Quite BASIC Tutorial

Students and beginners, welcome!

Here is some help to get you started using Quite Basic for the first time:

Trying out some packaged programs

There are plenty of finished programs to try out before you start writing your first own program. All prepackaged programs are available under the "Samples" menu. For example, to try the "Towers of Hanoi" program:

1. Go to "Samples->Puzzles->Towers of Hanoi"
2. In the controls pane, click on the button "Run".

Typing in a simple program

Once you have tried some of the packaged programs and got a hang of how to run programs it is time to type in your first own BASIC program.

1. On the "File" menu, select "New Project".
2. Click inside the white "BASIC Program" area and start typing in your program
3. If you are typing in a program from a textbook or some other source, carefully check to make sure you copied accurately! The BASIC interpreter is quite picky... Some mistakes I sometimes make:
   • I forget the line number - all lines must start with a line number between 1 and 9999
   • I forget "THEN" in "IF" statements - when we speak, we don't always say "then" but BASIC requires it.
   • I forget "LET" in assignments. Same thing.
4. In the controls pane click the button "Run"
5. This is the time when the BASIC interpreter will let you know if you had any syntax errors in your program. Error messages are printed in the "Output" pane. Error messages are not always super helpful, but they almost always tell you at least the offending line number.
6. If there are no syntax errors your program runs and results appear in the "Output" pane, except graphics - that's drawn on the Canvas.
7. You can save your work if you want to. Just select "Save" in the "File" menu. A new window will pop up. Save the contents of that window by selecting "Save Page as..." in your browser's "File" menu. This will let you save your work on your computer.
8. You can stop the program at any time by clicking on "Stop" in the controls pane. When you do, note that the current program line is shown in the controls pane. You can move the program forward one line at a time with the "Step" button, letting you follow the effects of each line, one at a time, if you want to! "Continue" releases the program to proceed at full speed.
9. That's it! Did it go as you expected? Or did things go wrong and leave you stumped? Maybe you can compare notes with a classmate and find the problem. Good luck!

Trying out programming on your own

If you are not copying a program verbatim, but instead feel ready to write programs of your own, drop by the "Help" screen for more documentation.

You can also study the prepackaged programs on the Samples" menu. You can even start with one of the prepackaged programs and change it into something new. Many of the projects have suggestions for improvements in their description.