You found a secret cave!"
END

Can you pretend to be a computer, and run this program in your head?

Can you add some code so that typing in ‘south’ makes you go somewhere else?

Step 4: You are in a dark forest…

Now you know enough to make a game. You could make:

• An adventure where you explore a forest
• A quiz where you must get the right answer
• A guidebook where you can look up animals to learn about them

Try making something! Remember you can always ask for help.

Extra Ideas

If you want an extra challenge, experiment with these commands.

COLOR 1
PRINT "what color is this?"

PLAY "c d e f"

coins = 4
PRINT coins
PRINT "coins"
IF coins > 3 THEN PRINT "You can catch the bus."

To increase a number, you do this:

coins = coins + 1

It means: let the NEW number of coins be the OLD number of coins plus one.