Category: general computing

Do you know that there are free yet powerful Programming software that allows you to compile and run the created programs as standalones? Yes, there are.

I will list those that can run and create applications for Windows OS. All these programs will be able to create standalone executable exe that does not require you to install virtual runtimes and frameworks.

RapidQ - Of all the free programming tools, RapidQ is the most easy to learn and use. It's programming language is Basic derived and is comparatively easy to understand. User of Visual Basic will find it quite easy and familar. RapidQ complies projects as standalone exe files that have an inbuilt interpretator. As it is not running on native code, the resultant programs runs slower than machine langauge programs.

RapidQ makes programs with graphic user interface (GUI) very easily. However, the default GUI tools are not really very modern by today's standard. You can enhance the interface's shortcomings by additional support 'includes'. RapidQ is no longer supported by its creator, but you can download the program here.

Lazarus - Free Pascal - Lazarus is a free alternative to the powerful Delphi. It is a RAD tool with an excellent IDE, which can create powerful and modern GUI programs. The language used is Free Pascal, which is a free alternative for Pascal. Lazarus has a huge community. Lazarus and Free Pascal is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. In fact, its mainly selling point is that you can code once and compile later in any OS platform. Unlike RapidQ, Lazarus and Free Pascal is open source and is heavily developed by many programmers. You can get Lazarus and Free Pascal here.

Well, that all for the essay. I am sure that there are other free  programming tools around too. I will add them to this website if I do come across any good ones. In the meantime, have fun and try your hands at programming using these free tools, if you like.