Liberty Forge

Where Windows programs are hammered into
shape on the Liberty BASIC anvil

Showroom review for Oct. 3, 2004

Liberty BASIC

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't include a few thoughts about Liberty BASIC itself.

Liberty BASIC is by far the absolute, easiest, Windows programming language available.
I have been using Liberty BASIC since version 1.2 or so.   I downloaded LB, because it was a free trial version.   At the time, I only wanted to write some simple learning games, for my young children.   First to help them learn, second to give them a head start with computers.   I was both immediately impressed and completely hooked.

LB was in version 1.42 when I finally shelled out the few bucks it cost.   By Then I had written a few programs to help me at work, and a yaghtzee clone.   I wanted to distribute these to a few close friends.   I have found over the years, that LB has matured and grown more powerful with each new version.   Yet it remains as easy to use, as the day it was created.

Ziff Davis University and NRI Schools both use it for their introduction to programming courses.   Over the last couple of years, (since moving to 32 bit), LB's popularity has really risen.   I have learned never to say, "you can't do that with LB" because as soon as you do, someone figures out how to.   I think, sometimes, even Carl Gundel, (LB's author), is mildly surprised.

Here is a list of some of Liberty BASIC's advantages.

• The ease of the old BASIC, the power of modern languages.
• A windows interface, where one line of code will open a window.
• A user's group that is the friendliest and most helpful on the internet.
• Carl Gundel, the author of Liberty BASIC, participates in the user groups.
• The Windows API is easily accessed by Liberty BASIC.
• Most Visual BASIC Dlls are easily accessed by Liberty BASIC
• Several Dlls have been written exclusively for Liberty BASIC