XBasic FAQs

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XBasic web-pages

XBasic overview - features, capabilities, screenshots.
XBasic newsbits - the latest news and views of XBasic.
XBasic freeware - download & installation instructions.
XBasic questions - frequently asked questions -- FAQs.
XBasic quick-start - begin programming XBasic quickly.
QuickBasic to XBasic - translate QuickBasic to XBasic.
QuickBasic keywords - QuickBasic to XBasic keywords.
XBasic documentation - complete HTML documentation online.
XBasic keywords/operators/scopes/types - language reference.
XBasic projects - enhance & extend applications & documentation.
XBasic e-links - other web-sites with XBasic samples and information.
XBasic forum - mail-list forum for all XBasic programmers - questions, answers, advice, samples, etc.

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XBasic FAQ - frequently asked questions

The following answers to frequently asked questions about XBasic are broken into sections, but kept on one large and growing web-page so you can find all FAQs that mention your topic in a single Edit + Find.

  : submit additional questions

sections
XBasic history
XBasic portability
XBasic implementation
XBasic troubleshooting
XBasic programming language
XBasic function libraries - Xma = math
XBasic function libraries - Xst = standard
XBasic function libraries - Xui = GuiDesigner
XBasic function libraries - Xgr = GraphicsDesigner
XBasic function libraries - Xcm = complex numbers
XBasic function libraries - Xin = internet / networking

FAQ - XBasic history

When was XBasic developed?
The first implementation of XBasic was developed in 1988 for the Motorola 88000 RISC CPU and UNIX.  XBasic ported to WindowsNT in 1992 and tested on alpha and beta developer pre-releases of WindowsNT so XBasic was available when WindowsNT was released.   XBasic was also ported to SCO and ESIX UNIX.  Finally, XBasic was ported to Linux in 1995.  XBasic was made available as freeware on ~ 1999 May 5th.

How many implementations of XBasic exist?
Two up-to-date implementations of XBasic exist - one for Windows95/NT one for Linux.   Implementations of XBasic for Motorola 88000 RISC CPU and SCO UNIX were not kept up-to-date.  XBasic has not been worked on in a major way since 1995, but works okay on Windows95/98/NT/2000 & most Linux systems.  Some minor enhancements and bug fixes have been added to Windows XBasic since it has been freeware, but the Linux implementation was not brought into sync because I've had no Linux system for many months.

FAQ - XBasic portability

How portable are XBasic programs between the Windows and Linux implementations?
XBasic programs developed on either implementation will run on the other without any changes, even programs with lots of graphics and/or extensive GUIs.  Of course this portability is lost if your program calls any operating-system, API or non-portable-function-library functions.  The XBasic function libraries are quite extensive and are available in both implementations, so few programs need to "go around them".

How can XBasic programs with graphics be portable between Windows and Linux?
One of the most fundamental built-in XBasic function-libraries is GraphicsDesigner.  XBasic programs draw graphics by calling functions in GraphicsDesigner, which is available on all XBasic implementations.   GraphicsDesigner provides a comprehensive set of fundamental graphics and message-queue capabilities upon which all additional graphics and message processing is based.

How can XBasic programs with GUIs be portable between Windows and Linux?
Another built-in XBasic function library is called GuiDesigner.   GuiDesigner draws all graphics and processes all messages by calling functions in GraphicsDesigner.  Since every function in GraphicsDesigner is available on all implementations of XBasic, GuiDesigner is automatically portable.  Put another way, GuiDesigner does not call any operating-system or API functions.  In fact, GuiDesigner is written entirely in XBasic and can even be loaded and run as an application in the XBasic program development environment.

Is the XBasic programming language more like QuickBasic or VisualBasic or what?
XBasic syntax is much closer to QuickBasic than VisualBasic.  But XBasic is far cleaner and more consistent than QuickBasic, so XBasic is much easier to learn, read and understand.  XBasic is also vastly more flexible and powerful than any previous BASICs.

FAQ - XBasic implementation

What language is XBasic written in?
XBasic is written entirely in XBasic, except for 400KB of assembly language - most of that is comments.  XBasic does not call any functions in any C function library.  XBasic is self-contained - the only functions XBasic calls are operating-system API functions.  Linux XBasic implements all its graphics and message processing by calling functions in the low-level XWindows xlib function library.

