Hi,

I don't have a lot of PC progamming experience and I need to find a
very simple programming language, that will run on Windows XP, that
will:
1. request users to input some data (via some sort of pop-up window)
2. open a text file and using find/replace logic replace found text
with data from first step
3. and finally to execute a program via the command prompt that will
use the edited text file from the second step.

I would like to use free software if possible. I would normally use VB
for this but I do not have access to it so it is out of the question.
I heard that BASIC comes standard with Windows. Is that true? And if
so, it is easy to code?

Thanks!

BASIC has not come standard on PCs for probably close to 15 years. 
Microsoft BASIC was one of the first products that started Bill Gates
on his way.  And he has been charging for it ever since.

You might want to look at Python: http://www.python.org

if i were you i would use c++ its easy and siple and does what you
want and you can use any of the compilers :: devc or borland or rhide
all of them work on Windows XP
Good luck

My Suggestion Is to use PHP

Reason 1 - Is Free
Reason 2 - You can give access for all your users (All Php programs
can run on Internet)

http://www.php.net, in this site you can find the language, samples,
and help for all your questions.

My suggestion is to use Perl. Perl gets a bad rap as being really hard
to learn, but for you want to do, it really is going to be the
simplest path. You can download and install ActivePerl from
www.activestate.com, and just go through the installation and Perl
will be ready to go. Not really anything to configure or change in
order to be ready to do what you need to do.

Parsing through a text file is VERY simple to do in Perl. A couple
good books that will get you going with what you are trying to do in a
few minutes are O'Reilly's "Perl Cookbook" and "Learning Perl".

PHP isn't a bad choice, either, but I find that on a Windows machine,
ActivePerl is just MUCH simpler to install and get up and running. No
fussing with config files and crap like that. Just install and write
code.

I'll second the recommendation of Perl for this specific kind of task.
 It's a natural fit for search and replace functions, and there are
many books/tutorials/code snippets lying around to help out.

Python is another favorite with me, so if this were a more generic
programming project, I'll probably recommend that.

regards, mathtalk-ga

Hi,
I went to the activestate website and it seems to me that Perl is not
free. Is that correct?

Hi,
I found the free download. Sorry! I do have a couple of questions though:
1. will PERL build an .EXE for me to move to a user's PC's?
2. Do I need to install PERL on all of my user's PC's

You will need to install Perl in each PC you want to do this in. Note
that perl is a scripting language, meaning it is interpreted, not
compiled. So you cannot make an executable with perl. If you are fine
with data entry through a command prompt, then this will be very
simple code.

If you need a GUI, then you can use one of the Perl Win32 GUI
extentions, like this one:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/perl-win32-gui

Do a google search on "Perl win32 gui", and you'll see a bunch of options.

If you really need an executable (.exe file), I would recommend using
C++ compiled with GCC (http://gcc.gnu.org/). GCC is free and a C++
program will compile into an .EXE file.

If you want to create standalone Win32 executables, and you already
know BASIC, check out the assortment of free BASIC compilers for
Windows here:

http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/basic.shtml

regards, mathtalk-ga

I would add Lazarus (with FreePascal compiler). Emulates Delphi and if
you used Visual Basic you will feel at home with Lazarus. Compiles to
.exe nothing to distribute. Free and open source. Cross platform to if
you ever need it.

See:

http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/


or SharpDevelop with Visual Basic.net (compiler itself without the IDE
available for free from Microsoft as part of .Net framework SDK with a
lrage download), but it would require users to install the .Net
framework

http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/ (SharpDevelop)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9b3a2ca6-3647-4070-9f41-a333c6b9181d&displaylang=en

I would go with Python. since you will run it on windows I would get
it from activestate here
http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePython/. Programs can be
compiled into an install program that can be installed on the users PC
without the need to have Python installed. It is Free. It is easy. It
is cool.