SmallBasic Open Edition

[KristianVirtanen]

Hi JR,

Like probably everyone else here on the forum, I truly appreciate the work that has been put into SB-Prime.

I remember when I explored it first time out of curiosity, it was easy to see the level of effort and enthusiasm involved. SB-Prime is undoubtedly a valuable tool for anyone working with the original SmallBasic.

That being said, SmallBasic Open Edition has a different focus and goal.

The purpose of my project is to create a standalone, open-source converter that translates SmallBasic code directly to modern C# using .NET 8.0. This approach offers a few distinct advantages:

• Independence: It doesn’t rely on the original SmallBasic environment or its future development, providing more flexibility and long-term viability.
  
• Modern Framework: SBOE is built with the latest long-term support .NET 8.0 Framework. With the source code fully available, adapting and evolving it to fit future frameworks becomes much more straightforward.
  
• Reliability: While decompilation can be a helpful learning tool or useful for converting smaller applications, it’s not always reliable for exact reproduction of the original source code—especially for larger, more complex projects. My project aims to provide a cleaner, more dependable solution.
  
• Internal Development Flexibility: The original SmallBasic was designed to follow certain rules, and even though those could theoretically be modified at the source level, doing so would be a huge task at this point.
  

While both projects use C#, they serve different purposes and cater to different needs within the community.

Personally, I think SmallBasic is in a situation somewhat like QBasic was about 20 years ago with its DOS dependency. It’s time for an upgrade to more modern frameworks.

Regardless of whether my translator becomes widely used, I believe any work that helps keep this nice and comfortable language alive is a positive contribution.

- Kristian