Comparison of BASICs

Why do I use BASIC even though I've been programming since age 12-14 and know C and C#?

	This is interesting cause most people who have the amount of experience I do, would not use a dialect of BASIC. To start off, I don't just follow the croud. I always like finding and researching new things. So the language I chose, was chosen for a reason, not just cause it's popular. I find that BASIC is not very basic anymore. Comparing modern BASIC dialects to the originals show that it's not really the same thing. Some of the best dialects (like PureBasic) are basically just a more polished version of C. It's nice to read and doesn't require any esoteric bullshit that doesn't need to exist. Like for example: semicolons, header files, and objects. You don't NEED them. BASIC is like the term 'beauty in simplicity'. Whereas C++ is like some academics got together and used 'intelligent' syntax, but in reality, it doesn't actually add anything. Plain C is good though, but BASIC is still more clear and is powerful enough today to do whatever you want.

These are the most common today:

FreeBASIC - very fast, relatively small, but libraries are limited, and not very plug and play.

PureBasic - My #1 choice. It can do anything. Can be used for making games or more serious GUI windows and utilities. No runtime engine. Compiles to assembly language with FASM. Pretty fast, but EXEs could be more optimized. SUPER debloated. Contains tons of libraries that you can use right out of the box. Runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Will run on a potato machine. It's only 80 MB installed, but has the amount of libraries that would normally total GIGS. It's made by someone who cares about quality. It is currently actively being developed and new enhancements will continue into the future.

	That's why I choose PureBasic. It's the most balanced in its abilities, etc.

XOJO/Real Basic - bloated AF. Needs runtime engine and many DLLs. Not universal in its abilities (ie only for making window based things, not graphics/games)

PowerBASIC - Super outdated. Developer died and no further work being done. They still charge over $100 for it. It's only 32-bit windows. Not multiplatform. It was once the best though. Probably the fastest of the bunch. However, a very bad choice.

BlitzBasic/BlitzMAX - Very fast, but outdated and generally limited to games only.

Visual Basic.NET - Depreciated by Microsoft. Requires .NET framework. Slower. Generally limited to making windows on windows.

Visual Basic 6 (VB6) - It's completely dead.

RadBasic - It's a new project to bring VB6 into the modern era. Promising, but also generally limited to making windows on windows just like VB6 was. It's worth checking out if you used VB6 back in the day.

AppGameKit - A nice basic language and IDE only for making games that run on ALL platforms (including phones).

QB64 - A more modern clone of QBASIC (the DOS program). Good for making retro looking games that run on modern platforms, but useless for anything else.


... and of course, there's many others, but these are the most common ones today.