ACON

BaCon is a free BASIC to C converter for Unix-based systems. The following design goals were followed:

Must run on each Unix/Linux/BSD platform, including MacOSX
Converted sourcecode must be compilable with GCC
Must resemble genuine BASIC with implicit variable delarations
Spoken language constructs are preferred

To use Bacon your system must have either Korn Shell, or ZShell, or Bourne Again Shell (BASH) available. If none of these shells are available on your platform, download and install the free Public Domain Korn Shell which can execute BaCon also. Furthermore BaCon works with the traditional Korn Shell KSH88, but also with a newer Kornshell implementation like the MirBSD Korn Shell.

BaCon intends to be a programming aid in creating tools which can be compiled on different platforms (including 64bit environments). It tries to revive the days of the good old BASIC.

Code converted by BaCon can be compiled by GCC, the Compaq C Compiler or TCC.

News

March 1, 2012: BaCon 1.0 build 25 released - see CHANGES. Documentation updated.
January 13, 2012: Jens Staal is porting BaCon to Plan9 - the progress can be observed here.
November 1, 2011: BaCon 1.0 build 24 released - see CHANGES. Documentation updated.
July 1, 2011: BaCon 1.0 build 23 released - see CHANGES. Documentation updated.
June 5, 2011: Major revision of the HUG abstraction layer and its documentation.
May 1, 2011: BaCon 1.0 build 22 released - see CHANGES. Documentation updated.
March 15, 2011: Today BaCon celebrates its 2nd birthday!
March 1, 2011: BaCon 1.0 build 21 released - see CHANGES. Documentation updated.
February 21, 2011: Today Wary Puppy Linux 5.1 was released containing the upcoming BaCon build 21.
February 6, 2011: The folks from Remastersys Backup released a Live CD which includes BaCon.
January 1, 2011: BaCon 1.0 build 20 released - see CHANGES. Documentation updated.

Older news can be found here.

Downloads

BaCon Sources version 1.0 build 25

BaCon Kornshell/ZShell version
BaCon Bash version (requires BASH 3.2 or higher)
BaCon BaCon version
BaCon standalone GUI version for GTK 2.x Linux screenshots here and here
BaCon standalone GUI version for GTK 3.x
BaCon CHANGES

BaCon Precompiled Binaries and Packages

Install package for Debian/Ubuntu here version 1.0 build 25 (32bit).
Install package for Debian/Ubuntu here version 1.0 build 25 (64bit).
Binary for Tru64 Unix v5.1 here version 1.0 build 25.
Install package for Puppy Linux here version 1.0 build 23.
Install package for Slackware Linux 13.37 here.

IDE Related

Configuration files for the Geany editor here and here created by Tomaaz
Application icon here or this nice icon created by Fragadelic
GtkSourceView syntax file for editors like gedit, Anjuta or Scribes
VIM syntax file and some VIM macros for BaCon
Logo for VIM toolbar - convert and Logo for VIM toolbar - run
IDE: TinyIDE for BaCon

Documentation

BaCon documentation online or as PDF.
Need more information about BaCon? Ask the forum.
More questions about various BASIC dialects can be asked here.

Other

Current development versions of BaCon are in the beta directory.
Some older BaCon versions can be found in the museum.

Demonstration programs

Base64 encoder here
Base64 decoder here
The Zeller algorithm here
UTF8 encoder here
Simple calculator program here
CGI demonstration here
GTK-server demo here and a Glade file here
Brainfuck interpreter here
Respace files here
ROT13 encoder/decoder here
Mastermind game here and a screenshot
My favorite oneliner
Recursive fibonacci and factorial functions
Walk through a directory tree here
Generate prime numbers here
Generate m3u files here
Convert decimal to Roman here
A Quine program here, a smaller Quine here, even smaller here, and smaller here
DPI calculator here created by Vovchik
A simple GOPHER client here
System boot time here
Binary file dumper here
BaCon Bullshit Bingo here created by Vovchik
Password generator here created by Vovchik
Testing randomness program here created by Vovchik
The Soundex algorithm here created by Vovchik
The Metaphone algorithm here created by Vovchik
The Double Metaphone algorithm here created by Vovchik
BaCon On This Day here created by Vovchik
Calculate netmask here
Console sinus waves here
Check remote site here modified version here by Vovchik
Get the weather here created by Vovchik
Benchmark program for BaCon, for BCX and for newLisp
Binary downloads here
Simple BaCon Shell here
Some goniometric functions here created by Vovchik
Picture scaling here created by Vovchik
Whois lookup here
Fetch all BaCon programs here
99 beers on the wall here created by Vovchik
Haiku generator here
Genetive Algorithm here
Print Unicode here
Expanded 'which' here created by Vovchik
BMI calculator here created by Vovchik
Happy Numbers here created by Vovchik
Play an MP3 file here
How to use small BaCon keywords here and a full lowercase mapping here
An MD5 calculator here created by Vovchik
SuperFastHash here by Peter Fedorow

BaCon language extensions

Wrappers

Wrappers are BaCon functions built around external libraries.