Is XBasic really a compiler, or does it interpret some intermediate language?
When you run programs in the XBasic program development environment, XBasic translates your XBasic source program directly into executable binary machine instructions in RAM memory, then executes it.  When you have finished debugging an XBasic program, you can compile it into an assembly language file.  XBasic also creates a makefile containing the steps required to assemble and link the assembly language file to create an executable - either an EXE or DLL.

FAQ - XBasic programming language

Is the XBasic language case-sensitive like C, or case-insensitive like QuickBasic?
The XBasic programming language is entirely case-sensitive, like C and most languages.   If XBasic had not been written in this way, its compatibility with operating-systems, APIs, and function-libraries would have been severely limited.

Can XBasic programs do simple console input/output, for example the PRINT statement?
Yes.  XBasic has a default console window and classic BASIC input/output statements, including PRINT.  Even XBasic programs with GUIs can display and PRINT to the console window.

Can XBasic programs call operating-system or API functions?
Yes.  XBasic programs can call operating-system and API functions directly.  But XBasic programs should not call operating-system or API functions unless you cannot accomplish what you want with a function in one of the XBasic function-libraries.  In particular, do not try to work around the XBasic message queue.

Can XBasic programs call functions written in C?
Yes.  XBasic functions are C compatible.  By default, XBasic functions follow STDLIB protocol, but you can specify "classic C function protocol" by declaring a function with CFUNCTION.  Virtually all Windows API functions follow the STDLIB protocol, and are therefore inherently compatible with XBasic.

Does XBasic save XBasic source programs to disk as text or in another form?
The XBasic program development environment saves XBasic programs to disk as text files - always.

Does XBasic hold source programs as text or in token-form?
When the XBasic program development environment loads an XBasic program, it converts the program text into binary "tokens" and holds the program in that form during execution and debugging.

Does XBasic display the whole source program or only one function at a time?
XBasic displays only one function at a time, but you can switch between functions freely.   You can also convert programs back and forth between "program-mode" and "text-mode".  When in text-mode, a program is treated as text, so the entire text of the program is visible.  Of course you cannot execute or debug the program in text-mode.  When you switch back into program-mode, XBasic converts the program back into its binary tokens.  Whenever you switch from one function to another, XBasic converts the tokens for that function into text and displays it.

Does XBasic maintain the format of my program text?
Yes.  The XBasic binary tokens contain space and tab information, so no matter how many times a function is converted back and forth between text and tokens, the text form is unchanged.

Can XBasic pass function arguments "by-value"?
Yes.  In fact, XBasic passes function arguments by-value unless otherwise specified.   In contrast, most BASICs pass function arguments by-reference.  XBasic programs can pass function arguments by-value or by-reference, as in a=xfunc(a,@b) respectively.  When a program passes a variable by-value, any changes the called function makes to the argument have no effect on the value of the variable in the calling function when the called-function returns.  When a program passes a variable by-reference, any changes the called function makes to the argument effect the value of the variable in the calling function when the called-function returns.

Can XBasic programs pass arguments by-address as many C functions require?
Yes.  XBasic can pass/receive function arguments by-address to/from C functions, as in a=cfunc(&c).  However, the notion of passing arguments by-address in this manner is a fiction - in both XBasic and C.  Actually, both XBasic and C always pass arguments by-value, but both have the & address-of operator, which lets the program pass the address of a variable by-value, which has the same result.

If XBasic always passes arguments by-value, how can passing by-reference work at all?
XBasic is tricky!  In fact, XBasic does always pass function arguments by-value.  The question is, therefore, how can the called-function change the value of an argument variable in the calling-function?  Answer: it can't.   In fact, the called-function cannot even know whether the arguments it receives were passed to it by-value or by-reference - after all, a function can be called from many places and the arguments can be passed in any mix of by-value and by-reference each time!   Yikes!  How can XBasic do the "impossible"?  Easy, in fact.   When XBasic compiles a function-call, XBasic passes arguments by-value, then calls the function.  The next code XBasic generates will be executed when the called-function returns.  XBasic knows exactly which arguments were passed by-reference, and where it passed them.  So XBasic generates code to read the final value of arguments passed by-reference and assign them to the corresponding variable in the calling function, thereby creating the effect of pass-by-reference.

