7. Compiling BASIC programs to C

Although ScriptBasic is an interpreted language it is possible to create stand-alone executables from BASIC programs on any platform where ScriptBasic can run. To get an executable standalone program first you have to compile your BASIC program to C and the C code has to be compiled to get the executable. (Unless you use the option `-E' that can generate executable directly.)

To get the C version of the BASIC program you should use the command line option C, for example:

scriba -nCo myprogram.c myprogram.bas

This command will compile the BASIC program `myprogram.bas' and save the code in C language format into the text file `myprogram.c'. You have to compile this file using a C compiler and link it with the library files.

When using this option the ScriptBasic interpreter will ignore any cached precompiled code and will compile the BASIC program from source code fresh. When compiling BASIC to C do not forget to specify the output file using the option `-o'. Without this option ScriptBasic does not perform the compilation, there is no default file name for the output.

Note that this is not a real compilation. This methodology only creates the intermediary code that the ScriptBasic execution module uses and puts it into a C program. The final executable will contain the binary code of the BASIC program and will execute the same way as it would execute running the original file.

The achievements you can get compiling the code and generating standalone executable file are:

• Faster startup, because the executable does not need to compile or even load the BASIC program, but can execute it immediately. This is a bit even faster than the EXE file generated by directly compiled from BASIC.
• Simplified setup of your program, because you only have to deliver a standalone exe to your users.
• You can hide that your program was written in BASIC and can a bit protect your intellectual property.

Also note that you have to have a properly created configuration file and the dll or so modules on the system your executable is going to run in case you need some features that rely on configuration settings.

You may also consider recompiling the ScriptBasic interpreter to statically link some of the external modules that your BASIC program uses.