An antiquated version of the
BASIC programming language. This
procedure oriented language worked exclusively on the
MS-DOS platform and as such suffered from many of its limitations.
Most of the problems with QuickBasic had to do with
memory. For example, each module of code could only use 64k of memory. Also, QuickBasic was unable to dimension
variables in the upper memory unless it was declared as a dynamic array. Unfortunately the
IDE did not support the compilation option for this feature, and as such made developing such applications unpleasant.
One of the nicer things about QuickBasic is that it was a
compiled language, meaning that it could translate code into
binary executable files. It also included a very nice IDE, complete with
syntax checking and a suitable
editor.
QuickBasic was such a success that a crippled version without a compiler and even grosser memory limitations was shipped with MS-DOS 5.0 under the name
QBasic. However this was only really suitable as a platform for budding programmers looking for a first language.
Much of QuickBasic's syntax has been preserved in the
VisualBasic language, although many language constructs have been added to make VisualBasic
object oriented. Still, many QuickBasic
algorithms will run under VisualBasic with a little manipulation of the
I/O routines and program flow.