PowerBASIC is a native code compiler, not an interpreter of any sort. When you compile a program, it's translated immediately into optimized machine code. "PowerBASIC is Bob Zale's 32-bit implementation of his powerful PB Compiler. PB crunches standard BASIC code, then outputs true, standalone Windows executable or DLL files - no run times, no libraries, no ocx files. BASIC programs compiled with PB generally run circles around VB. I won't quote any benchmarks here, because your results may vary, but it's safe to say that PB code generally blows the doors off VB-generated code. This is one cool tool, and a must-have for any VB shop, bar none." Rich Levin, Senior Editor Information Week Magazine
A single standalone executable (.EXE) which requires no run-time libraries, no DLLs, no support files of any kind unless you choose that approach. The compiler is very fast -- it compiles more than one million lines per minute on a modern computer. Hundreds or thousands of times faster than some of our competitors. But perhaps more important, the compiled executables are fast, too! Many times faster than some other versions of BASIC, and always competitive with any other compiler of any dialect. Perhaps that's why so many Visual Basic programmers use PowerBASIC DLLs to speed up critical portions of their code!