bas55 - ECMA-55 Minimal BASIC Interpreter
=========================================

`bas55` is an interpreter for the *Minimal BASIC* programming language as
described by the ECMA standard 55 [1].

bas55 is free software. See the file `COPYING` for copying conditions.

Copyright (c) 2014-2017 Jorge Giner Cordero

Home page: http://jorgicor.sdfeu.org/bas55  
Send bug reports to: jorge.giner@hotmail.com

[1]: http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Standardwithdrawn.htm

Windows precompiled binaries
============================

A precompiled distribution for *Microsoft Windows* is provided in a ZIP file.
It can be found at http://jorgicor.sdfeu.org/bas55 . After decompressing it,
you will have these files:

~~~
bas55.exe       The program.
bas55.html      The manual.
readme.txt      This file.
copying.txt     License.
news.txt        What's new in this version.
sieve.bas       The sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm in Minimal BASIC.
~~~

Double-click `bas55.exe` or open a system console and go to the folder where
you have decompressed the ZIP file and type `bas55`. Then type `HELP` to
see a list of available commands.  Double-click `bas55.html` to see the
program documentation in your web browser.

Compiling
=========

Getting the code from revision control
--------------------------------------

If you cloned the project from a revision control system (i.e. GitHub), you
will need first to use the GNU autotools to generate some files, in particular,
the `configure` script. Use:

    $ ./bootstrap

to generate the required files. You will need *GNU autoconf*, *GNU automake*,
*GNU texinfo*, *help2man*, and a *yacc* parser (tested only with *GNU bison*).

Compiling from the source distribution
--------------------------------------

If you have the official source package, and you are building on a Unix
environment (this includes *Cygwin* on *Windows*), you can find detailed
instructions in the file `INSTALL`. The complete source distribution can always
be found at http://jorgicor.sdfeu.org/bas55 .  

After installing, you can type `man bas55` to see a brief explanation on how to
use the `bas55` program.  More detailed documentation, including a tutorial on
the *Minimal BASIC* programming language, can be found using the GNU
documentation system: type `info bas55` to read it.

Additionally, a sample *Minimal BASIC* program called `sieve.bas`, containing
the sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm, is included in the source distribution.

Normally, after installing from source, you can find this on your system:

~~~
/usr/local/bin/bas55                    The program executable.
/usr/local/share/man/man1/bas55.1       The manual page.
/usr/local/share/info/bas55.info        The info manual.
/usr/local/share/doc/bas55/COPYING      License.
/usr/local/share/doc/bas55/README       This file.
/usr/local/share/doc/bas55/NEWS         What's new in this version.
/usr/local/share/doc/bas55/INSTALL      How to compile, install and uninstall.
/usr/local/share/doc/bas55/AUTHORS      Authors.
/usr/local/share/bas55/sieve.bas        The sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm.
~~~

If you are installing bas55 using your OS distribution package system, these
folders will probably be different.  Try changing `/usr/local` to `/usr`.

