Dark Basic Professional Review

When I first wanted to run the program I got greet by an error. That's right... A Direct3D error.

Well I am pretty sure my computer is ok since I have some years of experience behind. After I succeeded to run the program and examined the created executable (I compiled the example that came with it) I noticed that the program isn't really compiled. That means that DarkBasic doesn't convert the code you run into native executables (made from machine code), it is an interpreter (like VBscript or Java for example).

The interpreters are good, but not for vital applications. For example in a game you need full speed. If the today games would be created in an interpreted language, we would need huge ammounts of RAM memory and processor power to play them and that wouldn't be good at all for our budget.

I do not say DarkBasic is not good, but I surely wouldn't use it in a professional environment as I would lose clients. Also, the latest trial version I downloaded is dated back in 2005. That is a big mistake. Programming languages are subject to bugs (as any other software) and the whole client range that uses them may loose money if they stumble upon one. Personally, I love permanently updated software like PureBasic for instance.

As a final note, the price is way too high for a programming language. You can get a more effective programming suite for less money (in some cases even for free). There are literally hundreds of open source compilers out there.

Despite these major flaws, the code editor was fairly easy to use and the so called 'compilation' took very little time. But that's it. It definately left a sour taste in my mouth.