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What are your opinions about the ease of use and speed of operation of these two?? I ran a test with PB on a program and it was about 2 1/2 times faster than the QB4.5 EXE version. Since my program needs speed, this might be a good option. I have lots of programs written in QB4.5 and would like to convert some to the faster system. Has anyone compiled a program written in QB on a PowerBasic compiler?
I would appreciate your opinions!
Thank you,
Jack C.
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powerbasic is indeed faster (anything is, really). it's been pitted against some weaker c compilers and won. but for a few simple reasons, most people tend to stick with qb.
1) powerbasic is not free (or abandonware yet). the company that makes wants something like $100 dollars for the dos version and $200 for the windows version.
2) qbasic was released with dos 5 and therefore windows 95 and 98, which puts at least a crippled version on 85% of home computers (until recently).
3) many libraries and utilities were programmed and compiled in quicklibraries, a format known only by the geeks in microsoft. powerbasic does not have this, so qb has about 8 years of software ahead of it, and most people make software only for quickbasic. which brings me to my last point:
4) qbasic has been around from 1987. it's just known better.
this and sometimes ide keeps people from using powerbasic. considering powerbasic for dos, which is in itself a very good compiler, bordering on fantastic, it's still a 16-bit real mode compiler, so if you're going to use *that* you might as well stick with qb for the fun of it and a learn another language like c with faster compilers along side.
i]"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum ... you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"[/i] - Dirty Harry
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I have firstbasic 1.00 myself, but it doesn't let you add SUBS (or subs with parameters?) or various other things.
Peace cannot be obtained without war. Why? If there is already peace, it is unnecessary for war. If there is no peace, there is already war."
Visit www.neobasic.net to see rubbish in all its finest.
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firstbasic, while made by the same company, isnt that good. i'd find pb3.2, which i believe is the latest and last version and is supposed to be (i think) a way to imitate qb's "v1.1" which is a crippled 4.5. because of the hefty price tag and lack of a demo i've yet to try out powerbasic for windows though.
i]"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum ... you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"[/i] - Dirty Harry
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In which universe? In *this* universe, PB3.2 is a compiled version of Basic. Qbasic 1.1 isn't.
ravelling Curmudgeon
(geocities sites require copying and pasting URLs.)
I liked spam better when it was something that came in a can.
Windows should be defenestrated.
Posts: 2,020
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*slaps forehead* i meant firstbasic on the 1.1 equivalent. powerbasic is a compiler, of course.
i]"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum ... you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"[/i] - Dirty Harry
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Joined: Mar 2002
Firstbasic is also a compiler. It is not fully QB45 compatible, but 3.0 or below. Firstbasic needs CALL to call a SUB, doesn't support recursivity and some more issues.
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.
ravelling Curmudgeon
(geocities sites require copying and pasting URLs.)
I liked spam better when it was something that came in a can.
Windows should be defenestrated.
Posts: 704
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Joined: Dec 2002
to my site:
http://www.geocities.com/gstumpff/100ways.txt
It purports to list 100 ways that "PB 3.0 beats QB." That file gets funnier and funnier everytime I read it, but in case it answers any of your questions, here it is. (I debated about uploading my modification of the file, where I respond to their list, but I just uploaded their file instead.)
ravelling Curmudgeon
(geocities sites require copying and pasting URLs.)
I liked spam better when it was something that came in a can.
Windows should be defenestrated.
Posts: 704
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Joined: Dec 2002
How come I can click on the link I just posted and actually get to the file when everywhere else I have to copy and paste a link to a geocities site in order to get there?
ravelling Curmudgeon
(geocities sites require copying and pasting URLs.)
I liked spam better when it was something that came in a can.
Windows should be defenestrated.
