<s>
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
is	O
a	O
dialect	O
of	O
the	O
BASIC	O
programming	O
language	O
,	O
by	O
Frank	O
Ostrowski	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Frank	O
Ostrowski	O
at	O
"	O
GFA	O
Systemtechnik	O
GmbH	O
"	O
(	O
later	O
"	O
GFA	O
Software	O
"	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
German	O
company	O
in	O
Kiel	O
and	O
Düsseldorf	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
proprietary	O
version	O
of	O
his	O
free	O
BASIC	O
implementation	O
,	O
Turbo-Basic	B-Language
XL	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
version	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
1986	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
mid	O
and	O
late	O
1980s	O
it	O
became	O
very	O
popular	O
for	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
home	O
computer	O
range	O
,	O
since	O
the	O
Atari	B-Language
ST	I-Language
BASIC	I-Language
shipped	O
with	O
them	O
was	O
more	O
primitive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
,	O
ports	O
for	O
the	O
Commodore	B-Device
Amiga	I-Device
,	O
DOS	B-Device
and	O
Windows	B-Application
were	O
marketed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
2.0	O
was	O
the	O
most	O
popular	O
release	O
of	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
as	O
it	O
offered	O
then	O
many	O
more	O
advanced	O
features	O
compared	O
to	O
alternatives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
3.0	O
included	O
further	O
improvements	O
like	O
support	O
for	O
user-defined	O
structures	O
and	O
other	O
agglomerated	O
data	O
types	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Around	O
2002	O
GFA	O
software	O
ceased	O
all	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
activities	O
and	O
shut	O
down	O
the	O
mailinglist	O
and	O
website	O
in	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
missing	O
official	O
support	O
and	O
availability	O
of	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
the	O
user	O
community	O
took	O
over	O
the	O
support	O
and	O
an	O
installed	O
an	O
own	O
communication	O
infrastructure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
version	O
2.0	O
,	O
the	O
most	O
popular	O
release	O
,	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
was	O
a	O
very	O
modern	O
programming	O
language	O
for	O
its	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
greatly	O
simplify	O
maintenance	O
of	O
long	O
listings	O
,	O
the	O
IDE	O
later	O
even	O
allowed	O
for	O
code	B-Application
folding	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
had	O
a	O
reasonable	O
range	O
of	O
structured	B-Language
programming	I-Language
commands	O
—	O
procedures	O
with	O
local	O
variables	O
and	O
parameter	O
passing	O
by	O
value	O
or	O
reference	O
,	O
loop	O
constructs	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Modularization	O
was	O
only	O
rudimentary	O
,	O
making	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
2.0	O
best	O
suited	O
for	O
small	O
and	O
medium-sized	O
projects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
interpreter	B-Language
is	O
compact	O
and	O
reasonably	O
fast	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
shipped	O
with	O
a	O
runtime	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
distributed	O
freely	O
with	O
one	O
's	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
compiler	B-Language
was	O
made	O
available	O
,	O
execution	O
speed	O
could	O
be	O
increased	O
by	O
approximately	O
a	O
factor	O
of	O
2	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
allowed	O
extreme	O
optimisations	O
for	O
execution	O
speed	O
,	O
supporting	O
some	O
direct	O
assembler-level	O
calls	O
,	O
and	O
even	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
embed	O
sections	O
of	O
assembler	O
code	O
directly	O
within	O
the	O
BASIC	O
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
integrated	O
neatly	O
into	O
GEM	B-Application
and	O
TOS	B-Application
,	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
's	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
providing	O
menus	O
,	O
dialog	O
boxes	O
,	O
and	O
mouse	O
control	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
See	O
WIMP	B-Application
interface	I-Application
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
was	O
usually	O
stored	O
in	O
a	O
tokenized	B-Application
version	O
to	O
save	O
room	O
on	O
disk	O
,	O
pieces	O
of	O
code	O
could	O
also	O
be	O
saved	O
in	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
form	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
such	O
made	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
set	O
up	O
reusable	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
tokenized	B-Application
source	O
files	O
were	O
a	O
benefit	O
in	O
other	O
ways	O
too	O
—	O
for	O
instance	O
,	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
allowed	O
users	O
to	O
include	O
binary	O
data	O
in	O
their	O
BASIC	O
code	O
via	O
an	O
"	O
INLINE	O
"	O
statement	O
,	O
and	O
could	O
even	O
be	O
integrated	O
with	O
the	O
GFA	O
Assembler	O
to	O
allow	O
users	O
to	O
develop	O
machine	O
code	O
programs	O
inside	O
INLINE	O
statements	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
accelerate	O
particular	O
areas	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
meant	O
that	O
the	O
BASIC	B-Language
interpreter	I-Language
(	O
and	O
