⚡ VBX (Visual Basic X)

"The simplicity you remember. The power you need."
Reviving the beloved simplicity of Visual Basic 6 as a modern, cross-platform, zero-dependency compiled language.

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🌟 Why VBX?

Remember when writing a program was simple, visual, and genuinely fun? You didn't need to configure complex bundlers, download 500MB of node_modules, or battle dependency hell just to display a window or calculate some numbers.

VBX brings back the magic of Rapid Application Development (RAD) for the modern era:

• 🚀 Blazing Native Speed: Transpiles .vbx code into clean standard C99 and compiles with -O2 optimization.
• 📦 Zero-Dependency Standalone Binaries: Generates single .exe / executable binaries. No virtual environments, no runtimes required.
• 🪟 Iconic Native GUI: Built-in MsgBox and InputBox that display native OS dialogs across Windows, macOS, and Linux without external GUI bloat.
• 🧘 Human-Friendly Syntax: The classic keywords you know (Dim, Sub, Function, For ... To ... Next, While ... Wend, If ... ElseIf ... Else ... End If) with modern automatic type inference.
• 🔤 Rich Built-in Strings: Native & concatenation, plus classic functions (Len, UCase, LCase, Left, Right, Mid).
• 💾 Built-in Standard Essentials: Native File I/O (File.Write, File.Read) right out of the box.

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💻 Quick Showcase

1. Interactive Apps with Native Popups & File I/O

Prompt the user, greet them, and save data to disk in less than 15 lines:

' Interactive Registration App
Dim userName = InputBox("Please enter your name:", "Registration")

' Display native alert
MsgBox "Hello, " & userName & "! Saving your data...", "Welcome"

' Save to local file
Dim logFile = "user_data.txt"
File.Write logFile, "Registered User: " & userName

' Read it back and verify
Dim savedContent = File.Read(logFile)
MsgBox "Verified from file: " & savedContent, "Success"

2. Powerful Control Flow & String Functions

Dim msg = "Visual Basic X"
Print "Length: " & Len(msg)
Print "Upper: " & UCase(msg)
Print "Sub: " & Mid(msg, 1, 6)

' While ... Wend Loop
Dim count = 3
While count > 0
    Print "Countdown: " & count
    count = count - 1
Wend

' ElseIf Condition
Dim score = 85
If score >= 90 Then
    Print "Grade: A"
ElseIf score >= 80 Then
    Print "Grade: B"
Else
    Print "Grade: C"
End If

3. Procedures & Functions

Sub Greet(name)
    MsgBox "Welcome to VBX, " & name
End Sub

Function CalculateTotal(price, taxRate)
    Return price + (price * taxRate)
End Function

Greet "Developer"
Dim total = CalculateTotal(100.0, 0.14)
Print "Total: " & total

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🛠️ Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Go (1.20+) to build the compiler.
• A standard C compiler installed (gcc or clang) on your system PATH.

Installation

Clone the repository and build the vbx CLI:

git clone https://github.com/M5Devs/vbx.git
cd vbx
go build -o vbx ./cmd/vbx

(On Windows, this produces vbx.exe)

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🚀 CLI Usage

Run a script instantly

Transpile, compile, and execute in one command:

vbx run examples/interactive_app.vbx

Build a standalone binary

Generate a production-ready, optimized standalone executable:

# Builds popup.exe (Windows) or popup (Linux/macOS)
vbx build examples/popup.vbx

# Specify custom output name
vbx build examples/popup.vbx -o my_cool_app

# Keep intermediate generated C code for inspection
vbx build examples/popup.vbx --keep-c

Version check

vbx version

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🏛️ Architecture Overview

.vbx Source Code 
       │
       ▼
 [ VBX Parser & Type Inference (Go) ]
       │
       ▼
 Generated Standard C99 Code (Lean Helpers)
       │
       ▼
 [ C Compiler (GCC / Clang with -O2) ]
       │
       ▼
 Ultra-fast Standalone Native Binary (.exe)

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🗺️ Roadmap to 1.0

• Recursive Descent Parser & Expression AST
• Dynamic Type Inference (long long, double, const char*)
• Control Flow (If-ElseIf-Else-End If, For-To-Next, While-Wend)
• Subroutines (Sub) & Functions (Function)
• Cross-Platform Native Dialogs (MsgBox, InputBox)
• Built-in String Library (&, Len, UCase, LCase, Left, Right, Mid)
• Standard File I/O (File.Write, File.Read)
• Standalone Binary Compiler (vbx build with -O2)
• 1D Arrays (Dim arr(size))
• VS Code Extension (Syntax Highlighting & Run integration)
• Lightweight Dedicated Visual IDE (VBX Studio)
• Embedded SQLite3 Database Support

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 with a Runtime Library Exception - see the LICENSE file for details.

Note on Compiler Exception: Programs, applications, and binaries created using the VBX compiler are NOT subject to the GPL. You are free to distribute, license, or sell your compiled VBX software under any terms you choose (including closed-source and proprietary).

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"Software shouldn't be a chore. It should be a joy to build."
M5 Dev — 2026