INCLUDE: Highlevel Universal GUI here

Documentation: online
Import definitions when using HUG as a shared object: HUG imports
System graphical disk fill and a screenshot by Vovchik
The 15 puzzle game and a screenshot
Example moving stars demonstration (screenshot)
Example Plasma demonstration (screenshot)
Example OpenGL canvas program (screenshot)
Haiku generator here with picture and a screenshot by Vovchik
The game of Inversi and a screenshot
Example Dancing Letter Generator program (screenshot) and a HTML version here by Vovchik
Example Network Calculator program (screenshot)
Example screensaver program
Example Twitter Updater program (screenshot)
Example Password Manager program (screenshot)
The Bullshit Bingo GUI version by Vovchik and a screenshot
Example M3U program (screenshot)
Example dictionary program (screenshot)
Example clock program (screenshot)
Example fractal program (screenshot)
The Pikona Icon Assembler by Vovchik and a screenshot

INCLUDE: SQLite Database Engine here

Documentation: SQLite
Another example program: here created by Vovchik
Example program: demonstration

INCLUDE: GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library here

Documentation: gmp
Example program: demonstration

INCLUDE: Beep the PC Speaker here

Example program: piano

Interfaces

Interfaces are straight imports from external libraries into BaCon.

INCLUDE: OpenAL library here
INCLUDE: ALUT library here

Hello world demonstration

INCLUDE: CURL library here created by Doyle Whisenant

Download binary file over FTP: demonstration by Doyle Whisenant
Upload binary file over FTP: demonstration by Doyle Whisenant
Download binary file over FTP: demonstration
Download binary file over HTTP: demonstration
Store HTTPS website into variable: demonstration
Print HTTP website: demonstration

INCLUDE: MySQL Database Engine here

Example MySQL client: demonstration

INCLUDE: Lua Library here

Example 'sum' demonstration with a Lua program created by Doyle Whisenant
Example 'hello' demonstration with a Lua program created by Doyle Whisenant

INCLUDE: POSIX Threads Library here

Documentation: POSIX Threads
Multithreaded TCP server: here
Example threads program: demonstration

INCLUDE: nCurses Library here
INCLUDE: Form Library here
INCLUDE: Panel Library here

Documentation: curses
Example curses program: demonstration and another one here
Example form program: demonstration
Example panel program: demonstration and another one here

INCLUDE: GD Drawing Library here

Documentation: libgd
Example GIF animation: demonstration and an animated screenshot
Example drawing program: demonstration and a screenshot

INCLUDE: Glade library here
INCLUDE: Gtk library here
INCLUDE: Gdk library here
INCLUDE: GtkGlArea library here
INCLUDE: GtkGlExt library here

Documentation: GTK
Full GTK application: Tray Icon for Puppy Linux with an icon and a screenshot by Doyle Whisenant and Vovchik
GTK example: Source Code Editor with GtkSourceView here and a screenshot
Glade example: calculator program here and a screenshot
Glade example: demonstration here and a Glade file here
GTK example: Go program here and a screenshot
GTK example: demonstration here and a screenshot
GTK code snippet#4: here
GTK code snippet#3: here and a screenshot
GTK code snippet#2: here and a screenshot
GTK code snippet#1: here
GTK example: demonstration here and a screenshot

INCLUDE: GLUT library here
INCLUDE: GLU library here
INCLUDE: GL library here

Documentation: OpenGL, GLU, Glut
Example plasma program (screenshot)
Example stars program (screenshot)
Example fractal program (screenshot)
Example molehill program (screenshot)
Example stroke program (screenshot)
Example worms program (screenshot)
Example blender program (screenshot)
Example gears program (screenshot)
Example Teapot program (screenshot) - link with external library!

User contributed functions

TXT2BIN function here
WORD$ function here
STRCMP function here
Many conversion functions here
EXTRACT function here
LTRIM function here
PARSECOUNT function here
PARSESTR function here
REMAIN function here
REPLACE function here
RTRIM function here
TALLY function here
TRIM function here

Test programs

Test1 here	Test7 here	Test13 here
Test2 here	Test8 here	Test14 here
Test3 here	Test9 here	Test15 here
Test4 here	Test10 here	Test16 here
Test5 here	Test11 here	Test17 here
Test6 here	Test12 here	Test18 here

FAQ

How to install BACON?

What version of Kornshell is required? What version of ZShell is required? What version of BASH is required?

How is this converter licensed?

GPL version 3

Why does BaCon need BASH or Kornshell, a.k.a. why was BaCon implemented in shell script?

Shell script was chosen to ensure maximum Unix compatibility; on each Unix version and Linux distribution a Kornshell or
BASH can be found.
Now only one program has to be downloaded to perform Basic-to-C conversion, so no hazzle to download different kinds of
binaries for all the different Unix versions with their particular binary formats and dependencies.

lame

Kornshell website

programming language

Do we really need to write BaCon keywords in capitals?

here

The generated C code is hard to read!

How to compile GTK programs in OpenBSD?

How about a Win32 Version?

Cygwin

here

So what is the difference between BaCon and the recently released Linux BCX?

list

Where can I find more free BASIC interpreters and compilers?

The Free Country

Is there any relation with this BACON Basic converter or the Bacon programming language?

Why are you maintaining this project? Who are you anyway?

Kristian Virtanen

here

How to provide feedback on this project?

Message Board

Which platforms are supported?

Last update: May 13, 2012 - © Peter van Eerten.

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