Steven Smith wrote in a message to All:

 SS> Hello, I got a question(Probably a completely idiotic one
 SS> but... ;)  ) 

 SS> Is there a BASIC complier for OS/2, that will allow me to
 SS> compile OS/2 native  programs? If not, what would be the
 SS> best language to use for OS/2 Developing? 

LB07.ZIP      677K  2-26-95  Liberty BASIC for OS/2, v0.7. Now works with Warp.
                             Great BASIC, ported from a Windows version lets
                             you create your own OS/2 GUI programs easily with
                             graphics, dialog-boxes, more. Source level
                             debugger too!

Liberty BASIC is not really a compiler, but rather a teaching tool that
follows the GWBASIC style.  It uses Smalltalk internally, and its output
tends to be large and slow.  It has some windowing capability which is
implemented on the file model.  For $35, you can buy a run-time engine with
a royalty-free redistribution license.  An unusual feature of this design,
according to the docs, is that you can distribute the same tokenized
program for both OS/2 and Windows, and then vary only the run-time engine
for the appropriate OS.


The latest DevCon contained a demo from SoftBridge of what looks to be an
interesting quasi-port of Visual BASIC 2.0 to OS/2 called "SBL:
Softbridge BASIC Language."  They can be contacted at 125 Cambridge
Park Drive, Cambridge MA, 02140, (617)576-2257 (voice), (617)864-7747
(fax).  I played with it a little bit because my girlfriend uses Visual
BASIC for Windows and I thought it might be fun to see how it worked, but I
am not really a BASIC programmer and do not feel competent to evaluate it. 
Everything I tried to get it to do worked flawlessly, however, and I was
fairly impressed.

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The list below contains the commands, functions, and data types that are
part of the Softbridge BASIC Language (SBL). 

 Arrays:             Dim, Erase, Global, LBound, Option Base, ReDim, Static,
                     UBound 

 Controlling program flow: 
                     DoEvents, Do...Loop, End, For...Next, Goto,
                     If...Then...Else, On...Error, Select Case, Stop, 
                     While...Wend 

 Converting:         Asc, CCur, CDbl, Chr, CInt, CLng, CSng, CStr, CVar,
                     CVDate, DateSerial, DateValue, Day, Fix, Format, 
                     Hex, Hour, Int, Minute, Month, Oct, Second, Str, 
                     TimeSerial, TimeValue, Val, Weekday, Year 

 Copying:            Clear, GetData, GetFormat, GetText, SetData, SetText 

 Date/Time:          Date functions, Now, Time functions, Timer 

 DDE:                LinkExecute, LinkPoke, LinkRequest, LinkSend 

 Dialog Box:         Begin Dialog, Button, ButtonGroup, CancelButton, Caption,
                     CheckBox, ComboBox, Dialog, GetCurValue, GroupBox, 
                     InputBox, ListBox, MsgBox Function, MsgBox Statement, 
                     OKButton, Option Button, Option Group, Text, TextBox 

 Error trapping:     Error Function, Error Statement, Err Function, Err
                     Statement, Erl, On Error, Resume 

 File I/O:           ChrDir, ChDrive, Close, CurDir, Dir, EOF, FileAttr,
                     FileCopy, FileDate, FileLen, FreeFile, Get, GetAttr, 
                     Input Function, Input Statement, Kill, Line Input, Loc,
                     Lock...Unlock, LOF, MkDir, Name, Open, Print, 
                     Put, Reset, RmDir, Seek, SetAttr, Spc, Tab, Width, Write 

 Math:               Abs, Atn, Cos, Exp, Log, Randomize, Rnd, Sgn, Sin, Sqr,
                     Tan 

 Procedures:         Call, Declare (includes calling DLL's and other SBL
                     modules),  Exit, Exit Sub, Function...End Function, 
                     Sub...End Sub 

 Strings:            Asc, Chr, Format, Instr, Lcase, Left, Len, Let, LSet,
                     LTrim, Mid Function, Mid Statement, Option Compare, 
                     Right, RTrim, RSet, Space, StrComp, Trim, Ucase 

 Data Types, Constants & Variables: 
                     Currency, Date/Time, Double, Integer, Long, Single,
                     String (variable and fixed length), Type (records), 
                     Variant; Const, Dim, Global, Static; Def type, IsDate,
                     IsEmpty, IsNull, IsNumeric, Var type, Option Explicit 

 Miscellany:         AppActivate, Assert, Beep, Command, Environ, GetField,
                     Rem, SendKeys, SetField, Shell 

 Compiler commands: 
                     $CStrings, $Include, $NoCStrings 
 
 SBL is an embeddable implementation of BASIC, conforming to Visual Basic
2.0 language syntax.  SBL is licensed to software developers for inclusion
in their Windows, Windows NT, and OS/2 applications. 

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-- Mike


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