Batch Basic 2

The Basic programming language is alive and well in 2022, but putting a novel spin on it can be difficult.

Batch Basic 2 is a structured dialect with no line numbers and a few quirks. It's not very useful by itself, and mainly intended to be embedded, or used as a basis for extension / customization. It supports both interactive use and running programs written in advance, and in fact doesn't make any difference between modes of operation internally.

A different language of the same name was intially prototyped, but didn't go anywhere and had to be completely rethought.

Download

As of February 2023, Batch Basic is available as source, and binaries for Linux PCs:

Instructions for building on other platforms are included; it only requires a modern C++ compiler and standard libraries. See the project news for what's different in the latest version.

Batch Basic is free and open source under the Artistic License 2.0; see inside the archive for how to contact the author.

First look

For end users, Batch Basic looks like this:

rem Ahl's Simple Benchmark

let r = 0
let s = 0

for n = 1 to 100
	let a = n
	
	do i = 1, 10
		let a = sqr(a)
		let r = r + rnd()
	done

	do i = 1, 10
		let a = a ^ 2
		let r = r + rnd()
	done

	let s = s + a
next n

print abs(1010 - s / 5)
print abs(1000 - r)

A few notes (see the language guide for more):

Only arrays have to be defined before use.
The LET keyword is required.
Like in Tiny Basic, only numeric variables are supported.

One unique quirk is that control structures of the same kind can't be nested. To help with that, there's an alternate FOR loop syntax. See the quick reference for more information.

Performance

Note: these results apply to version 2.3 beta, prior to the addition of arrays.

An informal comparison using the Creative Computing Benchmark suggests that:

When compiled without optimizations, Batch Basic 2 somewhat outperforms Python 2.7;
when compiled with optimizations, Batch Basic 2 slightly outperforms X11-Basic in "slow" mode;
with or without optimizations, Batch Basic 2 handily outperforms Python 3.

Further attempts using the Rugg/Feldman benchmarks suggest that Batch Basic 2 is faster than Tcl for pure arithmetic, but slower when it comes to array access.

Keep in mind, these are quick, simple tests involving a simpler language.

To do

more documentation and examples
browser-based port
error handling
SWAP statement