RISC OS BBC BASIC User Guide AI Assistant

Introducing RISC OS BBC BASIC User Guide AI Assistant: An experimental AI Assistant focused on BBC BASIC and system programming on RISC OS.

For decades, BBC BASIC has been the heart of programming on RISC OS; from simple games to full-blown desktop utilities. It’s a relatively elegant language with unusual powers: inline assembler, direct access to SWIs, and the ability to write windowed applications. But learning how to do things the RISC OS way (especially if you’re targeting the WIMP, Toolbox, or low-level system interfaces), often means digging through aging documentation or reading long-forgotten examples.

The RISC OS BBC BASIC User Guide AI Assistant is an experimental project that tries to make that process a little less lonely.

It’s not a general-purpose chatbot. It’s a specialised AI trained to assist only with programming in BBC BASIC under RISC OS.

The General GenAI uses a back-end Graph Database which has been built using information from all official manuals and specially crafted code examples, to train the AI to be able to help with BBS BASIC on RISC OS.

The goal is to make this knowledge easier to search and ask about.

What It Is (and What It Isn’t)

This Assistant tries not to improvise like a typical AI. It’s designed to answer questions only using official and verifiable documentation. If no official example exists, it will (or at least should) tell you that directly.

Of course, it’s not perfect. It can still make mistakes, especially when stitching together multiple complex topics (like memory layout plus WIMP polling). But it’s constantly being corrected and updated with more accurate examples. You’re encouraged to challenge it, spot errors, and help us to improve it.

Right now, it can:

  • Look up and explain documented BBC BASIC commands and syntax
  • Describe how SWIs work and how to build the required data blocks
  • Help walk through creating ToolBox and WIMP applications
  • Offer examples directly from the PRMs — as they were written

But it won’t:

  • Write code based on guesswork (unless explicitly asked)
  • Offer undocumented “hacks” or shortcuts
  • Explain RISC OS internals not covered by the known manuals

Why Bother?

There’s a lot of fun to be had writing BBC BASIC programs in 2025. Whether you’re reviving old projects, exploring ARM assembly via [], or just experimenting with system calls, it’s easy to get started — but much harder to go deep.

The Assistant doesn’t try to replace the manuals. Instead, it complements them — a kind of programmable “BBC BASIC helpdesk” you can query 24/7.

That said, it’s still a work in progress. It depends heavily on the quality and structure of its source material. It also benefits from community involvement — especially from those who know the quirks of RISC OS development better than any AI ever could.

How to Use It

The Assistant runs on OpenAI’s GPT platform. If you’re a ChatGPT Pro user, you can load the assistant and begin chatting right away.

Ask it things like:

What’s the correct data structure for Wimp_CreateWindow?

How do I pass a pointer to a string in a data block for a SWI?

Can I use the ToolBox to create a save-as box?

And it should either:

  • Give you an answer pulled from the docs, or
  • Tell you it can’t help, because no documented example is available

Looking Ahead

This is still an evolving experiment. As more documentation gets incorporated — and more errors get spotted and fixed — the Assistant may become a genuinely useful programming companion for the RISC OS community.

But it won’t ever replace experience, testing, or reading the original PRMs. It’s more of a learning bridge — a tool to help bring the old-school documentation era into a slightly more conversational one.

In short: it’s for having fun, digging deeper, and hopefully making fewer mistakes when writing BBC BASIC on RISC OS.

  • Try it on ChatGPT
  • Project lead: Paolo Fabio Zaino
  • Sources: ZFP Systems Knowledge Graph DB
  • Launched: 2025
  • Feedback welcome!