Introdução ao smalbasic

Microsoft Small Basic
An introduction to Programming

Chapter 1

An Introduction
Small Basic and Programming
Computer Programming is defined as the process of creating computer software using programming languages. Just like we speak and understand English or Spanish or French, computers can understand programs written in certain languages. These are called programming languages. In the beginning there were just a few programming languages and they were really easy to learn and comprehend. But as computers and software became more and more sophisticated, programming languages evolved fast, gathering more complex concepts along the way. As a result most modern programming languages and their concepts are pretty challenging to grasp by a beginner. This fact has started discouraging people from learning or attempting computer programming. Small Basic is a programming language that is designed to make programming extremely easy, approachable and fun for beginners. Small Basic’s intention is to bring down the barrier and serve as a stepping stone to the amazing world of computer programming.

The Small Basic Environment
Let us start with a quick introduction to the Small Basic Environment. When you first launch SmallBasic, you will see a window that looks like the following figure.

Figure 1 - The Small Basic Environment

This is the Small Basic Environment, where we’ll write and run our Small Basic programs. This environment has several distinct elements which are identified by numbers. The Editor, identified by [1] is where we will write our Small Basic programs. When you open a sample program or a previously saved program, it will show up on this editor. You can then modify it and save if for later use. You can also open and work with more than one program at one time. Each program you are working with will be displayed in a separate editor. The editor that contains the program you are currently working with is called the active editor. The Toolbar,