Technological Arts Inc.

Product Info

Compatible with:

* not to be confused with BASIC11 interpreter by Gordon Doughman

BASIC11 is now Freeware!

Please note that we do not ship you anything-- this is a software download transaction only, and it is now free!

Product Details

BASIC (Beginner?s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was invented in 1964 by John Kemeny and Tom Kurz at Dartmouth College. BASIC was designed as a language that would be easy to learn and use in a very short time. The first BASIC systems were interpreters that ran on computers long before the time of microprocessors and PC. BASIC had a second life as interpreter in the ROM part of microprocessors.

You often find on small microprocessors a limited version of BASIC, with the byte as single data type, IF, FOR, GOTO and GOSUB, etc. By contrast, BASIC11 uses a dialect more similar to high level languages like Pascal or C. You'll nevertheless still find the famous GOTO and GOSUB, but there are other language elements that replace these statements.

BASIC11 is not an interpreter, but a real compiler that translates the source program into an object file. This object is ready to be loaded into a ROM, PROM, EPROM, or EEPROM. The program will run on the 68HC11 without any help of an interpreter or an operating system.

What are the differences between an interpreter and a compiler?

An interpreter interprets a program, re-interpreting each instance of an identical routine. Thus the program is very slow. A compiled program is much faster. An interpreter needs some place in the RAM and the ROM section of the target. When it is in a real ROM, you have to buy the interpreter, else you have to buy the memory for the interpreter for each target. It is obviously limited in ease-of-use and richness of the language.

An interpreter runs directly on the target. You do not need a host computer to compile the program-- just some kind of a terminal.

Working on a P.C. as host allows you to handle and archive the source and the documentation of the program.

Compiler Features:

Declarations of the ProgramPointer, DataPointer, StackPointer
#include directive to include other source files
Variables BYTE (0 to 255) or INTEGER (-32768 to +32767),
Bit addressing: if PORTD.7 = 0 then PORTB.3 = 1
Arrays, constant variables in EEPROM, declaration of I/O ports
Arithmetic and logical calculations +-*/ MOD NOT AND OR
Constants in decimal, hexadecimal, binary, characters
Loops FOR TO STEP, NEXT,EXIT FOR
Conditional statements IF THEN ELSE, END IF
Jumps GOTO, GOSUB
ASM directive to include assembly statements
PRINT for LCD, RS232 or any other output device.
Functions FUNCTION, RETURN, END FUNCTION, parameters, recursive functions
Global and local variables
Interrupt functions

Resources

Manual, App Notes, and Example Code

Download the BASIC11 Demo version here