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Chipmunk Basic

Old Basic Info Page
(language and resources)

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 Ron Nicholson

 

 

 

Chipmunk Basic

Chipmunk Basic is an interpreter for the BASIC Programming Language. It runs on multiple OS platforms, and is reasonably fast for a pure interpreter. Chipmunk Basic presents a traditional (vintage) terminal-command-line programming environment, and supports a simple, old-fashioned, and easy-to-learn dialect of the Basic Programming Language. (Line numbers are required when using the built-in command-line console, but are not required in Basic programs written using an external text editor.) The language also supports a few advanced extensions. Free for educational and personal use.

Articles

Downloads

  • Chipmunk Basic for macOS
      (Version 1.368.2202, 2020Nov, for macOS 12.x and Apple Silicon M1/M2 Macs)

  • [NEW] Beta Release of Chipmunk Basic [NEW]
      (Version 1.368.2210, 2022Nov11, tested with macOS 13 Ventura and on M1 Macs, as well as on older x86-64 Macs)
      Please send bug reports.

  • Earlier release of Chipmunk Basic
      (Version 1.368.2118, 2019Aug31) 64-bit only. Tested on macOS 10.13 thru 11.x. Notarized.
  • Even older Chipmunk Basic for Mac OS X - (Version 1.367.2627, 2016Apr01)
    This is release is for Mac OS X 10.9 thru 10.12.x . It was re-written to support Cocoa for OSX 10.9 and later, thus many Mac specific features from older Carbon and PowerPC versions will be missing or broken.
      (Includes a stand-alone application and a Terminal command-line binary.)
  • Very old version Chipmunk Basic v3.6.5b3 for Mac OS X 10.6 Intel and 10.5 PPC (Universal/Carbon/32bit-Intel/PowerPC)
  • Older version Chipmunk Basic 3.6.3(b7) for Mac OS 9 Classic
  • Really Old version 3.5.7 for 68000 Mac OS 7 (binhex Stuffit archive)

  • Chipmunk Basic for Raspberry Pi - (version 3.6.8b116 beta, text terminal only, 2019-Aug-03)
  • Older Chipmunk Basic for Raspberry Pi - (version 3.6.7b6 includes X11 support)
      (armv6l command-line executable + man page, tar.gz file)
  • Chipmunk Basic for Linux/x86-64 - (version 3.6.7b5 beta)
      (x86-64 executables + man page, no source, command-line-only port, some limited X11 graphics, includes support matrix ops, fft's, file i/o, an sdbm database, sockets, pipes, fork, etc. Has even been used for web cgi. )
  • Chipmunk Basic for MS Windows2000/XP - (version 3.6.5b6)
      (Includes a stand-alone application and a Console cmd utility. User reports are that this version also works under 64-bit Windows 8.)
Disclaimer: These versions of Chipmunk Basic are distributed in the hope that they might be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND; not even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS for ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. (There will be bugs!)

Documentation

The Basic Programming Language

General Information

BASIC (an acronym for "Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code") is the name of a family of related high-level programming languages, developed circa 1963 at Dartmouth College, to provide an accessible and easy-to-learn environment for non-science students to understand and use computers. In the early 1980's, the Basic programming language was built-in to the vast majority of all personal computers sold.

  • Lots more Information on Basic Programming - including:
    • History of the Basic Programming Language
    • Basic Programming Language Stardards
    • Source code for some old Basic programs
    • Source code for many Basic interpreters and compilers
    • A list of some Basic programming environments

  • Wikipedia page on the Basic Programming Language
  • Wikipedia page on the Tiny-Basic, including many links to source code.

Ron Nicholson