Overview: BASIC is a powerful programming language that has been around for over 30 years!  It's charm and popularity comes from its ease of use and massive amount of sample code available on the net.  It is to no surprise that BASIC has come to Windows CE Devices.

NS Basic/CE is a complete, powerful development environment - that runs completely on your Handheld PC or Handheld PC/Pro.  Developers can now use NS Basic/CE to create powerful CE applications directly on the device!  There is no need for a cumbersome installation process or configuration of your desktop macine.

Installation - The installation was quite easy.  One of the first things you'll notice with this product is that it comes on only 3 diskettes, totaling about 3 MB's!  Finally a software package that isn't 400 MB which takes up half your hard drive!  The only 2 things required for installation is a CE Device and a desktop computer with Windows CE Services.  The services is necessary to install NSBasic to the CE Device.  There are 3 EXE's which you are required to run which will install the NSBasic editor, CE System Files, and the Basic scripting engine to the CE Device.  Installation doesn't get much simpler than this! 

Documentation/Help Files - The most frustrating part of most software is the lack of documentation.  That is definitely not the case with NS Basic/CE!  The 190 page pocket handbook describes every function, statement, object, and constant available in the NSB Language.  In addition, each definition has sample code to make learning the product easy!

Samples/Code Quality - In addition to the amount of sample code in the handbook, NSBasic/CE comes with 18 miscellaneous  project files demonstrating various aspects of the NSBASIC programming language.

Usability - I found the software very easy to use.  Once the software is installed on the Handheld, it is as simple as typing in your code into the NSBasic Editor. 

Redistribution - NSB permits royalty-free distribution of applications built using NSBasic/CE. In order to redistribute NSB applications, you will have to include the Basic Scripting Engine for Windows CE.  Your source code can either be clear text or encrypted, keeping prying eyes from viewing your source.

Overall Rating - NS Basic is definitely a great step for the future of Windows CE Development.  With this product, developers are not required to have any specific OS on their desktop machine.  In addition, there is no complicated installation process which takes up 400 MB's of valuable space!  In future versions I would like to see the installation come to 1 setup routine which would install all the necessary files for development.   Finally, a visual development environment for form designs (I hear this is coming very soon).

NS Basic Corporation
77 Hill Cresent
Toronto, Canada M1M 1J3
Tel: (416) 264-5999
Fax: (416) 264-5888
info@nsbasic.com