Reviewer's Guide
NS Basic/Palm 5

August 1, 2005

 

© NSB Corporation. All rights reserved.
The latest version of this document (with working hotlinks) is available at
http://www.nsbasic.com/palm/info/ReviewersGuide.htm

Thank you for reviewing our product, NS Basic/Palm 5. This document is intended to help you get the answers you need quickly. If there's something you can't find, please us at support© nsbasic.com. We'll be happy to help.

Permission is given to excerpt text, links or graphics from this document in your review.

Highlights

Summary of Advantages

NS Basic/Palm provides a rapid application development environment.

It is quickly usable by Visual Basic programmers with little or no introduction.

NS Basic/Palm is based on the language and development environment that Visual Basic programmers are used to, optimized for the Palm OS environment. A Palm OS device is not the same as a Windows desktop.

NS Basic/Palm is designed to take maximum advantage of the Palm architecture. Making use of code in the ROM of every Palm OS device, NS Basic has several advantages

A powerful feature of NS Basic/Palm is its ability to call standard Palm OS Shared Libraries. These work much like controls do on a Windows desktop, adding features to the core NS Basic product. Since they can be made using standard development tools such as CodeWarrior and PilRC, it is easy for third parties and users to extend the functionality of the language.

Programs in NS Basic/Palm can be any size - there is no 64K limit. It supports full color and 32 bit floating point numbers.

Applications can be compiled with the runtime, to create a single executable. This makes distributing NS Basic apps easy. Programs may be distributed royalty free.

There is full support for double byte languages, such as Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew and Greek. Documentation and support are available in English, Japanese, Chinese and German.

Last, but not least, the standard version of NS Basic/Palm has more power than the 'professional' version of other products, at a price that is affordable to all. Furthermore, no other software (such as VB, Visual Studio or .Net) is required to run NS Basic/Palm.

Minimum Requirements

On the desktop, NS Basic/Palm runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. It also runs on Mac under Virtual PC and Linux under Win4Lin and VmWare.

The executables produced will run on any Palm device using Palm OS 3.0 or later. This includes devices from PalmOne, Tapwave, Symbol, Sony, Kyocera, HandEra, Handspring, IBM and others. Many of these devices have additional features not found in regular Palms: Shared libraries are supplied to provide the full functionality.

Tour

Here is a look at NS Basic/Palm in action:
http://nsbasic.com/palm/info/Tour.html

There are also a couple of tutorials. Run them from the start menu of your system after you install NS Basic/Palm.

Specifications

NS Basic/Palm has more than 150 statements and functions in its base set. With the addition of shared libraries, there are hundreds of more functions available. In addition, NS Basic/Palm can call many of the almost 1000 built in API calls within the Palm OS.

http://nsbasic.com/palm/info/Specifications.html

Kudos

NS Basic/Palm has an enthusiastic and energetic user base. Read some of their comments here...
http://nsbasic.com/palm/info/kudos.html

Screenshots

Here are a few screenshots of NS Basic/Palm in action:
  1. Main IDE Screen
  2. Menu Editor
  3. Code Window
  4. Sample App In IDE
  5. Sample App on device
  6. Preferences
  7. Compile Options
  8. General Options
  9. Editor Options
  10. Palm Screen Options

Demos

To see what kinds of applications people are doing in NS Basic, see our contest pages. These show apps in categories such as Games, Japanes, Business and Open.

There is also a complete downloadable demo of the NS Basic/Palm development environment. Includes reference documentation and tutorials. Apps created will only function for 5 days. Buy the complete version for full documentation and no restrictions. (10 megs)
http://www.nsbasic.com/pub/Palm_files/updates/NsbasicDemo.exe

Pricing and Ordering

NS Basic/Palm 5 costs $149.95 USD for a single user. An Enterprise Edition that allows unlimited users at a single site is available for $449.95. NS BASIC Corporation provides regular updates to its product. Most are free of charge, however from time to time, new versions may be charged for at a discounted rate to existing users.

Orders can be placed online or through dealers at
http://www.nsbasic.com/order.shtml

Questions?

We're always happy to answer questions. Please contact George Henne at 416 264-5999 (or 888-NS BASIC) or send him email at gh© nsbasic.com.

A list of frequently asked questions is posted here:
http://www.nsbasic.com/palm/info/faq.html

You can also visit the busy NS Basic/Palm Web Board:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsbasic-palm

Company

NS BASIC Corporation has been producing development tools for handheld devices since 1993. Each generation of handheld devices has been released by manufacturers with powerful, low level tools for programming. While these are suitable for full time professional developers, there at many people who need something higher level and easier to use.

The company's tools have always been grounded in BASIC, the most commonly used programming language. Virtually all programmers are familiar with the language: it's always been a reliable way of getting from point A to point B. It has a gentle learning curve as well, making it suitable for new or rusty programmers.

NS Basic/Palm, released in 2000, is by no means the only development tool released by the company. It is complemented by NS Basic/CE, for Windows CE and Pocket PC devices. The company was also responsible for NS Basic/Newton and for Newtcard, a Hypercard-like product for the now defunct Newton.

All of the company's products come with complete and concise hardcopy documentation. The products are well supported with regular updates. Support is offered directly by the company (support© nsbasic.com) and by very active web boards on Yahoo Groups.