Introduction
Xbasic is Alpha Fives built-in programming language. Out of the box, Alpha Five is a powerful database and application development software package. You can use Alpha Five for lots of different information management needs without doing any programming by using the Alpha Five menus, commands, and Genies.
| Genies are sequences of commands that Alpha Five performs to automatically accomplish various tasks. After you answer a series of questions about what you need to do, Alpha Five figures out the best way to accomplish the task and runs it. For example, Alpha Five includes an Import Data Genie that guides you through incorporating existing data from external files into an Alpha Five database. Genies and the Alpha Five commands enable you to do a lot; Programming with Xbasic gives you even more control and options. |
However, learning Xbasic will provide you with the tools to do much more with Alpha Five. Mastering Xbasic will open up vast new opportunities for you to create highly customized applications and will allow you to manipulate your data in just the way you want. And the new additions to the Xbasic commands in Version 5 provide you with the power to design and develop applications using the latest Windows techniques, structures, and tools.
Xbasic is a very rich programming language with literally hundreds of commands, so it is not possible to learn everything you can do with Xbasic in this volume. You will get a good grounding in basic programming concepts that you should understand in order to use Xbasic efficiently. You will want to refer to the Alpha Five Xbasic Reference Guide to explore all the different options that Xbasic offers and you should experiment with different Xbasic techniques and commands to really learn by doing. We think programming is creative and fun and we hope you will too.
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See Also
What's New in Version 6 Xbasic