|
|
 QuickBasic QBasic Home Learning Center QBasic F&Q On-line Book Store Prog Classes Interview Writers' Block Assistance On-Line Assistance Please help Discussion Working Projects Programming Lab Real-Time Chat Programmer's Area QBasic Web Poll Programming Languages Mailing List Programmer's Webring Programmer's Database Daily Challenge Programmers' Daily Note Downloading Area Source Code Download QBasic Compilers Prog Resources TOP sites & Link QBasic Link QBasic TOP50 QBasic TOP100 QBasic TOP25 QBasic RPG TOP50 Online Search Webmasters Homepage Design Making CA$H Be our partner Submission Link Submission Program Submission Program Upload Join Webring Visitors Recomment us Send comment QBasic Programming Corner Disks Virtual Postcard How can you help Information Sign Guestbook View Guestbook What's New ? Contact Info Email Me Special Thanks About Webmaster Disclaimer |
|
Click Here to Visit our Sponsor
About author : Cheng-Ning PuCheng-Ning Pu, also known as Jack, was a QBasic programmer since the early ages. He was originally born in Taiwan and moved to Trinidad and Tobago when he was 14. This was the first time he met QBasic. After first few months with QBasic, he showed the extreme ability in the field of programming. He got a gold medal in the National
Although Turbo Pascal is the programming language he working now, QBasic is still his favorite language. He best creation include Chinese Square II and Electronic Secretary which can be downloaded from "SOURCE CODE DOWNLOAD" section of this page. Cheng-Ning Pu also showed his ability in other field of computing. When he was graduated from high school, he got the gold medal from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) in school of the subject Information Technology. This was the highest honor in school for individual subject of the CXC examination. Beside computing, he also dominant in the field of Mathematics. In the same year he won the gold medal for the Computer Olympiad, he also placed forth in the National Mathematics Olympiad and chosen to train as a future team member to particapate in the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO). Cheng-Ning started homepage writing since 1996. Beside this QBasic Programming Corner, he also wrote Cheng-Ning's Homepage, Homepage DIY, and Chicago Cubs Club. All these pages are non-profit organized and under the purpose of his own interest and helping others. We are pleased to have an interview with Cheng-Ning recently : What you feel about QBasic ? QBasic is a great language especially for the beginners. When I first met QBasic, I was surprised about its easy syntax and user-friendly interface. Unlike many other language, you can start your first program before you know anything. I can still remember my first program was : CLS PRINT "MY NAME IS JACK" I am sure you can do that right ?! What you feel the best about QBasic ? There are many good things about QBasic. I like it because it is an interpreter. That makes it easy to debug and make corrections. Unlike many other compilers, it allow the programmer to change the code while the program is running. It might not seen so helpful but it is very useful when debugging. Before QuickBasic 4.5 was introduced, I was disappointed that QBasic cannot convert a source code file into an excutable file. It is important because most programmers do not wish their programming code to be seen by others. Can you imagine that you can see all the source code of Window 95 ?? All these problem had be solved when QuickBasic 4.5 is introduced. Unfortunately it is still not a shareware. I am hopping that Microsoft whill release in a short period of time. What version of QBasic are you using now and why ? I am using QuickBasic 4.5, it was the official language of IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics). I heard that QBasic has a new version (7.1 or shomehting) However I never got a chance to test it, so I cannot make any comment here. The number of programmers using QBasic has decrease every year, why is that and how can it be improved ? First of all I am not sure about that statement. I feel QBasic is still a very popular language around. From a recent example, when QBASIC TOP50 was introduced to the public, it had grown very quickly and remain active up to today, however when Virtual Basic TOP50 was introduced, it had very few visitors and then forced to shut down after two months. This tells you that they are still a lot of QBasic programmers around. However, we must admit that QBasic is not a very good programming language for a complex and graphical program. Because of it's easy syntax, it is not a very structure programming which make it difficult to develop a large program. This might be the reason that many programmers do not choose QBasic as their programming language if they want to be professional. Just like the old saying : "You gain some you loss some ......." I know you are also a Pascal programmer, can you please compare these two languages for us ? I have to say that QBasic and Pascal are two very simillar programming language. This was one of the reason I choose to learn Pascal as my second programming language. The biggest difference between these two is that QBasic is an interpreter and Pascal is a compiler. In Pascal, you to to declare every variable that you used in the program. This cause me a little trouble at beginning, however I could get use to it in a short while. Pascal is also a more structure programming language. You to to properly indent your program to minimize the confusion. If you missed an "END IF" in QBasic, it is not that hard for you to figure it out and fix it. However if miss an "END" in Pascal, you are in a big mess ......... What you think are the weakness of QBasic or QuickBasic ? As I had mentioned before, Qbasic is not a very good language for long and complex program. It was originally design for beginners. In addition, QBasic doesn't support a good graphical operation. You hardly see anybody wrote a nice graphical program with QBasic. Fortunately it is improving now, many new liberies file are added, this save programmers a lot of time. Few years ago, we had to write everything ourselves, include all the sub routines for basic jobs and etc. What are some of the advantages of learning program Oh...There are to many of them !! According to PC HOME magazine, there are 100,000 jobs still available for programmers in US along. Beside this, learning program will not only helps you in computing, it will also helps you in mathematics and develop a quick logical thinking. If you ask me does programming really helps you in your daily life,then take an example from me, when I was writing homepages, I often write a samll program to help me to do all those repeating job.For example if I want add a line to all my HTML files, then I can use a simple program to get the job down. We are approching 21st century, the knowledge of computing, include programming and all other stuff are very important. I personally recommet all students today to get in touch with computers as early as possible. What is the best way to learn programming From my personal experience, the best way to learn programming is by examing other people's source code. Ask yourself "HOW DID HE DO THAT ??" In the field of programming, "SKILL" is equal to "EXPERIENCE". More you try more you going to learn. By dry running other people's program, you will understand how other programmer creat their programs and how they structure their programs. I remember when I was first learning QBasic, I love to download other people's game and try to write a cheat code for every games. This helps me a lot because I have to fully understand their programs before I can do so. (of course you have to first make sure this does not against copyright) If I know Pascal, C++ or some other programming languages already, do I still need to learn QBasic ? No, I don't think so. QBasic is good for beginner, the main purpose is to introduce what is programming to non-programmers. If you already know another language, then it is not necessary for you to learn QBasic unless you want to enjoy the beauty of QBasic's easy syntax and structure. What you normally do before you start to write a program ? Some people like to write a plan before they start, however I don't normally do that. I like to, what they called, "GO WITH THE FLOW !" I will plan in my head with is the main purpose of this program then go go stright into QBasic screen and start to type. Then solve any problem on my way. I love to seperate my program into small pieces and then solve it one by one. This is very helpfule when you making a large program. |
Picture taken from IOI'97
