futurebasic.org (http://www.futurebasic.org) is an organization dedicated
exclusively to supporting the users of FutureBASIC, the world’s fastest and
most-versatile Macintosh BASIC development environment, published by Staz
Software, Inc. (http://www.stazsoftware.com). The website is a one-stop
experience for information about FBII and FB^3. Much of the information is
provided for free to all visitors as a way to promote use of FutureBASIC.
The organization requests, however, a $20 US registration from frequent
users in order to maintain and improve the site. The first benefit of
membership is a CD containing this entire site, as of the date you joined –
plus support-list archives, and a ton of other stuff! The information
contained therein is of immense value to newbies and veteran programmers
alike.
There are four main top-level folders available via ftp on this site:
Programs, Sample_Source, FB^3, and AOL. The Programs folder contains a
multitude of fully functional applications written and contributed by FB
programmers. The Sample_Source folder contains snippets of sample source
code (and even full applications) describing a variety of techniques
related to Mac programming with FutureBASIC II. The FB^3 folder (new!) is
for source code relating to the recently released FutureBASIC^3. Finally,
the AOL folder contains archives of the old message boards from when Ariel
Publishing maintained a presence on AOL, including all of the source code
that was housed there.
You can use FutureBASIC to produce any kind of Macintosh code resource:
INITs, control panels, applications, WDEFs, CDEFs, pure code, and even
HyperCard XCMDs. FB supports a majority of the Mac toolbox, and as new
functions and features are released by Apple in new versions of System
software, it’s not hard to tell FB how to use these features. Staz
Software, Inc. also provides tons of sample code, including interfaces to
the serial ports, QuickTime movies, Balloon Help, and low level event
handling.
Surf on over to futurebasic.org and check out the many resources available
to programmers using the accessible yet highly versatile BASIC programming
language FutureBASIC!