BASIC Programming/Beginning BASIC/Your First Program

Introduction

Many texts written about programming languages show you a sample program at the beginning of the lesson to help get your feet wet. That is, to become familiar with the syntax and layout of that language. This book is no exception. This sample program will display the text "Hello, world!" to your screen.

Program Examples

Example One (FreeBASIC)

10 Cls
20 Print "Hello, world!"
30 Sleep
40 End

Explanation

1. Cls stands for 'Clear Screen' and erases everything in the Command Prompt.
2. Print displays everything in between the quotations.
3. Sleep makes the program wait until the user presses Enter (Return).
4. End marks the end of the program (explained later in functions.)

External Links

Wikipedia's article on Hello World