In the old days, you either swore by BASIC or you swore at it — but just about everybody got their start on the educational language. Nowadays, the kids are learning Python, but there’s a case to be made for BASIC — either for education, or just for nostalgic fun. BASIC-256 fills that niche, and now that it’s being ported to the oh-so-portable QT6 by [UglyMike], there’s even a webAssembly version that will let you run BASIC in your browser.

This version of BASIC is based on KidBASIC, which was aimed at the educational market. It’s got some handy-dandy graphics routines, 64-bit variables, and other quality-of-life features you can find in the docs. The new port is multi-platform, though the MacOS version has only been compiled for Apple Silicon — less of an issue than it used to be — and the web version naturally can’t get access to hardware for, e.g., serial ports, so it is somewhat more limited than a full install. There’s a second ARM build for Raspberry Pi along with the ubiquitous x86, but the project is open source, so if you really want to run this on an UltraSPARC system, you are welcome to compile it there. That said, this is a beta version, and the dev is actively looking for problems — so give it a go and let them know.

This isn’t the only open source BASIC out there — even Microsoft released their source code, at least for the 6502.

Thanks to [UglyMike] for the tip!

One of the major strengths of the BASIC programming languages has always been their no-fuss setup and rich set of commands for operations that would take considerably more work in a bare-bones language like C. MoonBASIC continues this legacy with a BASIC variant optimized for both 2D and 3D game development.

Included in the package are Raylib, Box2D, and Jolt, whose functionality is exposed via over 4,200 commands in their respective namespaces. You can also download a whole IDE package based around VS Code, use it on the command line, or add it to an existing VS Code installation.

A quick glance at the ‘getting started‘ guide gives a pretty good idea of what to expect of MoonBASIC, including a range of custom language additions and support for PBR materials, dynamic lighting, and other modern game engine features.

Whether writing a game in BASIC was on your bingo card for this year or not, it might be worth taking a look to see whether it’s your jam. After all, if BASIC was good enough for both AI and game development in the 1980s, surely it can be used for complex games in 2026.

Apple and Broadcom extended their chip partnership through 2031 as AI hardware demand raises pressure on suppliers, pricing, and device costs.

The post Apple Extends Broadcom Deal Through 2031: What It Means for AI appeared first on TechRepublic.

Apple and Broadcom extended their chip partnership through 2031 as AI hardware demand raises pressure on suppliers, pricing, and device costs.

The post Apple Extends Broadcom Deal Through 2031: What It Means for AI appeared first on TechRepublic.