10 Fun Projects to Learn Programming with BASIC-256Learning to program is easiest when it’s playful. BASIC-256 is built for beginners — it has a simple syntax, an integrated editor, graphics and sound support, and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Below are ten progressive, fun projects that teach core programming concepts using BASIC-256, with step-by-step ideas, learning goals, and example code snippets you can expand.
1 — Hello, World… With a Twist
Learning goal: program structure, printing, variables, input.
Start by printing text and reading user input, then build a personalized greeting.
Example:
PRINT "What's your name?" INPUT name$ PRINT "Hello, "; name$; "! Welcome to BASIC-256." Variation: ask for the user’s age and calculate the year they’ll turn 100 (introduces numeric variables and arithmetic).
2 — Interactive Number Guessing Game
Learning goal: loops, conditionals, random numbers, input validation.
Create a game where the computer picks a number and the player guesses until correct.
Example:
RANDOMIZE TIMER target = INT(RND * 100) + 1 PRINT "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100." TRIES = 0 WHILE TRUE INPUT "Your guess: ", guess TRIES = TRIES + 1 IF guess = target THEN PRINT "Correct! You took "; TRIES; " guesses." EXIT WHILE ELSEIF guess < target THEN PRINT "Too low." ELSE PRINT "Too high." ENDIF WEND Variation: give hints (warmer/colder) or limit attempts.
3 — Turtle Graphics: Draw Shapes and Patterns
Learning goal: subroutines, loops, graphics primitives, angles.
Use BASIC-256’s turtle or graphics commands to draw geometric shapes and colorful patterns.
Example: draw a square with a simple loop (graphics mode):
SCREEN 1 PEN 1 X = 100: Y = 100 MOVE X, Y FOR i = 1 TO 4 DRAWTO X + 100, Y X = X + 100 ' rotate or adjust for more shapes NEXT Variation: write a subroutine to draw polygons with n sides; animate rotating patterns.
4 — Simple Pixel Art Editor
Learning goal: arrays (or screen plotting), events/mouse input, file I/O basics.
Let users click to toggle pixels/colors on a grid and save/load simple drawings.
Approach:
- Display a grid of colored squares.
- On mouse click, toggle the color of the clicked square.
- Use a 2D array to store the state and save it to a text file.
Example skeleton (pseudocode-style for mouse handling):
DIM grid(20,20) SCREEN 1 DRAW GRID WHILE TRUE mx = MOUSEX(): my = MOUSEY() IF MOUSEBUTTON() = 1 THEN gx = mx 20: gy = my 20 grid(gx,gy) = 1 - grid(gx,gy) FILLRECT gx*20, gy*20, 20, 20, COLOR(grid(gx,gy)) ENDIF WEND Variation: add a palette, undo, or export to PNG (if supported).
5 — Music Maker: Play Notes and Melodies
Learning goal: sound functions, timing, arrays, loops.
Use BASIC-256’s sound capabilities to play notes, scales, and simple melodies.
Example:
notes$ = "CDEFGAB" FOR i = 1 TO LEN(notes$) note$ = MID$(notes$, i, 1) PLAY note$ ' or use appropriate SOUND command WAIT 250 NEXT Variation: let users type a melody using keys, save tunes, or map keys to different instruments.
6 — Animated Sprites: Bounce and Collide
Learning goal: animation loop, velocity vectors, collision detection.
Load or draw sprites, then animate them across the screen with bouncing and simple collision response.
Key ideas:
- Track x,y and vx,vy for each sprite.
- On each frame, update position and check for collisions with screen edges or other sprites.
- Reverse direction or change color on collision.
Example snippet:
SCREEN 1 x = 50: y = 50: vx = 2: vy = 3 WHILE TRUE CLS CIRCLE x, y, 10 x = x + vx: y = y + vy IF x < 10 OR x > 310 THEN vx = -vx IF y < 10 OR y > 230 THEN vy = -vy WAIT 20 WEND Variation: add gravity, multiple sprites, or simple AI.
7 — Text Adventure Engine
Learning goal: strings, branching logic, data structures (arrays or files), game state.
Build a small interactive fiction engine where players type commands to move, pick up items, and solve puzzles.
Structure:
- Rooms stored in arrays with descriptions.
- Inventory array.
- Parser for simple verbs (GO, TAKE, USE).
Example command loop skeleton:
DIM roomDesc$(10) room = 1 roomDesc$(1) = "You are in a small room..." WHILE TRUE PRINT roomDesc$(room) INPUT command$ IF command$ = "GO NORTH" THEN room = room + 1 ' handle other commands WEND Variation: add save/load, complex parsing, or puzzles requiring item combinations.
8 — Data Visualizer: Chart Your Data
Learning goal: file I/O, data parsing, loops, simple plotting.
Let users load a CSV of numbers and plot bars or line graphs.
Steps:
- Read a CSV file into arrays.
- Normalize values to fit the screen.
- Draw bars or a line connecting points.
Example:
OPEN "data.csv" FOR INPUT AS #1 i = 0 WHILE NOT EOF(1) i = i + 1 INPUT #1, val(i) WEND CLOSE #1 ' Draw bars FOR j = 1 TO i BAR j*10, 200, (j*10)+8, 200 - val(j) NEXT Variation: add labels, colors, or interactive filtering.
9 — Chatbot: Simple Pattern-Based Conversation
Learning goal: string matching, functions, randomness, stateful responses.
Implement a simple chatbot that responds to keywords and remembers small facts.
Approach:
- Use INSTR or MID$ to detect keywords.
- Respond from a list of canned replies, sometimes randomly.
- Store a remembered fact (name, favorite color).
Example:
PRINT "Hello! I'm a BASIC-256 bot." WHILE TRUE INPUT usr$ IF INSTR(LCASE$(usr$), "name") THEN PRINT "I'm called BASIC-Bot." ELSEIF INSTR(LCASE$(usr$), "color") THEN PRINT "I like blue." ELSE PRINT "Tell me more..." ENDIF WEND Variation: add simple learning (store user name) and recall it later.
10 — Mini Physics Sandbox
Learning goal: basic physics, integration, arrays, user interaction.
Create a sandbox where particles respond to gravity and user-placed forces.
Ideas:
- Particles have position, velocity, mass.
- Apply gravity and simple drag each frame.
- Let user click to spawn particles or draw force fields.
Example update loop:
FOR i = 1 TO n vy(i) = vy(i) + gravity x(i) = x(i) + vx(i) y(i) = y(i) + vy(i) ' collision with ground IF y(i) > 250 THEN y(i) = 250: vy(i) = -vy(i) * 0.6 NEXT Variation: add springs, attractors, or different particle types.
Tips for success
- Start small: complete a minimal version, then add features.
- Use comments liberally to remember what each part does.
- Save versions frequently so you can revert if a change breaks things.
- Study BASIC-256’s built-in examples to learn available commands.
These ten projects cover printing and input, control flow, graphics, sound, file I/O, data structures, animation, and simple physics — a well-rounded path from first line of code to creative, playable programs in BASIC-256.