====== Installation and Usage ======

===== Prerequisites =====

  * XC=BASIC is a console application and therefore you need to understand at least the very basics of using the console of your choice, e. g. executing commands, changing directories, copying files, etc.
  * XC=BASIC depends on [[https://dasm-assembler.github.io/|dasm]]. Download //dasm// from their website and make sure it is invokable from any directory. You can do this by either installing it into a directory that's already in the PATH environment variable or by adding the directory to PATH.

<adm warning>
Make sure you have the latest version of //dasm//. Users reported that XC=BASIC code did not compile with older versions.
</adm>

===== Installation =====

  - Go to XC=BASIC's GitHub page: [[https://github.com/neilsf/XC-BASIC3]].
  - Click the green "Code" button and then either click "Download ZIP" or find the instructions to clone the repository.
  - If you downloaded the zip file, extract it somewhere on your machine.
  - You will find pre-compiled executables in the //bin/// directory for Windows, Linux and macOS. All of them are compiled for 64-bit systems. If you run a 32-bit system or another operating system, you'll have to compile XC=BASIC from source. See the //README.md// file for instructions.
  - To run properly, XC=BASIC needs the //lib/// directory as well and it must be in the same folder where the //bin/// directory is. Just leave them as they are.
  - On Linux and macOS, the easiest is if you make a symlink to the executable into any directory that is already in PATH. For example:\\ ''sudo ln /path/to/xc-basic3/bin/Linux/xcbasic3 /usr/local/bin/xcbasic3''
  - On Windows, you can follow [[https://www.architectryan.com/2018/03/17/add-to-the-path-on-windows-10/|this guide]] to learn how to add //xc-basic3/bin/Windows/// (the directory that contains the executable) to the PATH.

===== Usage =====

If you installed everything, you should be able to run the command:

''xcbasic3 --help''

The output contains all useful information on how to use the program. The most common usage is:

''xcbasic3 path/to/source.bas path/to/output.prg''

That's it. Continue to the next page to learn about the language.

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