QB64.org Forum
Active Forums => QB64 Discussion => Topic started by: EricE on March 31, 2020, 09:47:41 am
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Many books were published about QBasic and QuickBasic.
Most of them are no longer in print.
But if a person is going to get books that are useful for programming in QB64, which ones would people here recommend?
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I'm not a religious man, but hands down, this 940 page "Bible" is hard to beat:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556152620 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556152620)
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Beat me to it, same book I was going to suggest. My copy is always within arms length when I'm programming.
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Great minds think alike, eh?
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Yep, yep :-)
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Here is the "Russian" QBasic book (in English).
The Revolutionary Guide to Qbasic
https://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Guide-Qbasic-Victor-Munerman/dp/1874416206/ (https://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Guide-Qbasic-Victor-Munerman/dp/1874416206/)
by Victor Munerman (Author), Evgeny Yemelchenkov (Author), Tatyana Samoylova (Author), Vladimir Dyakonov (Editor)
Published in 1996 by Wrox Press.
This 577 page book has a lot of technical details and chapters on Graphics (both 2D and 3D), sound, programming a user interface and more.
The inside of the front cover says "Let QBasic Blow Your Mind"
The book came with a floppy disk, but it is hard to find a used copy now that still has it.
EDIT to add:
One customer reviewer at Amazon had this to say about this book.
"The Revolutionary Guide to Qbasic is by far the best book out there for programming games in basic."
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I still use "Using QBasic" by Feldman & Rugg (Que publication) from 1991
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I found some time ago a Qbasic Reference Book, but it is only a paper version of the help into the QB program. SO it has so poor code.
I have used it zero time. No more Qbasic book I have found, but so much tutorials in Qbasic and QB sites!
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Hello JohnUKresults.
Let me welcome you to the forum.
I have found on eBay the book that you mentioned, "Using QBasic, by Feldman & Rugg", and ordered it.
Hopefully it won't take long to arrive.
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I have just found what must be The List of all lists of QBooks!
The Ultimate List of QBooks
https://www.garybeene.com/qbasic/qb-books.htm (https://www.garybeene.com/qbasic/qb-books.htm)
There are more than I thought there would be!
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Thanks BSpinoza you have shared valuable books on QB!
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I just posted a free book under a new topic, MS quickbasic for scientists. Happy to send it to somebody.
John
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Also found in my "pile under the shelves" is "QBasic - the language of MS-DOS" by Mike James (1992) I/O Press.
Anyone want this?
Not a big book (<250 pages) so shouldn't cost too much for postage in the UK. Not sure about sending overseas though.
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I'm not a religious man, but hands down, this 940 page "Bible" is hard to beat:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556152620 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556152620)
Hi
I have a slightly earlier Microsoft book - "Microsoft QuickBasic Compiler for DOS Systems 4.5" (1988 reprinted in 1991) which also came with 2 3.5" floppy disks!!
That one stays under the shelves as I find the Que book easier to work with - just used to come out when I needed some reference material.
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Something that might help in choosing books on this subject; there is a prolific writer named Greg Perry who has written countless computer books. He is handicapped and only has two thumbs, no fingers. I make no judgements. I merely wish to point out that a lot of his books tend to include entire copied groups of chapters or sections from previous books. So, find the title with the most pages written by Greg Perry on the subject and you'll have everything he knows about it. In the case of QBasic, that would be either
https://www.amazon.com/Qbasic-Programming-101-Greg-Perry/dp/0672302810/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=greg+perry+qbasic&qid=1586202879&sr=8-2 (https://www.amazon.com/Qbasic-Programming-101-Greg-Perry/dp/0672302810/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=greg+perry+qbasic&qid=1586202879&sr=8-2)
or
https://www.amazon.com/QBASIC-Example-Programming-Perry-1994-03-01/dp/B01A68B99G/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=greg+perry+qbasic&qid=1586202879&sr=8-4 (https://www.amazon.com/QBASIC-Example-Programming-Perry-1994-03-01/dp/B01A68B99G/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=greg+perry+qbasic&qid=1586202879&sr=8-4)
in that order.
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I find this online as PDF
http://ethanwiner.com/BTU_BOOK.PDF (http://ethanwiner.com/BTU_BOOK.PDF)
Ethan Winer's best-selling book PC Magazine BASIC Techniques and Utilities is now out of print, but it's available below for downloading. One file is the entire book in PDF format, beautifully re-created in 2019 by Ariella Baston.
from http://ethanwiner.com/fullmoon.html (http://ethanwiner.com/fullmoon.html)
and this online library to sign in if interested https://archive.org/search.php?query=Qbasic (https://archive.org/search.php?query=Qbasic)
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Quickbasic (https://archive.org/search.php?query=Quickbasic)
and here
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/QBasic (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/QBasic)
good reading!
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Ethan Winer's book is a definite must-have!
Youtube has an audio interview with him and Bob Zale.
Ethan Winer and Bob Zale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EsxLrP1Q8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6EsxLrP1Q8)
Greg Perry has written a whole library of books on diverse topics!
“I’VE WRITTEN MORE BOOKS THAN MOST PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS HAVE READ”
https://rightnerve.com/ive-written-books-public-school-teachers-read-greg-perry/ (https://rightnerve.com/ive-written-books-public-school-teachers-read-greg-perry/)
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Greg Perry has written a whole library of books on diverse topics!
Indeed. Greg Perry is one of my heroes! As a technical writer and occasional fiction novelist, I have often had a picture of him typing on his laptop on my computer desktop to remind me that he offers no excuses for his handicap to remind me to ask myself what my excuses are for not writing.
The man has literally written a entire wall of books. He was also featured on the Showtime series "Penn & Teller: Bullsh*t" (season 5, episode 7) where he insists that the Americans with Disabilities Act goes too far in dictating how businesses must accommodate the handicapped. In fact he wrote a book on the subject (no surprise there) entitled "Disabling America: The Unintended Consequences of the Government's Protection of the Handicapped":
https://www.amazon.com/Disabling-America-Consequences-Governments-Handicapped/dp/0785262253/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Disabling+America%3A+The+Unintended+Consequences+of+the+Government%27s+Protection+of+the+Handicapped&qid=1586282084&sr=8-1http:// (https://www.amazon.com/Disabling-America-Consequences-Governments-Handicapped/dp/0785262253/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Disabling+America%3A+The+Unintended+Consequences+of+the+Government%27s+Protection+of+the+Handicapped&qid=1586282084&sr=8-1http://)
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Just minutes ago one of Greg Perry's books arrived in the mail.
"QBasic by Example, Special Edition", a book of about 620 pages.
It will be interesting to read his presentation of QBasic.
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"QBasic by Example, Special Edition", a book of about 620 pages.
An excellent book. It ties for first place with "Microsoft QuickBasic Bible" in my estimation. They compliment each other very well. In fact, "QBasic by Example" has a dedicated chapter on variable scope while you have to dig into the index in "Microsoft QuickBasic Bible" to find "scope" under "Variables" which references three separate locations. It's mentioned almost in passing in various sections of the book. So, between these two, you've got a solid reference library.
If you need to level down to newbie status, Greg Perry also wrote "Crash Course in QBasic". It's 272 pages, starts at square one with starting the program, covers all the major functions (except integration of other languages of course), and then ends with a chapter on debugging.
:@)