Before even thinking out writing any code for this a LOT of thinking needs to be done I think.
First would be some basic questions - principally WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE
1] Who is the target users, do you know what they want?
2] Will it be compatible with existing Small Basic, this is a biggie?
3] Understand fully what the existing compiler does and how Primitive and Arrays currently work - always know what there is and why it is like it is before inventing something new
4] Does this mean a new compiler or standard library, is this a compiler or transcriber to another language?
1] Simple to start but powerful (hard to be both), graduating - simple unintimidating UI - few keywords, but can quickly create interesting programs - good documentation and examples.
2] Show me any other language that can do the following - I believe there is zero chance of reliably transcribing existing SB programs to another language, you would always be chasing edge cases.
Code:
ball = Shapes.AddEllipse(50,50)
TextWindow.WriteLine(ball)
data = "Yes=1;No=0;"
data[ball] = "First"
data["Next"] = "Ellipse2"
ball = Shapes.AddEllipse(50,50)
Shapes.Move(data["Next"],100,100)
TextWindow.WriteLine(data)
No-one in their right mind would allow a programming language do what the code above can, as soon as you limit this it is not compatible. It is the weird flexibility (almost no syntax rules) that allows the code above and to allow that it requires it to be slow. But it is the lack of complex syntax rules that make it easy for total beginners. So WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE?