Programming In BASIC?

[JonnyMac]

I get the idea that more people would hack the HC-8+ if they could program in BASIC. Is this the case?

There is another BASIC for the Propeller that is starting to get some traction; it's called xBasic.

* http://www.microcsource.com/xbasic/help.htm

The IDE is clean and cross-platform. The language compiles to bytecodes for a virtual machine (VM), hence the speed is about the same as Spin. The syntax, however, looks more like non-object-oriented Visual Basic. Doing multi-processor coding is xBasic is possible, but not as easy as in Spin (in my opinion). Still, many just love BASIC.

I'm watching the progress of xBasic and will create some demos for the HC-8+ as time permits. Our only goal here is to let our customers (friends) do what they want with the Propeller chip that we build into products.

[bsnut]

Another good find Jon and a other program to download.

The name of the person who created this cool program David Betz also posts in the Parallax forums as well, but I didn't know (didn't check the forums) that he was working on a program that could program the Propeller (HC-8 brains). It almost looks like the old school Basic or the beginnings of C language.

[bsnut]

Jon,

I just got around to downloading xBasic IDE and was wondering if you did and any demos for the HC-8? I will test the demo code that is provided with IDE with the HC-8 and my new gift to myself a Propeller Quick Start board that you suggested for me to get (not from Radio Shack). 

[JonnyMac]

Not yet -- we've been REALLY BUSY. I just had a conversation with the developer and he's not going to do too much with it short term. Perhaps I made this suggestion too soon. Honestly, it's slower than Spin and doesn't allow multi-core apps as easily as Spin.

While xBasic is fun to play with, I wouldn't use it [yet] for any serious projects. Spin has all the tools one needs and is the easiest way for you to do multi-core projects.