NS Basic

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NS Basic is a family of development tools for the BASIC programming language developed and commercially marketed by NS BASIC Corporation in Toronto, Canada for iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS, WebOS, Newton OS, Palm OS, Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Microsoft Windows.

History

NS BASIC Corporation was founded in 1993 to provide easy to use development tools for mobile devices. The manufacturers and licensors of the operating systems usually supply a C++ based tool aimed at highly skilled professional developers. NS BASIC provides an alternative using the Basic programming language, similar to Visual Basic. Key developers include George Henne, Marcus Darden, James Kruth, Eric Pepke and Dan Rowley.

As of 2012, NS Basic's tools are used by almost 20,000 developers in over 80 countries.

NS Basic/App Studio

NS Basic/App Studio was released in December, 2010. It consists of an IDE, a programming language and a deploy module. The IDE and programming language are modeled on Microsoft's Visual Basic: virtually the entire VBscript syntax is implemented. The runtime environment is based on JavaScript, HTML5 and WebKit: many of the features of the underlying technologies is exposed to the NS Basic/App Studio environment. Programming can be done in Basic or JavaScript. PhoneGap and jQuery Mobile are fully integrated. The programs produced by NS Basic/App Studio are Web apps.

Apps install themselves as offline web applications. They can run on Apple's iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) and Android devices running 2.1 or later and BlackBerry OS.

The latest version of NS Basic/App Studio is 2.5, released in May, 2012.

Example code

Function OKButton_onclick()
   MsgBox "Hello World"
End Function

NS Basic/CE

NS Basic/CE was released in 1998. It consists of an IDE, a compiler and a device specific runtime. The program is identical across all the supported platforms: only the runtime is device specific. Devices supported include the vast majority of Windows CE devices produced since 1998. See External Links for a complete list on NS Basic's website. Many NS Basic/CE programs can be run using NS Basic/Desktop on Windows desktop systems with little or no changes.

NS Basic/CE also includes a stripped down IDE which runs directly on a Windows CE device. This is of limited use on devices with small screen sizes.

The Handbook is available in English, German and Japanese. The IDE is localized for English, German, Spanish and Japanese.

The latest version of NS Basic/CE is 8.2.0, released in March, 2010.

NS Basic/Newton

NS Basic/Newton, the company's first product, was released on July 1, 1994^[1] for the Apple Newton MessagePad. It runs entirely on Newton OS devices. In 1997 it was joined by NewtCard, a Newton HyperCard analogue sold separately.

NS BASIC's Newton products are no longer being developed. While they remain available, support is limited.

The last version of NS Basic/Newton released was 3.61 in 1998.

NS Basic/Palm

NS Basic/Palm was released in 2000. It consists of an IDE and a compiler. The runtime code can be embedded in the program to create a single executable. The apps it creates will run on any Palm OS device using Palm OS 3.1 or later, including the Palm Treo and Palm Centro. Programs written in NS Basic/Palm can run on Symbian OS devices once compiled using NS Basic/Symbian OS.

The Handbook is available in English, German and Japanese. The IDE is localized for English, German, Spanish and Japanese, Chinese, Chinese Simplified, French, Hebrew, Portuguese (Brazil) and Russian.

The latest version of NS Basic/Palm is 7.0.0, released in February, 2009.

NS Basic/Symbian OS

NS Basic/Symbian was released in August, 2008. Distribution of the product was halted in January, 2010.

NS Basic/Desktop

NS Basic/Desktop was released in 2005. It is a wrapper for VBScript. It extends the language by adding a full IDE, forms, screen objects and other features, such as support for SQLite. It also makes the deployed code unreadable and unmodifiable by the user, a major problem with VBScript apps. It creates applications for Windows 2000, XP and Vista. Many NS Basic/Desktop programs can be run using NS Basic/CE on mobile devices with little or no changes.

The Handbook is available in English. The IDE is localized for English, German, Hebrew and Japanese.

The latest version of NS Basic/Desktop is 4.0.0, released in June, 2009.

Example code

Function OKButton_Click()
   MsgBox "Hello World"
End Function

Mobile Application Development

The company also undertakes custom development for companies who need applications for mobile devices, such as iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Palm OS. Applications can be developed for just one platform or for multiple platforms.

References

• Verive, Michael (2007). NS Basic Programming for Palm OS, 3rd Edition. The Eastwood Group. ISBN 0-9695844-6-6.

External links

• NS BASIC Corporation, makers of NS Basic.
• NS Basic/CE forum, Yahoo! Groups discussion forum for NS Basic/CE
• NS Basic/Palm forum, Yahoo! Groups discussion forum for NS Basic/Palm
• NS Basic/Desktop forum, Yahoo! Groups discussion forum for NS Basic/Desktop
• Devices Supported by NS Basic/CE