ugBASIC is an isomorphic and open source language, fully documented and designed to develop portable programs, without sacrificing efficiency. With a single source it is therefore possible to create games for numerous 8 bit platforms.
NMOS 6502 Zilog Z80 Motorola 6809
Atari ColecoVision Commodore Dragon MSX Olivetti Thomson SEGA ZX Spectrum
CC65 Z88DK ASM6809
You can download the official ugBASIC compiler (ugbc), which directly converts a program written in ugBASIC into the assembly equivalent for the given CPU / computer. The compiler is free, open source and licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. You can download or recompile the latest version from the GitHub repository.
Developing for multiple platforms requires little effort, because the source does not have to be adapted. With a single source code you can get games and programs for multiple computers, even very different from each other.
Each target can have a dedicated optimizer, which allows to achieve very interesting
results while leaving the BASIC code fully readable.
Here we see the peephole
optimizer for Motorola 6809 in action.
With ugBASIC is simple to write multitasking programs using parallel programming, available "out of the box". In systems with severe memory constraints such as computers based on 8 bit processors, a mechanism based on protothreads has been implemented.
Compile your ugBASIC sources efficiently and effectively for multiple retrocomputers: ugBASIC IDE makes it easier to download and install the various software required for one or more retrocomputers, all just one "click away".
At the moment there are two manuals available: the user manual, with which you can start developing using this language, and the reference manual, useful for those wishing to modify and/or to extend the language.
The current version (1.11.1) introduces support for audio and the Commodore 128 target.
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Happy birthday ugBASIC! Today (25/04) we celebrate one
year since the first commit, and with this milestone in
mind let's take a look at some of the results obtained by
the development team.
From a qualitative point of view, the system
supports as many as 14 heterogeneous systems,
ranging from ATARI to Olivetti Prodest, passing through MSX and,
obviously, Commodore computers.
From a quantitative point of view, ugBASIC is composed of over
137,000 lines of C code and over 36,000 lines of assembly code
(MOS 6502, Zilog Z80 and Motorola 6809), where the lexer and the
parser occupy 6,408 lines!
Following the sizing indicated by the "COCOMO model", to redevelop
ugBASIC from scratch it would take 55 man-months or, if you like,
two and a half years of development. Alternatively, having 22 developers,
it would be done in a year.
For published data: generated using David A. Wheeler's 'SLOCCount'
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The version 1.10.3 introduces support for SEGA SC-3000 home computer and SG-1000 console.
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The version 1.9.1 introduces support for ColecoVision console architecture.
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An interesting competition is held at the beginning of each year: the BASIC 10Liner Contest,
and it is possible to use ugBASIC to join in the next competition with your preferred home computer.
How to join
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executables
The version 1.8.2 introduces support for MSX home computer architecture.
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The version 1.7.2 introduces various improvements and bug fixes.
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A brand new IDE has been released for ugBASIC: ugBASIC IDE
makes it easier to download and install the various software required for one or more
retrocomputers, all just one "click away". It offers syntactic highlighting,
multiple windows, file history, online help and an integration for error
diagnostics. With just one click you can see your program running directly
on one of the supported emulators.
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The current version (1.6) introduces various improvements and bug fixes.
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The version 1.5 introduces support for Commodore VIC-20, film strip animations and multitasking.
Complete list of targets
How to use multitasking
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The version 1.4 introduces support for Olivetti PC128 Prodest and Thomson MO5 computer.
Complete list of targets
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The version 1.3.2-beta introduces various improvements and bug fixes.
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The version 1.3.1-beta introduces various improvements and bug fixes.
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The version 1.3-beta introduces support for Dragon 32 computer.
Complete list of targets
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The version (1.2-beta) introduces various improvements and bug fixes.
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The version 1.1-beta introduces support for the Atari 8-bit family of computers, such as Atari 400/800, Atari 600XL / 800XL / 1200XL and XEGS.
Complete list of targets
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How to compile
ugBASIC