Just BASIC

Being amongst the first programming languages ever created, BASIC has its focus on ease of use and is still suitable to create applications and games. What's more, modern programs such as Just BASIC are equipped with features that enhance the whole experience, with syntax highlighting, builders, debuggers and more.

At a first look, everything seems in its place, with the majority of space representing the text input area, while the upper toolbar holds all editing options and other functions you can trigger. What's missing though, is a line numbering feature, which cuts off a great deal of practicality because it makes it difficult to track your code.

Input is pretty much done like in every other programming language or text editor. You need some degree of knowledge so that your lines of code can be bundled up in a fully-functional application. Luckily, there are several examples you can load and practice on, and with the help of an integrated syntax highlighter you can easily identify functions and variables.

If you decide to use the application for projects you already started, these can be inserted or loaded directly, given that they are found under the BAS format. Plain TXT files are also amongst the supported formats and can be imported in any project. The same goes for saving or exporting your work.

Since you get to work with a lot of text, sooner or later you might want to quickly find bits of code or specific words. This is possible with the search tool, which is also equipped with options to replace all matching entries with custom input.

When finished, the application is capable of piling up your lines of code in a TKN file, which is BASIC's way of creating executables. There's also a “Run” command to test out the project before deployment. For more issue tracking, you can use the built-in debugger to see whether or not you made any mistakes, but this is a little difficult because of the lack of line numbering.

Just BASIC is exactly what the name suggests. In other words, it provides a simple and efficient environment in which to develop BASIC applications and games. It's not the best out there, that's for sure, with several missing functions and a poor set of features, but it can be equipped with quick access links to external utilities, tipping the scales a bit in its favor.