<s>
thinBasic	B-Language
is	O
a	O
BASIC-like	O
computer	B-General_Concept
programming	I-General_Concept
language	O
interpreter	B-Application
with	O
a	O
central	O
core	O
engine	O
architecture	O
surrounded	O
by	O
many	O
specialized	O
modules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
originally	O
designed	O
mainly	O
for	B-Language
computer	O
automation	O
,	O
thanks	O
to	O
its	O
modular	O
structure	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
for	B-Language
wide	O
range	O
of	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
,	O
unlike	O
traditional	O
BASICs	O
,	O
as	O
known	O
from	O
the	O
8-bit	O
era	O
,	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
does	O
differ	O
in	O
few	O
important	O
points	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	B-Language
example	O
,	O
it	O
requires	O
the	O
programmer	O
to	O
declare	O
variables	O
and	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
feature	O
the	O
infamous	O
GOTO	O
and	O
GOSUB	O
statements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
aspects	O
of	O
the	O
syntax	O
are	O
even	O
inspired	O
in	O
non-BASIC	O
languages	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
C/C	O
++	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thanks	O
to	O
this	O
,	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
optionally	O
allows	O
use	O
of	O
implicit	O
line	O
continuation	O
,	O
simplified	O
addition	O
,	O
subtraction	O
,	O
multiplication	O
and	O
division	O
operators	O
,	O
shortened	O
variable	O
declaration	O
and	O
initialization	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
source	O
of	O
inspiration	O
are	O
the	O
modern	O
versions	O
of	O
BASIC	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
or	O
PowerBASIC	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
does	O
offer	O
the	O
main	O
flow	O
control	O
statements	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
SELECT	O
CASE	O
,	O
IF	O
...	O
THEN/ELSEIF/ELSE/END	O
IF	O
,	O
loops	O
(	O
infinite	B-Algorithm
,	O
conditional	O
,	O
FOR	B-Language
,	O
WHILE/WEND	O
,	O
DO/LOOP	O
WHILE	O
...	O
,	O
DO/LOOP	O
UNTIL	O
...	O
)	O
and	O
it	O
also	O
puts	O
very	O
strong	O
effort	O
on	O
providing	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
built-in	O
functions	O
for	B-Language
number	O
crunching	O
and	O
especially	O
string	O
handling	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
supports	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
numeric	O
and	O
string	O
data	O
types	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
special	O
features	O
related	O
to	O
user-defined	O
types	O
in	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
are	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
supports	O
arrays	O
of	O
up	O
to	O
three	O
dimensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Besides	O
the	O
Core	O
module	O
,	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
offers	O
other	O
modules	O
,	O
each	O
covering	O
a	O
specific	O
area	O
of	O
functionality	O
,	O
for	B-Language
example	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
allows	O
the	O
module	O
to	O
contain	O
not	O
just	O
typical	O
functions	O
and	O
procedures	O
,	O
but	O
also	O
for	B-Language
example	O
constants	O
and	O
user-defined	O
types	O
definitions	O
,	O
immediately	O
available	O
for	B-Language
script	O
without	O
need	O
for	B-Language
header	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
only	O
thing	O
needed	O
is	O
to	O
explicitly	O
mention	O
the	O
usage	O
of	O
module	O
in	O
the	O
code	O
–	O
for	B-Language
file	O
handling	O
it	O
would	O
look	O
like	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
better	O
structure	O
the	O
code	O
,	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
provides	O
the	O
functions	O
and	O
procedures	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
represents	O
the	O
same	O
function	O
as	O
main( )	O
function	O
in	O
C	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
but	O
its	O
use	O
is	O
optional	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
supports	O
calling	O
functions	O
from	O
third-party	O
DLLs	O
;	O
programmer	O
needs	O
to	O
declare	O
them	O
first	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
access	O
the	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thanks	O
to	O
this	O
mechanism	O
,	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
allows	O
using	O
technologies	O
such	O
as	O
OpenGL	B-Application
,	O
OpenCL	B-Application
,	O
XML	B-Protocol
,	O
ODE	B-Application
and	O
many	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
does	O
not	O
support	O
any	O
form	O
of	O
project	O
files	O
at	O
the	O
moment	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
encourages	O
splitting	O
code	O
to	O
units	O
by	O
providing	O
multiple	O
file	O
extensions	O
for	B-Language
different	O
use	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
language	O
can	O
be	O
enhanced	O
by	O
module	O
development	O
using	O
SDK	B-Application
for	B-Language
many	O
languages	O
(	O
PowerBASIC	B-Language
,	O
FreeBASIC	B-Language
,	O
C	B-Language
,	O
MASM	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Various	O
articles	O
on	O
use	O
of	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
have	O
been	O
published	O
in	O
form	O
of	O
ThinBasic	B-Language
Journal	O
and	O
on	O
the	O
homepage	O
of	O
the	O
programming	O
language	O
as	O
well	O
(	O
please	O
see	O
external	O
links	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
comes	O
with	O
own	O
IDE	O
,	O
called	O
thinAir	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
default	O
installation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ThinBASIC	B-Language
was	O
designed	O
for	B-Language
the	O
Windows	B-Application
platform	O
and	O
this	O
is	O
why	O
it	O
makes	O
a	O
good	O
use	O
of	O
resources	O
provided	O
by	O
this	O
system	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
registry	B-Protocol
,	O
user	O
interface	O
,	O
work	O
with	O
processes	O
,	O
COM	B-Application
,	O
DLLs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
interpreted	O
,	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
is	O
considered	O
to	O
have	O
usually	O
fast	O
execution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Application
nature	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
hits	O
the	O
limits	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
possible	O
to	O
perform	O
optimizations	O
using	O
partial	O
JIT	O
compilation	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
strength	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
is	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
commands	O
covering	O
various	O
areas	O
of	O
interest	O
and	O
for	B-Language
BASIC	O
traditionally	O
-	O
strong	O
focus	O
on	O
string	O
handling	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fact	O
that	O
thinBASIC	B-Language
is	O
designed	O
for	B-Language
Windows	B-Application
only	O
can	O
be	O
seen	O
as	O
disadvantage	O
as	O
well	O
,	O
for	B-Language
those	O
who	O
seek	O
cross-platform	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
speed	O
of	O
execution	O
without	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
optimizations	O
is	O
lower	O
compared	O
to	O
output	O
of	O
compilers	B-Language
,	O
thanks	O
to	O
language	O
interpreter	B-Application
nature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
thinBASIC	B-Language
has	O
been	O
developed	O
under	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
XP	I-Application
Professional	O
using	O
PowerBASIC	B-Language
,	O
and	O
requires	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
version	O
5.50	O
or	O
above	O
.	O
</s>
