Help with BASIC

[codyr783]

Hello.I have been wanting to work with BASIC for some time.Right now I can't get some of the programs to work while some work.Also,I have no idea how to use a command prompt.Any help would be great.Sorry if these are newbish questions.

 

Thank you,

Cody

[Dan Iacovelli]

can you post the code,that would help.

[codyr783]

i have'nt even began to work on a game yet.The problem is that when I click on an option the command prompt screen flashes on quickly and dissapears.

[SeaGtGruff]

i have'nt even began to work on a game yet.The problem is that when I click on an option the command prompt screen flashes on quickly and dissapears.

What do you mean by "click on an option"? bB doesn't run games, nor is it an editor-- it just compiles source (program code) files that are written in the batari Basic language. To write a new bB program or view/edit an existing bB program, you must use a text editor-- e.g., Edit, Notepad, WordPad, etc.-- or even better, an IDE ("integrated development environment," which is a fancy way of saying "a fancy editor that's specifically geared toward writing, compiling, and running computer programs").

 

To compile a source file with batari Basic, you must give it the name of the source file you want it to compile. If you're trying to compile a game in Windows, simply double-clicking on the 2600basic.exe, 2600bas.bat, or 2600baside.bat files won't work, because batari Basic won't know what source file you want it to compile. Is that what you mean by "click on an option"? And unless you've set up a shortcut to batari Basic that will leave the command prompt window open after the source file has finished compiling (or after batari Basic has finished attempting to compile it), the command prompt window will simply flash up long enough to display a message, and then close before you've even had a chance to read the message.

 

If you're using Windows, I heartily recommend that you consider downloading Crimson Editor, which is a free IDE that you can set up to edit, compile, and run batari Basic programs. There should be some instructions on how to do that on the batari Basic home page.

 

Michael