PowerBASIC
Ironically what got me started with PowerBASIC was a .NET podcast. One of Carl Franklin’s .NET Rocks podcasts featured Bob Zale and talked about PowerBASIC. I looked into PowerBASIC as a way to make utilities that had no runtime requirements and could run with zero install. The Basic language is different than VB in several areas, but it is similar in a lot also. The new statements are easy to learn and it has several built-in functions that make your job easier.
What it lacks is VB’s main feature. The ability to layout a GUI and then double-click on the controls to add code. There are a couple of options. You can purchase PowerBASIC Forms which gives you a tool to layout your GUI. PowerBASIC Forms is a code generator. It creates code that you can then edit in a similar manner as doing MFC for Visual C++. There is another alternative that actually gives you a more VB like experience. It is called FireFly Visual Designer. They also have a free enhanced IDE for PowerBASIC called JellyFish Pro Editor.
PowerBasic has been updated with a new version (9.0 – Aug 08).  They have added classes to it, but they are really COM objects.
Main PowerBASIC site
PowerBASIC Compiler for Windows
PowerBASIC Console Compiler
PowerBASIC Forms
