I concur that the PowerBasic IDE is hardly the best choice if you want to work at managing any program development involving multiple files, what we would typically consider to be a Project. But it is adequate for people who are accustomed to working with a single source file, or possibly just starting out. It's main advantages is that it comes as part of the package, and it supports the built-in debugger.
The IDE gets relatively little attention from PowerBasic. I've argued that it is the most intimate part of PowerBasic, and without a face lift, it is that much harder for anyone to appreciate when they see it. I have noted that with each new update to the PowerBasic product, that the Help section has improved, and that has been a real benefit.
There are a few areas that I think have been sort of ignored. One is the matter of templates. It turns out that it is pretty easy to create customized templates for your source files that can serve to cause your new source files to come with all sorts of predefined settings in them. Another is the limited coverage on resource files - if you know what resources are and how to use them, then fine, but PowerBasic isn't going to make their use and benefit obvious. A third, the idea that beginners could benefit from a guided tour that teaches them the basics, is seriously absent. A fourth involves PBForms and DDT, which I am not too thrilled with. DDTs dumb down dialogs to the point where you might want to begin that way, but leave you no way to get into the customizing that is available under Windows. PBForms is a tack-on product that doesn't really integrate in what I would consider an acceptable manner. But that may be just me.
The main thing about BASIC is that it is not the optimum programming language for all applications, but it addresses elements related to many different uses more extensively than many competing languages do. And the base of operators and data types provided with PowerBasic are sufficient to justify its claim as being one powerful version of BASIC. And it is very rare to write code that is syntatically sound and not have it compile and work as expected, which means the compiler is rock solid.
What I am not thrilled about is that PowerBasic today is very much tied to either DOS or Windows. The DOS version can be made to run under Linux in a DOS emulation, but it lacks the power of the more modern versions of PB/Win and PB/CC. There have been hints that a PB/Linux version might someday appear, that would be essentially PB/CC, but adapted to Linux. But that rumour has been circulating for several years now. No sign yet if it might be true, or when it will happen.
Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to try and bring developers into its fold, and to sell everyone on its vision of what computing in the future will be. I would have to say that most of the people here have, for one reason or another, decided that either they do not buy into Microsoft's vision, or do not feel that they want to be part of that future. To these people, using PowerBasic is more like the type of program development that they believe in or want to be a part of.
But sometimes we see someone, already steeped in the Microsoft way, want to see PowerBasic become more like to what they are accustomed to or expect.
PowerBasic is in part a tool for empowerment. You decided to use PowerBasic, you can also decide what IDE, Project Management, database, and other tools that best serve your needs and interests. I'd like to be able to kiss Microsoft goodby someday, so my hope is that PB/Linux will someday surface. But if it doesn't there is still FreeBasic and PureBasic, and other options.
Meanwhile, I am trying to decide what more I really need out of the PowerBasic compiler and debugger. I've already got choices for the IDE and database management. There is so much exciting work going on here with the present PowerBasic products, that I am hard pressed to think of anything else I need.
