Is there a good BASIC compiler for ubuntu?

[Karl Hegbloom]

On Sun, 2006-03-12 at 18:52 -0600, Kipton Moravec wrote:
> Since Python is one of the languages I have not programmed in, I took a
> quick look at Python.  First I went to Synaptic Package Manager and
> searched for python to see what was available and what was already
> installed.
> 
> 955 files came up.  First thing I noticed was there was some stuff
> labeled python 2.3 and python 2.4 already installed on my computer.  For
> me that raises some red flags, because in most languages it is not a
> good idea to have two versions going at the same time. Or to use 2.3
> libraries with 2.4 language or vice-versa.

If you were to run the 'dpkg --listfiles' command for each python
package, you'd find that the sets of files do not intersect.  Package
dependencies and conflicts are used to control what packages may be
installed with what other packages.  It is up to the maintainer to
ensure that none of the files in a package overlap ones in packages it
does not explicitly list a conflict and/or replaces with.  Additionally,
dpkg will signal an error and refuse to install a package that contains
a file found in another package.

In the case of the two different versions of Python, you'll find that
there are separate directories for the version-dependent libraries.
There may also be libraries that can be used with any version of Python.
The similar is also true for other languages, such as Perl.

> So the first question before I even get started is why do I have both
> 2.3 and 2.4 installed on my computer, and which one should I use?  Is
> that not confusing?

Use the newest version for new programs.  There are many -doc packages
for Python (as well as other languages), and a number of books about it
can be found on book seller sites, such as Amazon.com.

Python is a popular language, and worth learning, but I still recommend
http://www.htdp.org and DrScheme to learn programming initially.  It
will save a lot of struggle in the long run, and make other languages
much more tractable.  (See the educator testimonials on
http://www.teach-scheme.org/ in the 'resources' section.)

-- 
Karl Hegbloom <hegbloom at pdx.edu>