The Howdy Glossary

QBasic is an integrated development environment (IDE) and interpreter designed for a variant of the BASIC programming language, included with MS-DOS during the 1990s and early 2000s. Its editor provides features such as syntax checking and code completion, making it user-friendly and ideal for educational purposes. QBasic was developed by Microsoft’s software engineers as part of the QuickBASIC development environment to help beginners learn fundamental programming concepts like variables, loops, conditional statements, subroutines, arrays, and error handling.

During its prime in the 1990s and early 2000s, QBasic faced competition from other programming environments like Turbo Pascal by Borland International, Visual Basic by Microsoft, and Logo. Each competitor offered unique approaches to programming education: Turbo Pascal was known for its speed in handling complex applications; Visual Basic provided a visual programming approach with a drag-and-drop interface; Logo emphasized problem-solving through interactive turtle graphics. These platforms competed with QBasic by offering various introductory tools for learning programming but differed in their target audiences and specific features.

QBasic's simplicity made it particularly effective for introducing beginners to coding within an accessible IDE featuring syntax checking and code completion. This ease of use allowed novice programmers to grasp fundamental concepts efficiently while benefiting from the structured learning environment provided by QBasic. Although experienced programmers might find it too basic for advanced needs, teachers frequently used QBasic as a classroom tool due to its educational focus. As part of Microsoft's QuickBASIC within MS-DOS, it enjoyed familiarity that enhanced its status as an introductory platform in programming education.