How do I declare how a function argument is passed?
As mentioned in the previous answer, XBasic programs can pass arguments in any mix of by-value and by-reference each time it calls an XBasic function!   Thus the notion of declaring how a particular argument is passing is meaningless.

Which kind of argument passing is more efficient in XBasic?
XBasic passes numeric variables by-value more efficiently because no code is required to read the final value of the argument and assign it to the variable.

XBasic passes string variables by-reference more efficiently because XBasic simply passes the address of the string variable directly.  When the called-function returns, XBasic need only read the argument and assign it to the string variable.   Any changes the called-function made to the argument string are thereby instantly and automatically made to the string variable.  When an XBasic program passes a string variable by-value, the string is duplicated, the duplicate is passed by-reference, and final result is freed.

XBasic passes array variables and composite variables by-reference only.

How does the XBasic parser determine the boundary between language elements?
First, XBasic skips "white-space", which includes space-characters, tab-characters, every character whose value is less-than 0x20 or greater-than 0x7F.   Starting with the first non-white-space character, XBasic appends characters until the cumulative result would not be a valid language-element.  To contrast this parsing method with old-style BASIC, consider the following source line: FORK=ATOM .

In old-style BASIC, FORK=ATOM means:

' FOR is a statement
' K is a variable
' = is an operator
' A is a variable
' TO is a keyword
' M is a variable

In XBasic, FORK=ATOM means:

' FORK is a variable
' = is an operator
' ATOM is a variable

How does the Linux version of XBasic draw graphics and GUI elements?
XBasic calls functions in the XWindows xlib library only - nothing else.

When will you answer more questions?
When I receive questions by email I generally point the person at this FAQ, the documentation in \xb\doc, or answer the question.  Whenever I have free time I review my email and add more questions and answers.

Question?
Answer.

Question?
Answer.

What are some important features of XBasic?

		sophisticated source level debugger with breakpoints, stepping, frames, variables, etc.
		function libraries for advanced math, complex math, matrix math, graphics, etc.
		interactive GuiDesigner and GUI function library
		integer data types: SBYTE, UBYTE, SSHORT, USHORT, SLONG, ULONG, XLONG, GIANT
		floating point data types: SINGLE, DOUBLE
		built-in single and double precision complex number types: SCOMPLEX, DCOMPLEX
		built-in single and double precision complex arithmetic (+, -, *, /)
		scopes: AUTO, AUTOX, STATIC, SHARED, SHARED /group/, EXTERNAL, EXTERNAL /group/
		arrays of all types, including strings and composites
		arrays are manually elastic (they can be resized anytime)
		strings are automatically elastic (they resize automatically)
		complete set of bitfield operators and intrinsics
		arithmetic shift operators ( <<< and >>> )
		bitwise shift operators ( << and >> )
		logical operators (!, !!, &&, ||, ^^)
		functions are fully encapsulated by default
		function arguments are passed by value by default
		function arguments can be passed by value, reference, address
		function arguments can be numerics, strings, arrays, composites
		XBasic functions can call C functions, and be called by C functions
		XBasic memory allocation is faster than C equivalent
		strings testable for TRUE/FALSE in IF, CASE, WHILE, UNTIL, etc.
		arrays testable for TRUE/FALSE in IF, CASE, WHILE, UNTIL, etc.
		arrays redimensionable without losing contents
		conventional regular arrays and tree-structured irregular arrays
		subarrays can be detached from any node and attached to any other
		computed GOTOs, GOSUBs, function calls
		functions can return values of any type, or no value (VOID)
		DO...LOOPs can have WHILE or UNTIL tests at top, bottom, both
		enhanced loop constructs (DO DO, DO LOOP, DO FOR, DO NEXT)
		shell and subtask execution directly from XBasic
		complete type conversion with natural syntax
		system constants with pre-defined values
		SELECT CASE substantially enhanced