Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
QBasic Gazette e-vol. 1 no. 4
=========================================
QBasic Gazette e-vol. 1, no. 4
=========================================
So here we are again at another exciting edition of the email volume of the QBasic Gazette. Now with about 200 subscribers and looking good. If you have some programming buddies that might like a little QBasic newsletter, then feel free to forward them an issue, point them to NeoZones, or whatever. =)
ListBot, which maintains this list, now has a 50k limit instead of 10k (good news), so if need be, I'll make larger issues with more stuff in them.
Enjoy the issue, and check below for addresses/urls to submit stuff/drop a line.
So don't forget, NeoZones is at http://neozones.quickbasic.com/, and my email is neozones@quickbasic.com.
Hope ya enjoy the issue,
-Tek & Contributors
=========================================
Contents
=========================================
* Article
Tragic shooting in Colorado, the computer connection
New regular feature: The Toaster
* Reviews
QBasic classics: Dimension Man
* Links in the Spotlight
ABC packets
* News & Announcements
March CodeX winners
April CodeX challenges
Qlympics main event coming SOON! Or is it? (2)
Tek's C Extravaganza!
* Info/Contacting/Submitting
=========================================
Articles
=========================================
* Tragic shooting in Colorado, the computer connection, by Tek
Most of us (particularly in western countries) have probably heard about the gruesome events that have taken place in Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado. Events such as these wouldn't warrant a mention in this gazette all by themselves, but it is being mentioned here because of the computer tie-in. Thru news reports and my own speculation, I've heard that the suspects in the shootings were used to playing the popular game DOOM (id software). Of course, computer games might be violent these days (like when I play half life and blow away a scientist at point blank range with a .357 magnum..), but are they to blame, even partially, for real-life events? Psychologists say that about 1 in 12 people have natural tendencies towards violence, and that the other 11 of those 12 people will likely not be affected by the violent depictions in games, computer, or other. As many of us coders do make games, that may be violent (or imply "violence", like blowing up a spaceship, or hey, maybe even Mario squishing a Goomba..), does that then place responsility or even blame, on our shoulders (or in this case, id software)? Please send in your responses to me at neozones@quickbasic.com. I will compile the results into a special topic of discussion forum on the NeoZones website, where people can share their opinions.
* New regular feature: The Toaster
The Toaster, is, Tek's little rant space. =) It's my newsletter after all. Heh. For this issue, I would like to talk about distributions of QBasic/QuickBasic games or programs people make. Often times these days, there seems to be a copy of qb.exe thrown in, so that the programmer can go to his game's directory and type in qb and it will run. This need not be the case. When you zip up the program, it can easily add 100k+ for the qb files (hint to people looking for qb45: try and find a large rpg or game in a files archive [like QCity], it might have qb.exe in it.. wink wink nudge nudge). So, I'll take this time to briefly go over things that will make your life a little easier.
First of all, you can put your copy of qb.exe (or QBasic 1.1: qbasic.exe) and it's related files (*.qlb, *.lib, etc.), into a single folder. Many people choose c:\qb45\ for their folder. Personally, mine is in c:\tek\programs\qb45\. Now, it may seem that you can only open qb.exe or qbasic.exe if you are in that folder. Well, one thing you can do is edit your autoexec.bat file. In the autoexec.bat file, there is probably a "SET PATH=c:\windows;c:\windows\command" type of setting (no quotes). Well, you can simply stick on the directory of your QBasic installation, so it would now look like this: "SET PATH=c:\windows;c:\windows\command;c:\qb45;" (with no quotes). Now, after this autoexec.bat is used (like on a restart, or running the autoexec.bat file [watch out for drivers reloading if you do it that way]), you can type "qb" (with no quotes) on any command prompt, and it will load QBasic/QuickBasic.
While we're on the topic, one more thing. If you are working on a project, and every time you go to your projects folder, you have to type in something like "qb myprog.bas /run /l mylib.qlb /cmd somethin" or whatever, you can make your own batch (.bat) file to do this. Simply open up your favourite text editor, type in the command(s) you want to be executed (things you commonly do, or do alot), and save it as something like go.bat or run.bat. Now, if you put that in a PATH folder, or your projects folder, you can simply type in "go" (with no quotes), and it will carry out all the actions in the batch file!
=========================================
Reviews
=========================================
* QBasic classics: Dimension Man
An oldy but goody game in the QBasic scene. This game, Dimension Man, was coded by The S.H. Softworx. In this game, you are the main character (Dimension Man), and you must travel around to collect the pieces to remake your time machine. The gameplay is fun (perhaps slightly antiquated in game features), addicting, and the options can be configured for different speeds. I say that this game is a fun one. Dimension Man can be found in NeoZones' QCity archive, or a direct link may work, if I type it correctly. =)
http://neozones.quickbasic.com/basfiles/dman.zip
=========================================
Links in the Spotlight
=========================================
* ABC packets
Looking for BASIC source examples across various dialects of BASIC and different platforms? Look no farther than the well established and excellent ABC packets. Covering QBasic, PowerBasic, Liberty Basic, and everything else I can think of, to do various things concerning math (algorithms), date/time, files, input/output, games, applications, and more! The packets even have their own reader which makes it super easy to do things. To get the packets and reader, etc, hop on over to the following URL.
http://www.basicguru.com/abc/
=========================================
News & Announcements
=========================================
* March CodeX winners
For the March CodeX challenges winners (AI program), we had three programs selected, with varying levels of quality (well, the 3rd place program insults you alot, but hey.. =) Check it out on NeoZones
* April CodeX challenges
Currently going on are the April CodeX challenges, be sure to check it out, the current challenge is to make the best HTML (IE, Netscape) interpreter you can. Even if yours "sucks" turn it in and see how well you did. (See NeoZones for the challenge)
* Qlympics main event coming SOON! Or is it? (2)
Many of us are [still] anxiously awaiting the results of the Qlympics, but we need to realize just how popular that Qlympics has gotten. SonicBlue has TONS of files to sort thru, not to mention try and update his site as best he can. I say we cut Sonic some slack and let patience prevail. Good luck Sonic!
* Tek's C Extravaganza!
The sister-site to NeoZones, C Central, was slightly revamped (and renamed to Tek's C Extravaganza) this last week, to now be easier to navigate, and not offer the same boring content that everyone else has. Currently the site has 15 tutorials (for the beginner), with more being written all the time, by me, and others are starting to contribute. So, if you are just now getting into C, or want to see some examples of how things or done, or post a question/announcement on the forum.
=========================================
Info/Contacting/Submitting
=========================================
Submit an article for publication in the 'gaz, there is a handy submitter on the bottom of the QBasic Gazette page. Visit NeoZones (link at bottom) to get there. Suggestions/complaints/whatever can also be submitted there.
For regular email, send it to me, Tek, at neozones@quickbasic.com.
--
Tek & Contributors
neozones@quickbasic.com
http://neozones.quickbasic.com/
