Programming on a typical computer

[Tommy volts]

Programming software (BASIC) came along with older DOS operated computers. You could sit down at any computer and write a program. <p>Nowadays:
Programming software (VBasic, C++, Qbasic etc) is typically not on most office computers. Nor is it on the computers of typical family or freinds.<p>The bottom line: is there a computer language that can be used on any typical Windows system computer without special software?

[bodgy]

Well, there are free versions of Qbasic and other basics, C compilers (gCC or gCC++) Borland (or whatever name they use these days) has their DOS version of Turbo C available free, I've even found a Pascal and tons of free ASM's . Admittedly none of these have the fancy Windows IDE, though most of them are 32 bit, however something like uEdit can probably work as a front end.<p>All MS O/S's come with good old fashioned hard to use nightmarish DEBUG - even XP.<p>Win 9x have Qbasic in the extras folder on the CD, though this is the interpreted version not capable of producing stand alone EXE files.<p>Of course if you wish to purchase a cheap copy of Borland C++ (1996) or Delphi 2,3 then, I have not only my original CD's; but also the books!<p>Hey I even have a copy of Micosoft Quick C on 5.25 floppy lurking.<p>Colin

[MrAl]

Hello,<p>There is also a language called "Euphoria"
at RapidEuphoria.com<p>It's got some user supported IDE's and
Libraries so you can create windows and
controls pretty easily.<p>Take care,
Al

[Tommy volts]

Thank you Mr. Al and Bodgy for the information which I will put to good use!<p>As for using my work(*) computer during breaks, it looks like the only programming I can do is with MS DEBUG, true? From Bodgy's description of MS DEBUG it hardly sounds like a reasonable option, but I would be willing to try.<p>
(*)We are not allowed to load non-work related or unauthorized software, I had Qbasic but they took it off, they watch us very carefully.

[bodgy]

I've just remembered that with XP and Me there is also the cut down version of MS scripting - the part of Visual Basic that can be embedded into Office documents and such.<p>However, you can make Windows yes,no,OK buttons, but the file is not executable on its own.<p>One of the computer mags ran a series of articles about using it a year or so ago.<p>I think it was PC User, it is one of those magazines that is printed by IPC and they have a version in more or less each country - a check of the IPC or other websites may trawl up some archive programs.<p>Colin

[desterline]

Then there's always VBA (visual basic for applications)<p>Of course it will reside in a MS Office document, but VBA is a very complete language with most all the 'frills' of other languages. And nothing to install (asuming you have some version of at least one MS office product) <p>-Denny

[Tommy volts]

Gentlemen:<p>I followed up on your suggestions and discovered the following link. <p>thank you.<p>Visual Basic for Applications Tutorial

[MrAl]

Hi again Tom,<p>If you intend to try debug, type "debug"
at the MSDOS command prompt to start.
Then, type ? to get a list of commands.<p>One warning though: using the 'write'
command in debug allows you to write to
any sector on any disk in the system,
including the FAT records. This could
crash the whole system and require a reinstall
of the operating system.<p>Also, tracing into some system routines can
cause almost the same problem, so you really
have to be careful what you do in debug.
Dont use 'write' unless you study this command
fully and understand where it is writing too.<p>Using debug is obsolete in the programming
world, but if you have no experience at all
with assembler you can learn quite a bit using
it anyway before you move on to something
more commercial.
You could certainly use a book on the instruction
set of the I386DX for starters to use with
debug, or perhaps Intel has a manual you can
download.<p>Good luck with your programming,
Al

[CeaSaR]

You didn't specify if you have a floppy drive or a CD-RW/DVD-RW on your work machine. If so, you can run DOS versions of Basic - most are stand alone versions not requiring a Windows install.
Qbasic (the one that shipped with all Win/Dos OS's v9.x and lower) will run off a 3 1/2" floppy using only ~320k with the rest left over for programming space.
QuickBasic 4.5 uses about 1.2m, so a 1.44m floppy won't do. if you use 2.88 floppies, then go ahead and run it from there.
Most others are rather on the large side and would be better off run from a CD-RW/DVD-RW.
The upside of this approach is that you can transport all files with you wherever you go, as long as the computer you are working on supports the media you are using.
If you are interested, I can direct you to some other places for info and links on QBasic, QuickBasic and others for DOS, Windows and Linux.<p>Good Luck on your situation,
CeaSaR