Comment by vunderba

It really isn't - from the docs themselves:

  FreeBASIC gives you the FreeBASIC compiler program (fbc or fbc.exe),
  plus the tools and libraries used by it. fbc is a command line program
  that takes FreeBASIC source code files (*.bas) and compiles them into
  executables.  In the combined standalone packages for windows, the main
  executable is named fbc32.exe (for 32-bit) and fbc64.exe (for 64-bit)

The magic of QuickBasic was that it was an editor, interpreter, and help system all rolled up into a single EXE file. Punch F5 and watch your BAS file execute line-by-line.