Beta 3 is out. If no blocking issues turn up, this is the version that becomes the official, stable BASIC-256 v2.1.
Whole numbers are properly 64-bit everywhere
The bitwise shift operators << and >>, reading a large whole number from a string or with INPUT, and raising an error on a number that is too large now all behave the same on every architecture.
Light and dark themes
The Edit and Text Output windows follow a colour theme chosen under View → Theme: Follow System (the default), Light, or Dark. The Graphics Output window is deliberately left unthemed and stays white, so existing programs draw exactly as they always have.
Documentation and updates
- The About box, Help → Online help and F1 keyword help now open doc.basic256.org.
- Help → Check for update now opens the GitHub releases page, where builds for every platform are published. Compare the version there against Help → About BASIC-256.
In the browser
- Sound and speech work on iPad and iPhone, started by the first touch anywhere on the page.
- The demos that expected a keyboard can be driven with a finger. BubbleUniverse_variations starts on a tap and cycles its variations on a tap or click, StrangeAttractors is explored by dragging and cleared with a double-tap, and AIChatbot fills the window instead of sharing it with the editor.
Examples
PacMan has been reworked — a fixed 50 frames a second, a score that carries across lives, and a narrowed playfield so the score and legend get a panel of their own. A new game, Claude-AI-neon_snake, has been added.