Hello everyone,

Before I make the complete switch from Windows to Ubuntu, I need to be sure of something: Will I be able to Download/Install Qbasic (yes, MS-DOS), and Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 In Wine? If so; how well do they work (like with saving/running the program itself?) I asked a friend, and he was unsure... but nevertheless he requested that I use one of the Linux programming programs. I am afraid of this because I've been learning how to code programs in these two programs for a while, and I do not want to switch to some crazy Linux program that I will not understand for quite a while.

Thank you,

FenderGuy2112

Yes to Qbasic

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3855263

No

Visual Studio 2005 (meaning VB 2005 too) does not run in Wine. The older versions (5.0 and 6.0) do.


If you are interested in running Windows programs, then maybe you can install Windows in a virtual machine inside Linux?

In terms of you learning to program....there is no real point in learning Dos basic or Qbasic, except they give you something to start with in writing procedure code for Visual Basic. It is a bit like learning Latin - a dead language, but rather elegant, and teaches you a lot about logic and syntax that you dont get any other way....

You would do better to ask around on this and other programming sites for advice on what the best language is to learn with the potential to use for the next 5 years on either Windows or Linux for developing real-world applications.

That would be around web applications - SQL, ASP, PHP, dot-Net. See what I mean?

In business, Visual basic is still in strond demand, but maybe not for much longer. There is NO demand, NIL, NADER, for Dos work. On the other hand, if you look at ASP, you will find it is Qbasic in a new context, but also not really promising any future, if a future as a programmer is at the back of your mind.

Okay everyone, thank you for all of your help! Gbhall, I know what you mean, but Qbasic is a start so it will/should lead me up to the C language in general. Afterwards I can work on other programs like the ones you've listed.

Thanks again,
FenderGuy2112

To be brutally honest the BASIC language won't lead you up to C and is redundant. You may find it used in some specialised areas of industry, but not for coding apps.

The best way to learn C is to get a bog standard C/C++ compile and just get on with it. BASIC is more similar to VB in it's structure and syntax and not like C/C++ at all. To learn C/C++ an older version of visual C++ that runs under wine should suffice if you can find one. You'll find that as you go on that the package you use matters much less than your own code and ability.

Visual BASIC under Linux

Visual BASIC 2005 and up needs IE 6 SP1 and the BITS service installed. While IE 6 SP1 can be installed, wine has no BITS support yet so the install will fail. There are other options:

Switch to RealBASIC:
http://www.realsoftware.com/support/whitepapers/portingvisualbasic/
http://www.realsoftware.com

Use GAMBAS basic:
http://gambas.sourceforge.net/

Use Visual BASIC 4 Linux:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vb4linux/

Use PureBASIC:
http://www.purebasic.com/

Use FreeBASIC:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/fbc/

Use Novell's Mono project Mono BASIC:
http://www.mono-project.com/visualbasic.net_support
http://www.mono-project.com

The goal here is to not use Windows programs anymore, most of the ones I linked are Linux native BASIC compilers, and most of them are free, except for RealBASIC and PureBASIC. Basic was designed as an all beginners language, and in the 1970's Basic was on every microcomputer that was developed.

Visual BASIC clones are being ported to Linux:
http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/187/

Consider switching to Python:
http://vb2py.sourceforge.net/

the Visual BASIC to python converter works good enough to convert legacy visual basic code to python code. C and C++ are good, but basic and python are more user friendly. If you convert to python then python can interface with C and C++ code. Don't let anyone force you to give up your basic skills if that is what you wish to use. Everyone should have the freedom to choose their own development language.