{"id":132550,"date":"2026-06-25T15:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/foss-dev-builds-a-basic-compiler-using-llvm\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T15:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:31:51","slug":"foss-dev-builds-a-basic-compiler-using-llvm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/foss-dev-builds-a-basic-compiler-using-llvm\/","title":{"rendered":"FOSS dev builds a BASIC compiler using LLVM"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Not simply any previous BASIC, both: OS-9\u2019s BASIC09<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Neither LLVM nor GCC immediately help the BASIC programming language \u2013 however a former Microware boffin proposes fixing that.<\/p>\n

An attention-grabbing new proposal on the Discourse discussion board of the LLVM compiler suite has changed into a brand new standalone BASIC compiler. The unique RFC<\/a> was Adding BASIC09 frontend tool to LLVM<\/a>. Creator Boisy Petre proposed including a front-end to allow LLVM to compile BASIC supply code, and this has now changed into a standalone compiler referred to as basic09c<\/a>, which makes use of LLVM as a library. We’re irresistibly reminded of the latest addition of ALGOL-68 to GCC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As we stated in 2023, BASIC is anything but dead<\/a>, and, for BASIC\u2019s sixtieth birthday, the next 12 months we lined new versions of three modern FOSS dialects<\/a>. The late Dr Thomas Kurtz<\/a> would have been proud.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not simply any previous home-computer BASIC, both. Dr Petre is engaged on a compiler for Microware BASIC09. This was one of many compilers that Microware supplied for its multitasking, multiuser Unix-like OS, referred to as OS-9. Means again in 1999, many customers of Apple\u2019s then-new MacOS 9<\/a> \u2013 usually simply referred to as \u201cOS 9\u201d \u2013 confused it with the already 20-year-old Microware OS-9, they usually pestered OS-9 newsgroups and communities with Mac questions and chatter. As The Register<\/em> reported again then, Microware even sued Apple over the trademark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BASIC09 is a structured<\/em> BASIC: it has named procedures with native variables, helps constructs akin to IF\u2026THEN\u2026ELSE<\/span>, user-defined variable varieties \u2013 and no, it didn’t want line numbers. The most effective reference we are able to discover to BASIC09 at present is its Wikipedia article<\/a>, however you may as well read the manual<\/a> [PDF].<\/p>\n

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A Tandy Coloration Pc 2 sits on a desk at a retro computing occasion in Orlando, Florida, alongside cables and different gear.<\/figcaption>
Pic credit score: Dolores M. Harvey\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Microware<\/a> continues to be round and nonetheless helps OS-9, which is marketed as an RTOS as of late. Dwelling microcomputer customers, although, might need recognized OS-9: it was an non-obligatory OS for the British Dragon 32 micro<\/a> and was on the record for the first British laptop<\/a> too. For Stateside readers, the Dragon 32 was a relative of the American Tandy Color Computer<\/a>, which had the identical Motorola 6809 CPU and could also run OS-9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other than its technical deserves, there are different good causes he selected this explicit BASIC: Though Boisy Gene Petre became <\/a>Dr<\/a><\/em> Petre last year<\/a>, he has been within the trade for fairly some time. He labored at Microware early in his profession, and even quarter of a century in the past he was writing articles about the Tandy CoCo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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