Generations of BBj

BBj code you encounter will come from one of four generations. Each generation has distinctive syntax patterns that tell you when it was written and what conventions it follows. This page helps you identify which era code belongs to and understand its modern equivalent.

Overview

Generation	Era	Product	Signature Syntax	Modern Equivalent
1st Gen	1985--1995	BBx (Business BASIC)	Line numbers, GOTO, DIM arrays, character-mode I/O	Labels, BBjVector, GUI controls
2nd Gen	1995--2002	PRO/5 / Visual PRO/5	CALLBACK verb, SYSGUI channel, READ RECORD event loops	setCallback, process_events
3rd Gen	2002--2006	Early BBj (1.x--5.x)	Java new with fully-qualified class names, SQLOPEN/SQL verbs	use imports, Custom Objects
4th Gen	2006--present	BBj 6.0+ (Custom Objects)	class/classend, method/field, setCallback methods	Current recommended style

1st Generation: BBx (1985--1995)

BBx (Business BASIC eXtended) was a character-mode language built for business data processing. Every line required a line number, and control flow used GOTO and GOSUB to jump between them. Collections did not exist -- DIM arrays with manual size counters served as the only data structure.

0010 dim items$[99]
0020 seterr 9000
0030 print "Enter name (blank to stop):"
0040 input name$
0050 if name$ = "" then goto 0080
0060 items$[count] = name$
0070 count = count + 1; goto 0030
0080 print "Done. ", count, " items entered."
0090 release
9000 print "Error: ", errmes(-1)
9010 release

See also: Error handling legacy patterns | Collections legacy patterns

2nd Generation: PRO/5 and Visual PRO/5 (1995--2002)

PRO/5 brought multi-platform support and, with Visual PRO/5, the first GUI capability through Windows-native widgets. Programs created GUI controls by printing mnemonics to a SYSGUI channel and used the CALLBACK verb (procedural form) along with READ RECORD polling loops for event handling.

open(1)"X0"
print(1)'window'(100, 100, 300, 200, "My App", $$)
print(1)'button'(101, 10, 10, 80, 30, "Click Me", $$)
callback(1, 5000, 101, 1)
read record(1,siz=1)x$
release
5000 print "Button clicked!"
return

See also: Event handling legacy patterns

3rd Generation: Early BBj (2002--2006)

BBj introduced the Java runtime, giving programs access to Java classes with the new operator. However, without use imports or Custom Objects, code required fully-qualified class names everywhere. SQL access arrived via SQLOPEN, SQLPREP, and SQLFETCH verbs, and MASK() added regex support.

map! = new java.util.HashMap()
map!.put("name", "Alice")
map!.put("role", "Developer")
print "Name: ", map!.get("name")

See also: Java interop legacy patterns | Database legacy patterns | String/number legacy patterns

4th Generation: Modern BBj (2006--present)

BBj 6.0 introduced Custom Objects -- full class definitions with class/classend, method/methodend, field declarations, and the use keyword for imports. This is the current recommended style. Classes can extend Java classes and implement Java interfaces, and setCallback with method references replaced the procedural CALLBACK verb.

use java.util.HashMap

class public Greeter
    field private HashMap config!

    method public Greeter(HashMap config!)
        #config! = config!
    methodend

    method public void greet(BBjString name$)
        print "Hello, ", name$, " from ", #config!.get("team")
    methodend
classend

See also: File I/O legacy patterns

Mixed-Generation Codebases

Most codebases you encounter will mix generations. A program might use 4th Gen class syntax but still contain 1st Gen DIM arrays or 2nd Gen CALLBACK verbs. The per-chapter legacy guides linked above show you exactly what each pattern looks like and its modern replacement.

When reading unfamiliar code, use this page as a decoder ring: identify the generation of the pattern you are looking at, then consult the relevant chapter guide for the modern equivalent.