Once you've drawn a form or two, you can add action code “underneath” it.  For example, when a button is tapped on a calculator, or an item is select in a list, we'd execute code to handle that action or “event.”

The NS Basic/Palm Desktop, as it's called, includes a code editor that pops up when a control is double-clicked or right-clicked on at design time.  This is where all your code is written.  It's a good editor, and includes syntax highlighting, as see in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Syntax Highlighting

NS Basic supports over 150 commands and all common control structures.  So, IF, WHILE, FOR Loops – they're all there.  But it's the memory management that makes NS Basic so much easier than C, particularly when using Strings.  As we saw in Table 1, the PalmOS forces a programmer to be very aware about memory allocations.  When programming in C on the PalmOS, You have to allocate memory, hold a handle, lock it down to receive a pointer when you want to use it, then unlock and free it when you're done.  NS Basic frees you from that.

I can allocate a string, assign a value to it, and set a field to that string's value with this tiny bit of code.

Dim result as integer

Dim str as string

str = "scott"

fldSomeField.text = recordP.somestring

NS Basic also provides functions to access the PalmOS' built in database manager.  They are very flexible and provide all of the power of the Database, without much of the complexity.  For example, here's some code that spins through a database and populates a ListBox with the Data:
 

Res = dbReset(dbSomeData)

lstSomeList.clear

Do Until Not res = 0

Res = DbReadNext ( dbSomeData, temp)

if res = 0 then lstSomeList.add lstSomeList

Loop

Figure 3: Database Code Populating a ListBox

Conclusion

For under $100 with no runtime royalties, NS Basic/Palm is in a class by itself.  Save for a few UI glitches and stylistic issues, it’s an excellent product.  If you know BASIC, you’ll feel right at home.  If you've programmed for the Pilot in C, you’ll find that NS Basic’s built in functions mirror the PalmSDK’s quite accurately.

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Criteria  Rating Features 4 Usability 4 Setup 5 Cost/Benefit 5 Overall (not an average)	Pros - Easy to Learn Basic - Reasonable Runtime Size - Visual Forms Editor - Good Manual - Inexpensive - No royalties
	Cons - Can�t use Tables - No Popup Help ala �AutoComplete� - No View of Complete Code