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Xbasic: 1980s era BASIC, compiler to x86-64, complete with test suite

12 days ago
https://github.com/jgarzik/xbasic64
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  • #x86-64
  • #compiler
  • #BASIC
  • xbasic64 compiles 1980s-era BASIC dialects (Tandy Color BASIC, GW-BASIC, QuickBASIC) directly to native x86-64 executables.
  • Supports classic BASIC syntax with line numbers or structured code.
  • Includes numeric types (Integer, Long, Single, Double) and string handling functions (LEFT$, MID$, etc.).
  • Features control flow structures like IF/THEN/ELSE, FOR/NEXT, WHILE/WEND, DO/LOOP, and SELECT CASE.
  • Supports procedures (SUB and FUNCTION) with recursion and file I/O operations.
  • Compiles using a three-stage pipeline: Source → Lexer → Parser → Code Generator → Assembly → Executable.
  • Uses a runtime library for I/O, string operations, and math functions in x86-64 assembly.
  • Key design choices include no intermediate representation (IR), System V AMD64 ABI, and GW-BASIC type semantics.
  • Requires Rust toolchain, system assembler (as), and system C compiler/linker (cc) with libc.
  • Compatible with macOS (x86-64, ARM64 via Rosetta) and Linux (x86-64).
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