Program the Raspberry Pi Pico using BASIC - Introducing PiccoloBASIC

There is now an new way to code for the Raspberry Pi Pico, using BASIC. While you can code for the Pico using C/C++ or Micropython, now you have the option to use BASIC. This is a video about how I ported my BASIC interpreter to the Pico.
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#garyexplains

[teikoh]

Ha! A man after my heart! During some covid lockdown a couple of years ago I put together an ESP32 based hand console (I have a bunch of parts including a Pi Pico but thought I'd muck around with ESP32) with a colour LCD display with the idea - having grown up with computers in the 80's - of a device like my C64 with instant on into a programming environment for kids. I looked long and hard at BASIC but decided I didn't really like it in 2020+ and ported Lua, a graphics library and wrote my own sound library. OS functions and file system almost like yours. Then lockdown ended and got an interesting job and lost interest in it...

[slothgirl]

This is so interesting. I haven't used BASIC since the 80s. First Applesoft BASIC on the Apple ][+ then BBX (Business Basic eXtended) for work.

Wonderful work, Gary! Thanks for this.

[stompreaper]

I really like these projects. It’s great to watch people taking technology and making it their own. Thanks for your enthusiasm Gary.

[Tugedhel]

As a guy starting on the Apple II and TRS 80 I say THANK YOU ! ! !

[BrightBlueJim]

Other things it really, really needs:
1) Arrays. I'm not sure how you can do anything at all useful with it, without being able to make lists of things.
2) String operators, like length, substring. Once you have arrays set up, then you can access individual characters in a string by making a string an array of characters. Yeah, I know that takes a lot.
3) Exec n, as in, "execute machine code starting at address n".
4) File read and write (and of course, open and close).
It's amazing what these features make possible. Because a version of BASIC I was using allowed array variables, and treated strings as arrays of characters, I could emulate structs that held a LOT of data. In another BASIC, I was able to write an assembler in BASIC (I think it was for Z-80), which combined with peek and poke and exec and file reads and writes, allowed me to write optimized routines for speed critical portions of programs.
These are just suggestions, based on what features in BASIC have been most useful to me. I left BASIC decades ago, so I won't be helping with this. But good luck, and happy programming!

[webmasterg]

Interesting project Gary -- and well done. However, MM Basic running on the Pico (in it's various guises - PicoMite, PicoMiteVGA & WebMite) is just such a well developed system now that I can't see any reason I'd want to use any other BASIC (and to be honest I don't want to dabble in Python either really) I also noticed that you commented elsewhere that MMB isn't open source. Technically that is so but in practice you can request the source from Geoff and he'll let you have it. Quite a few people have done so and it's one of the reasons MMB has prospered and is now supported on multiiple hardware platforms. For instance Peter M is the main 'Pico' developer but others are supporting MMB on Linux and the (very fast) STM H7. It is of course free to donwload and I have MMB running on PIC32, Pico/PicoVGA and Win11 these days...

[stevedegeorge]

Nice! Ordered a Pico just to play wit this.

[notbugs]

Great work, it makes me very interested in the future of this project.

[robertdelfavero]

I need to see the Sieve of Eratosthenes times, like Byte Magazine used to do back when Basic was the thing!

[mechaform]

Very cool retro effort! Thanks for sharing this content!

[suki]

very interesting. I did learn basic in the 80ies, when i was a teen.

[Aeon_Electronics]

Cool, sounds much like MMBASIC for the Raspberry Pico!

[RPrice_OG]

Wow, such a cool project. I can't wait to see where this goes.

[ksbs]

As always I learned something from your video. Going to check out the little FS. I should put the HOC calculator from Kernigan and Pike book on my Pico 😁

[ZettDarkstone]

alll Basic stuff is cool. its a bit like mm-basic. hope full you got cool options soon!

[PeterRichardsandYoureNot]

I’m excited. More than I have been in a long time for a basic focused project. Is this open source? I’d love to add some functions to the basic language hat I have always thought were missing from basic when I was using the Apple ][e as a kid. Simple support for regular expressions, etc. would be friggin awesome to have built in. Never mind…..just heard it’s ooensource. Now even more excited. So excited I’m jumping the gun on listening vs typing.

[thaernejem]

Sir, I love Basic days and I’m finding my way for Python programming. I wish I can assist in anyway you see fits

[wisteela]

Fantastic. Another reason for me to buy a Pico.

[gregholloway]

Pretty cool, Gary. If you do try to implement keyboard support, I’d think PS/2 would be easier. Could also add SD card support so that external storage is possible. 👍

[Videogame]

Hi Gary I've been trying get my pi pico to work with my pca9685 16 channel servo board if you know good video how up load the modules code in the correct folder . I've tried micopython and circuitpython my code not run I've tried all ide programs thonny circuitpython ect. I 'm lost anyone help please. I've built a magicmirror2 cars moving with will remote. I can get the servos using gpio pins but would get board working. Help please