HitBasic

High level BASIC dialect emulates Visual Basic features transpiled to MSX-BASIC

How to execute HitBasic

Install Python 3.8.x and pip, the package installer for Python, then execute the following command:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

You might want to install virtualenv and do it inside a controlled environment to avoid messing with your system:

virtualenv venv -p python3
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

To execute the test routine, execute the unittest module on the root directory:

python3 -m unittest

Usage

Executing HitBasic without parameters returns the following help message:

$ ./hb
usage: hb [-h] (-t | --version | -c .ASC infile [.ASC infile ...] | -s) [-o outfile] [-p] [-d] [-g] [-b n] [-i n] [-n] [-l n] [-k]

HitBasic transpiles high level Visual Basic like language into MSX-BASIC.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t, --tests           run collection of tests
  --version             display version and finishes
  -c .ASC infile [.ASC infile ...]
                        compile source from infile(s)
  -s, --stdin           transpile to MSX-BASIC program from standard input

override default configuration:
  -o outfile, --output outfile
                        write into outfile (default: out.asc)
  -p, --pretty-print    generate code in pretty-print version (default)
  -d, --debug           raise exception all the way up if it happens (for debugging)
  -g, --graphviz        generate Graphviz files program_parse_tree.dot and program_parser_model.dot
  -b n, --begin n       begin line number at n (default: 10)
  -i n, --increment n   set line number increments by n (default: 10)
  -n, --no-decl         no need to declare scalar variables with Dim before using them
  -l n, --line-size n   maximum line size (default: 254)
  -k, --tokenize        generate tokenized MSX-BASIC output

For bug report, suggestions, praises or complains, please go to: <https://github.com/pvmm/hitbasic>.

$ █ 

The transpiler reads standard input with the -s parameter or it can read .ASC (ASCII source code) files with the -c parameter and generate code in "pretty-print" format and debug information with the -d parameter.

$ ./hb -s
for i 1 to 20
print i
next i
* NoMatch error: Expected '(' or '=' at position (1, 7) => 'for i *1 to 20 pr'.

The docs directory contains specifications of what constitutes a valid HitBasic program.