Status Update: August 2021

Although there were little news last weeks, the project was not stopped, but the development have been done inside the Patreon community. Get a peek of what is coming.

First Alpha release date: August 25, 2021

Visual Basic 4.0 was released in August 1995, and it was first version which could compile to 32-bit. RAD Basic alpha will be released to Patreon and Stripe users in August 2021 and it will be first version which could compile to 64-bit. All paid users have to mark this day in their calendars: August 25, 2021.

As a alpha version, there will be missing features and rough edges, for example, projects are limited to Standard EXE projects. But it is a chance to try the future Visual Basic 6 replacement and help to improve it.

This version will be available only for paid users. Public version available for everyone will be released a few months later.

Development Status

Some of the development done in these last weeks summarized:

  • Saving forms (*.FRM files) as RAD Basic must be able to run an “open-edit-save” flow.
  • It was developed a new “Expression Solver” for the compiler, as it needed a reimplementation for fixing bugs in complex values as Dictionary->Array->Property access.
  • Support for Timer control (VB.Timer)
  • Support for control arrays
  • And working in core and fixing bugs, “boring” stuff that is very important as it is the foundation of the project.

This screenshot is from a new demo using animation with Timers and control arrays:

The development has not stopped and there will be greater news in near future.

Stay tunned!