Microsoft QBasic (Quick Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is an IDE and interpreter for a variant of the BASIC programming language which is based on QuickBASIC. It was shipped together with MS-DOS 5.0 and higher, as well as Windows 95, Windows NT 3.x, and Windows NT 4.0.
QBasic came complete with four pre-written example programs:
- Gorillas - an artillery game
- Nibbles - a classic snake game
- Money Manager - a personal finance manager
- RemLine - a line number removal utility
But there's more! Previous releases from Microsoft have included other example programs. Some noteable ones include:
- Nibbles (beta) - an early version of Nibbles with no levels, just more food
- Reversi - Reversi, the classic strategy board game
- Sorting Demo - a program that uses multicolored bars and sound to illustrate various sorting algorithms
- Torus - a graphics demonstration program that draws a multicolored doughnut-shaped figure on the screen, then animates it by shifting colors in the palette
Microsoft also published a package called Game Shop which was a precursor to QBasic. It came complete with six pre-written example games:
- QBlocks - Fit the falling shapes into a row (Tetris clone).
- QBricks - Break through the bricks (Breakout clone).
- QSpace - Defend space stations against enemy attack (Missile Command clone).
- QShips - Sink your opponent's ship (artillery game).
- QMaze - Find your way through the maze before time runs out (maze game).
- QSynthesizer - Record and play your own music.
Check out the various other sample programs which Microsoft has included with different releases:
To try out some of these example programs, look at these collections (binaries included):