gw-basic-2026/docs/getting-started.md

Getting Started

Dependencies

• C11 compiler (GCC or Clang)
• CMake 3.10+
• PulseAudio development library (libpulse-simple) — optional, for SOUND/BEEP/PLAY

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake libpulse-dev

On Fedora/RHEL:

sudo dnf install gcc cmake pulseaudio-libs-devel

Building

git clone https://github.com/evvaletov/gwbasic-c.git
cd gwbasic-c
mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake .. && make

The binary is build/gwbasic.

Usage

Interactive Mode

$ ./gwbasic
GW-BASIC 0.5.0
(C) Eremey Valetov 2026. MIT License.
Based on Microsoft GW-BASIC assembly source.
Ok
PRINT 2+2
 4
Ok
FOR I=1 TO 5:PRINT I;:NEXT
 1  2  3  4  5
Ok

Running a Program File

./gwbasic tests/programs/prime_sieve.bas

Piped Input

echo '10 FOR I=1 TO 10:PRINT I*I;:NEXT' | ./gwbasic

Direct Mode Expressions

Type expressions and statements at the Ok prompt:

PRINT SIN(3.14159/2)
 1
A$="HELLO WORLD":MID$(A$,7,5)="BASIC":PRINT A$
HELLO BASIC