QBASIC, a short introduction


SO WHAT IS QBASIC?
	QBASIC is a simple kind of code recommended for all begining 
programmers.  It is simple to use, yet can be sometimes powerful by using 
such commands as: array, declare sub, loop, dim shared, while wend, and 
others.  QBASIC has the ability to create simple text games in monochrome 
to SVGA graphic capable games with sound and a midi sound track.  
Does all this seem complicated? Probably ;].For a beginer I recommend 
you buying a QBASIC programming book, it will help you in the long run 
(I know, I bought one myself).  Borders (a nationwide book store) carries 
only two QBASIC programming books.  Your best bet is to use an online 
book source such as http://www.amazon.com, they have around 
six or seven good QBASIC books.  For QBASIC programmers who know 
some commands and have made something before I recommend 
QBASIC Programming For Dummies, but for people who know nothing 
I recommend QBASIC By Example.

HISTORY OF QBASIC
	BASIC was developed at Dartmouth College in the 1960s by 
John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz.  BASIC is an acronym for:
Beginers All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
It was designed to teach the ideas of programming via an easy simple 
language.  BASIC was well developed before IBM's even came out, in fact
BASIC was used in many different computers.  Just look at your old 
Commodore 64, it probably has a variation of BASIC.  The early BASIC 
code cotained those pesky GOTOs, and you had to add a number to every
line. In the olden days there was no BASIC standerd (hence the fact 
you could not transform your C64 created programs on an IBM and get 
it to run). 
	In the early 80s Microsoft finally came out with DOS and their 
own BASIC variation: BASICA.  It offered a major advantage:no more 
pesky GOTOs.  BASICA soon became a computer standard for quite some 
years.  There was still one major drawback:  You could not organize a
program into SubRoutines.  Finally in the mid 80s Microsoft came out 
with a good version: QuickBasic.  It had the ability to revise, edit, 
and fine-tune your creations.  It was also more organized, then soon 
QuickBasic gave way to Qbasic.  A quicker cleaner more economical 
version.  You did not have to shell out tons of money to buy this, 
it was completly free.  Although QuickBasic is still a better program for 
these three reasons:
1) It has the ability to compile single programs.
2) You can create libraries.
3) You may load libraries into the system.