# QBasic Decompilation



## whatsmydingo (Feb 18, 2004)

So my friend took a "class" on qbasic (it's a prerequisite) and he made this sweet little game. I want to look at the source code, and the challenge is for me to get that from the .exe. Is there a simple decompiler for a qbasic compiled program? Or do I have to do something more sneaky, like convert the binary of the .exe to ascii? I'm assuming that the compiled .exe is in binary.


----------



## zkiller (Feb 18, 2004)

are you sure it was done in qbasic and visual basic. qbasic hasn't seen any love since the days of MS dos.


----------



## whatsmydingo (Feb 18, 2004)

Yeah, I'm sure. There's no forms or anything, the qb environment just prints to the screen a lot. At school we have to take qb to learn the "basics" of programming before we can take vb or c++, yet we're allowed to take web design which teaches you perl, php, java, html and javascript with no prerequisites. But yeah, I tried just opening up the exe in notepad to get the binary and then converting that into ascii, but it didn't exactly work out.


----------



## zkiller (Feb 18, 2004)

that's one odd school you are attending. if they really wanted you to learn something valueable as a foundation in programming they would be teaching you C. anyways, i don't know i how to decompile this program you have. haven't seen a qbasic program in years.


----------



## whatsmydingo (Feb 18, 2004)

Yeah, they have qb and then vb, and then they switch to c++, which has a completely different structure, and basically qb was a pointless waste of a semester, as was vb, and I learned most everything I know from perl. But that doesn't mean I know a whole lot, I still want to know perl a lot better.


----------



## [tab] (Feb 20, 2004)

AFAIK QBasic programs are interpreted, rather than compiled.


----------



## whatsmydingo (Feb 20, 2004)

if you have version 4.5 or above you can compile them, too.


----------



## zkiller (Feb 21, 2004)

[tab] said:
			
		

> AFAIK QBasic programs are interpreted, rather than compiled.


i do recall that there was a way to make executables out of the little qbasic app. don't ask me how, i never did it and never saw anyone do it, but i do believe reading something about it. :shrug:


----------



## Christopher (Feb 21, 2004)

My school forces me to take QB as well, next year is C then C++. And I've never compiled a QB program either  There probably is a compiler somewhere though. (Google brings up a few )


----------

