[tw5] BASIC programming in TiddlyWiki proper (i.e. IDE closed)

Charlie_Veniot · December 7, 2021, 1:49am

(screenshot at the bottom of this post)

“.BAS” tiddlers now have a “RUN” button in the view toolbar, and both a “Diff” and a “RUN” buttons in the edit toolbar.

Try the latest version of BASIC Anywhere Machine, check out the evolving BASIC Programming Language Reference for wwwBasic and BASIC Anywhere Machine website.

In the screenshot, simultaneously opened windows:

console window for program before edits
console window for program after edits and before saving
diff-viewer window
the TiddlyWiki instance showing related buttons (Diff and RUN) on the tiddler toolbar for the “.BAS” tiddler

Mark_S · December 7, 2021, 5:30am

BASIC programming in the WEB‽ sounds like a wet dream of Home Computer-Age-Kids… I took only a short glance over the web site. Is there a interface / option to import and export tiddler content to and from that BASIC-Programm? Maybe an idea to give people some programming tools at hand without always the need to define a new js-Module…

Cheers ToraxMalu

maruadv_gmail.com · December 7, 2021, 12:20pm

BASIC? That is quaint.

Now I think the idea is a good one. Little less enthused with the implementation. If a team was going to go that route to provide this functionality why not consider webassembly?

Charlie_Veniot · December 7, 2021, 1:36pm

Hello ToraxMalu,

What do you mean a need to define a new js-Module?

Although I have loads of work ahead of me to build a traditional IDE, all one has to do is type in a program in a tiddler, name that tiddler with “.BAS” in the name, and hit the RUN button.

I’m building this as an edition of TiddlyWiki instead of a plugin. (Well, I reserve the right to maybe change my mind later.)

wwwBasic doesn’t have any import/export functionality. It is just meant to take input BASIC code and give results in a console, the same as for other web-based BASIC implementations out in the wild. (I’ll find some time today to get URL’s to those.)

Charlie_Veniot · December 7, 2021, 1:55pm

Gupta Team Developer (aka SQLWindows) has been my bread and butter for the last 25 years. The best tool there is for agile-like building and maintenance or rock-solid and complicated business applications since the early '90s.

But, as a hobby programmer, I’ve always been a big fan of BASIC because the language is easy and fun.

Before starting this BASIC Anywhere Machine, I was thinking about QB64 to WebAssembly. QB64 transpiles to C++ code before compiling that to single-file EXE’s. So should be really easy to get Emscripten to create Web Assembly from that C++ created by QB64. But everything about it involved way too much stuff to learn that is, to me, zero fun.

I’ve played for a good year with SpiderBasic. That is really cool, too. A great option for folk who want to develop stuff in BASIC targeting the web and/or Android and/or iOS (?). Fun to build web apps, not fun requiring a server to host those apps.

All-in-a-single file TiddlyWiki-powered BASIC interpreter, IDE, tools, and BASIC program files? Hell ya. Now were talking BASIC anywhere.

Oh yeah, thank goodness for folk who do javascript, and all of the other programming languages with which folk build really good stuff. Because I find all of those languages suck sewage ( a pain to work with, no fun at all.)

BASIC, quaint-as-insult by most folk because it sucks sewage to them, and I get it. All about perspective: BASIC to me is a whole blast of fun, especially paired with TiddlyWiki.

Charlie_Veniot · December 7, 2021, 2:13pm

“If a team was going to go that route” ?

Uh, what team?

This is for folk who enjoy hobby programming.

Might be useful for folk who want just a little bit of data-processing programming power in TiddlyWiki, feeding data from filters to a BASIC program for processing.

For simple programming concepts (like understanding loops, and other programming mechanics, foundational stuff that ports to any other language), or simple graphics programming, or simple programming as part of math/science/whatever projects, it makes for a pretty portable tool for schools.

For somebody who does programming in QB64, or Gambas, or PureBasic, or FreeBasic (etc. etc. etc.), BASIC Anywhere Machine might be good for coding/testing little bits of code when away from the main programming device, BASIC Anywhere Machine not just having the code right there in the TiddlyWiki, but all intertwingled with notes and/or whatever else is in TiddlyWiki (whatever you like to have in TiddlyWiki and however you use TiddlyWiki.)

Yeah, BASIC Anywhere Machine is not going to be a Visual Studio killer …

Whatever team decides to make BASIC Anywhere Machine a primary/secondary development tool: Darwin Award candidates ???

Charlie_Veniot · December 7, 2021, 4:52pm

BTW: Not BASIC programming in the web (which kind of entails being online.) More BASIC programming in your web browser, whether online or offline (I do have to test the offline thing to make sure I haven’t forgotten about any online dependencies. So many things to do, not enough lifetimes…)

Aside: When I started learning BASIC, I wasn’t yet at the “wet dreams” stage of life, and am now at an age in which the dreams are pretty frigging dry …

Back to topic:

I’ve got to thank all of you for making me realise I need to state the scope of this project (i.e. audience, purpose, etc.)

So I’ve started cobbling together a couple of related pages: It is. It isn’t. and Noteworthy BASIC Implementations (for other BASIC implementations that can do things absolutely not in the scope of BASIC Anywhere Machine.)