Small Basic v0.3 is out

Small Basic, ( which I had reviewed here and here )  has been updated to v0.3 now with some new features and bug fixes. Small Basic is aimed to teach programming to beginners and has a very simple feature set and user friendly interface. A great tool to get kids as well as beginners alike to programming without making them nervous with over whelming interfaces and features. Here is the list of changes in v0.3:

1. Publish and Import

   Remember how you had to copy and paste your program to share it with friends or to post your sample on the forums?  Well, you don’t have to anymore.  Just hit the Publish button and you’ll get back a 6-digit/letter combination code.  This code uniquely identifies your program and your friends can now view and run your program by importing it using this code.

   Also, you can view your program by going to http://smallbasic.com/program/and typing your program code.  For example, I wrote a really simple program and published it.  The id I got back was DCT967.  Everyone can now view this program at: http://smallbasic.com/program/?DCT967

2. Splash Screen
3. Performance optimizations: Makes Small Basic startup faster

Bug Fixes

1. Fixed a lot of regional formatting issues. Decimals now preserve their precision in non-US settings machine.
2. Fixed issues with DateTime formatting in non-US settings machine.
3. Fixed Font Size setting issues.  Font Sizes can now be set once and they take effect right away.
4. Fixed issues with multiple event subscribers.  There can only be one sub routine subscribed to an event now.
5. Added Close Button to the errors window
6. Added sync lock for “CreateWindow” in GraphicsWindow object.  Extenders can now run multi-threaded if they wanted to.
7. Program now exits cleanly after setting the desktop background.
8. GetHeight and GetWidth on ImageList now return the correct pixel height and width respectively
9. Fixed crash that happens when permission to the temporary folder is denied.

Breaking Changes

Here is a list of breaking changes in v0.3.  These are important because you might have to update some of your programs to run on this.

1. Shapes object: The GraphicsWindow has been factored out and there’s now a new Shapes object.  This object contains operations like AddRectangle, AddEllipse, etc.  These methods used to be on GraphicsWindow and now they are no more.  If your program used them, you’d have to modify your program to match the new pattern.
2. ImageList.LoadImage: ImageList.LoadImage no longer takes an “image id” as an argument.  Instead it returns a newly created id for you to use.  For example “pic = ImageList.LoadImage(“c:myimage.jpg”)”