BASIC-256 v2.1.1 is out — a maintenance release on top of 2.1.0. Programs run about twice as fast, and what you type in the browser now survives a refresh.
Builds are available for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux and the Raspberry Pi, and BASIC-256 also runs in a browser tab with nothing to install.
What 2.1.1 brings
- Programs run faster — arithmetic-heavy loops are roughly twice as fast. The interpreter now reuses the memory it holds values in instead of asking the system for a new block and handing it back for every value it creates, and it steps from one instruction to the next with less work. Measured at 1.88× overall, fairly evenly across integer maths, floating point, transcendental functions and variable access. Fractals, physics and anything else that loops hard gain the most, and the browser version gains most of all.
- The browser remembers your program. A refresh, a closed tab or a restarted browser no longer loses what is in the editor. Every open tab comes back with its text, its name and whichever one was in front. Saving still downloads the file exactly as before — this is a safety net, not a replacement for saving.
Also in this release
- On Windows 11 the menu bar titles — File, Edit, View and the rest — are drawn at the system text size, like everything else in the program, and the bar makes room for them when that size is large.
- Help → About BASIC-256 now names the project’s own website, basic256.org, alongside the documentation site, doc.basic256.org.
- The Windows downloads no longer carry Microsoft’s Visual C++ redistributable as a file of its own. It has always been, and still is, bundled inside the installer, which offers to install it if the system needs it.
The ChangeLog has the full list, and the release notes summarise every version so far.
Pick your platform and download it, or try it in your browser first — run.basic256.org already runs 2.1.1.