NewBas-D0
Hello NewBas-D0,
If I were you I'd go to TB Products page and scroll down to "True Basic Silver Edirion V5.5" for $45 and try that first. This has everything so you can thoroughly explore TB's capabilities . All TB versions have the same core code, capable of all that TB is capable of, except that Bronze does not allow binding a program into an executable .exe file. You can also get any/all of the other Toolkits, each ~$15, that are of interest to you. They run on any version.
The only additional thing is that the GOLD versions have an ability to allow dll's which you make yourself in C, (and maybe another feature or two which escape me at the moment, since I never use these.) To find out about these extra features, download the GOLD PDF manual, "True BASIC Gold Edition Manual" on the Downloads page. This manual describes the version 6.007 which has a "new Editor". Then you can decide whether on not you want/need the more expensive GOLD or either of the v.6 versions. Fundamentallly, all True Basic core functions are exactly the same. Personally I have used all the versions from the beginning right up to v.5.5, and have never seen the need for anything beyond V5.33 SILVER, although I do have the GOLD v5.5.
All TB versions allow you to make "Libraries" of Subroutines and Functions which you can invoke in your programs. This saves much time in programming and over the years you will build up many of these so that wiriting a new program frequently amounts to little more than simply calling some of your library routines. I have accrued multiple thousands of lines of these over the years. When you bind a program into an .EXE, the required routines from the library files are automatically incorporated. Very hassle free.
Another great feature is that Line Numbers are not necessary and not rquired (although they can be used if for some reason one wants to fool with them).
The "New Editor" which the v.6's have is different from the "Old" original TB Editor, which v.5 and earlier had. Since I do not have v.6 I cannot comment too much on the new editor. The old editor was sorta OK, but I always preffered any third party ascii text editor since those always have many handy features. TB programs are niothing but .txt files anyway, and TB will run them even if the extention is ".txt" vice "tru."
Beyond the PDF manuals, there is a pretty thorough book "A World Tour Of True Basic", by John Arscott, which covers virtually anything one might want to know about using TB. (This on the Products Page for $29; also on Amazon.)
Any other questions you may have can be posted on this forum, and if someone knowing the answer happens along an answer might be forthcoming. There is no actual support branch, unfortunately. There used to be a lot of traffic here containing much useful information, but not so much anymore. I will be glad to try to answer any questions; I check by here frequently.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Mike C.