Small Basic : version

Small Basic, now in Russian

vijayeg — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:22:00 GMT

The Russian localized version of Small Basic went live today, as v0.5.1. No other change has been made and all the remaining functionality is the same as v0.5 (including English, French and Spanish). So, if you want Russian, go ahead and download Small Basic from the same location (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx). As always, please refresh your browser, and clean up the cache if need be to get the new version.

If you're running English version of the Operating System, you can run:

%programfiles%\microsoft\small basic\sb.exe /l:ru-ru

to launch the Russian localized version.

The newest, leanest and the meanest is here!

vijayeg — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:59:00 GMT

The next installment of the Small Basic Community Previews is now available for download. Version v0.5 can be downloaded at: http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/A/F/CAF9E062-94D3-4003-80D9-44CDF7EC7BD9/SmallBasic.msi

This version adds more of the community requested features and bug-fixes, the full list of it is below:

Arrays:
Small Basic now has native support for arrays. Array keys are not limited to numbers, and the arrays themselves can be multidimensional. An example is:

people[1]["Name"]["First"] = "Carl"
people[1]["Name"]["Last"] = "Fredrickson"
people[1]["Age"] = 78

Uninitialized Variables:
The Compiler now catches and reports as error, any variable that isn't initialized but is being used in the program. This makes it much easier to catch misspelt variables.

Spanish localization:
The UI and the API reference have been translated to Spanish, and is now available alongside English and French. The Guide will follow in a couple days.
Environment Features:
* Find feature: Ctrl+F brings up the new Find dialog, F3 finds the next match
* Line and column indicator: At the bottom right of the editor is a line and column indicator
* Save As command + toolbar button
* Format Program command: Available from the context menu in the editor, this command reformats the entire program with the right indentation.
* Mouse click and scroll support for Intellisense list box

Under the hood:
* A new attribute "HideFromIntellisense" which hides deprecated operations and properties from the Intellisense list

Others:
* Tons of bug fixes
* Smaller footprint (installer is now just 3.7MB)
* Setup now auto-detects presence of .Net framework 3.5 SP1

What's new in v0.4 of Small Basic?

vijayeg — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:25:00 GMT

Here's a complete list of what's changed in v0.4. As usual, the fixes and features are based on what the community has requested using the forums. So, if you would like to see something, feel free to drop a note at: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbasic/threads.

Bug Fixes:

Calling GraphicsWindow.Hide() will keep the window hidden until Show() is called.
Fixed GetColorFromRGB to properly return White if supplied with 255,255,255.
Sound.Play will rewind automatically at the end of playback
Text indexes are all now 1-based
Fixed crashes in Flickr object and Text object.
Clock.WeekDay is now localized

New Features:

A Timer object with a Tick event - very useful for building games
Clock object now has Milliseconds
Text object now has GetIndexOf method
Selection highlight marking - you can now easily find your variables.

Localization:

French

v0.4 of Small Basic says "Bonjour"

vijayeg — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:42:00 GMT

Here it is, finally, the next installment of Small Basic CTP. Once again, the new v0.4 version comes with a lot of bug fixes, and a new "Timer" object that makes writing games easier. What really excites me with this release is that Small Basic is completely localizable, and as a start, we've localized the UI and the Library Help in French!

Go check it out: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx

The localization was a community driven effort. Sandra Aldana and Dioni de Morena Morales have been the main co-ordinators behind the effort and I'd like to thank them for all their efforts. In addition, the French translation was provided by Thierry Huguet (Microsoft) and Fabien Lavocat (Microsoft Intern). Many thanks to them too!

The localized documentation will be released out of band as and when they arrive. If you want to participate in the localization efforts, please feel free to contact me.

Announcing v0.3 again!

vijayeg — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:04:00 GMT

For some reason, my previous announcement didn't hit the front-page. Here it is again!

http://blogs.msdn.com/smallbasic/archive/2009/02/10/microsoft-small-basic-v0-3-is-here.aspx

Announcing Small Basic v0.2, again!

vijayeg — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:49:00 GMT

Some technical issues with the previous announcement - the blog ended up not showing on RSS feeds, etc. So, here's another announcement!

As promised, we have a new release of Small Basic! This version contains all the most requested features by the user community. Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and for making Small Basic better and better! Please keep the feedback flowing. We're listening.

For those that are new, Microsoft Small Basic is a project that aims at bringing the fun back to programming and encourages everyone, from kids to adults to take their first step into the wondeful world of programming!

At a high level, this release includes the following updates:

Bug fixes on the IDE
A smarter compiler with better language service features, including auto-indent
Inclusion of ElseIf keyword in the language
Better File access operations
Access to position and angle of Turtle

Check out the latest version here!

Announcing Small Basic v0_2!

vijayeg — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

At a high level, this release includes the following updates:

Bug fixes on the IDE
A smarter compiler with better language service features, including auto-indent
Inclusion of ElseIf keyword in the language
Better File access operations
Access to position and angle of Turtle

Check out the latest version here.

Here's a complete list of all the updates

Language and Editor

Several Crash fixes
Support for non-US regional OS settings
Auto-indent
Parentheses for conditional expressions are now optional
Added ElseIf keyword to the language
Support for inline comments
Fixed bug with negative step value in For..EndFor

Library API Additions

Array

GetItemCount
ContainsIndex
ContainsValue
RemoveValue

Desktop

Get ScreenWidth and ScreenHeight

File

CreateDirectory
DeleteFile
GetFiles
GetDirectories
WriteContents Fix: Now works even if the file doesn't already exist.

GraphicsWindow

Performance Improvements
Width/Height Fix: No need to set these twice
Hide Fixed crash
Add/FillTriangle
RotateShape
CanResize You now have the option of changing the resize mode
Left/Top You can now position the window
GetColorFromRGB Construct a valid color value from the color components

Math

Power
GetRandomNumber Fix: Is one based and includes the max-number in range. [Breaking Change]

Program

Fixes for End()
ProgramDirectory Gets the directory of the program

Text

Append For those times when you want a number to be treated as text
GetCharacter Unicode character code to Character
GetCharacterCode Character to Unicode Character code

TextWindow

Clear
Left/Top

Turtle

Angle
X, Y

Small Basic : version

Small Basic, now in Russian

The newest, leanest and the meanest is here!

Arrays:

Uninitialized Variables:

Spanish localization:

Environment Features:

Under the hood:

Others:

What's new in v0.4 of Small Basic?

v0.4 of Small Basic says "Bonjour"

Announcing v0.3 again!

Announcing Small Basic v0.2, again!

Announcing Small Basic v0_2!