later	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
)	O
did	O
n't	O
need	O
to	O
tokenise	O
a	O
program	O
when	O
it	O
was	O
loaded	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
a	O
significant	O
load-time	O
overhead	O
for	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
larger	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
programs	O
that	O
were	O
written	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
included	O
a	O
thorough	O
implementation	O
of	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
API	O
calls	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
product	O
had	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
technical	O
advantages	O
over	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
more	O
popular	O
products	O
(	O
the	O
combination	O
of	O
an	O
"	O
easy	O
"	O
language	O
with	O
robust	O
architecture	O
and	O
fast	O
,	O
compiled	B-Language
,	O
reliable	O
code	O
)	O
,	O
it	O
did	O
n't	O
achieve	O
great	O
success	O
in	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
professionals	O
who	O
did	O
n't	O
have	O
a	O
problem	O
with	O
BASIC	O
,	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
well-established	O
software	O
tool	O
vendors	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	O
and	O
Borland	O
were	O
actively	O
promoting	O
new	O
"	O
visual	O
"	O
programming	O
systems	O
such	O
as	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
allowed	O
users	O
to	O
create	O
windows	B-Application
and	O
dialog	O
boxes	O
populated	O
by	O
standard	O
components	O
(	O
text	O
,	O
buttons	O
,	O
frame	O
outlines	O
)	O
with	O
the	O
help	O
of	O
a	O
drag-and-drop	O
interface	O
and	O
object-oriented	O
editing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
advantages	O
of	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
for	O
Windows	B-Application
was	O
that	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
(	O
sold	O
separately	O
)	O
could	O
create	O
stand-alone	O
.exe	O
files	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
included	O
a	O
relatively	O
easy	O
option	O
for	O
creating	O
Dynamic	O
Link	O
Library	O
(	O
.DLL	O
)	O
files	O
for	O
Windows	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
allowed	O
a	O
user	O
to	O
write	O
and	O
test	O
routines	O
within	O
GFA	B-Device
Basic	I-Device
,	O
export	O
them	O
as	O
functions	O
to	O
a	O
Windows	B-Application
.DLL	O
file	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
access	O
those	O
pre-compiled	O
functions	O
from	O
within	O
other	O
tools	O
or	O
programs	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Visual	O
Basic	O
3.0	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
unable	O
to	O
produce	O
compiled	B-Language
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
feature	O
allowed	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
to	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
"	O
number-crunching	O
"	O
add-on	O
product	O
for	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
,	O
for	O
writing	O
high-speed	O
routines	O
for	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
database	O
sorting	O
or	O
media	O
signal	O
processing	O
that	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
impractical	O
under	O
the	O
then-current	O
version	O
of	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
at	O
least	O
,	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
did	O
not	O
have	O
the	O
same	O
brand	O
recognition	O
enjoyed	O
by	O
products	O
from	O
companies	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	O
and	O
Borland	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
for	O
Windows	B-Application
was	O
developed	O
further	O
to	O
include	O
support	O
for	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
's	O
components	O
,	O
their	O
use	O
under	O
GFA	O
was	O
more	O
technical	O
than	O
under	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Without	O
a	O
large	O
marketing	O
budget	O
,	O
or	O
a	O
clear	O
reason	O
why	O
journalists	O
should	O
write	O
about	O
it	O
,	O
GFA	B-Device
BASIC	I-Device
for	O
Windows	B-Application
remained	O
a	O
comparatively	O
obscure	O
product	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Éric	O
Chahi	O
wrote	O
a	O
game	O
editor	O
in	O
GFA	B-Device
basic	I-Device
to	O
create	O
his	O
game	O
Another	B-Application
World	I-Application
,	O
including	O
scene	O
design	O
and	O
game	O
scripting	O
;	O
only	O
the	O
game	O
engine	O
(	O
polygon	O
rendering	O
and	O
music	O
)	O
was	O
done	O
in	O
assembler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
editor	O
was	O
used	O
to	O
make	O
all	O
ports	O
of	O
the	O
game	O
,	O
including	O
for	O
consoles	O
and	O
the	O
Collector	O
Edition	O
for	O
Windows	B-Application
released	O
in	O
2006	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Karsten	O
Köper	O
of	O
Thalion	O
software	O
wrote	O
all	O
the	O
basic	O
game	O
editing	O
software	O
for	O
the	O
"	O
Amberstar	O
"	O
series	O
using	O
GFA	B-Device
Basic	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Dashboard	B-Application
of	I-Application
Sustainability	I-Application
is	O
coded	O
mostly	O
in	O
GFA	B-Device
Basic	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
source	O
is	O
about	O
500kB	O
,	O
plus	O
about	O
100kB	O
of	O
assembly	O
mainly	O
for	O
accessing	O
32-bit	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
functions	O
.	O
</s>
