I started programming in GW-BASIC on an IBM PC clone running MS-DOS. Back then, many so-called home and business computers came bundled with a BASIC interpreter, mostly made by or licensed from Microsoft. They all looked similar. You were greeted by a screen with a READY or OK prompt and a blinking cursor waiting for your input. The “screen editor” and interpreter were all in one in the true sense of the word – they weren’t bolted together like the separate text editors and interpreters/compilers we use these days…
  • @[email protected]
    30•2 months ago

    If not for the BASIC examples in the old 3-2-1 contact kids magazines that I discovered worked on my elementary schools Apple II computers and then later QBASIC, I have no idea what I would be doing in life.

    That was my gateway to a greater interest in computers and an eventual job in IT. And. I will always respect BASIC for it.

    • @[email protected]
      8•2 months ago

      This is my childhood! That and Logo Writer were the gateway to my future.

      I worked with a buddy; one of us would read from the code listing in the magazine and the other would type. We didn’t know the names of some of the symbols so we made up our own names. Tilde will always be the ‘squiggly’ to me.

  • @[email protected]
    7•2 months ago

    I agree with the author that oddly Basic syntax is closer to Assembly than most languages so is an ok place to start.

    I’d like to see Dijkstra write an Assembly program without JMP.

    • @mindbleach
      2•2 months ago

      This is where I’d humorously link that maniac who wrote a program exclusively using MOV, of any amount of quotation or clarification could convince a modern search engine that “movulator” does not, in fact, mean “modulator.”

  • @[email protected]English
    6•2 months ago

    My kids have been surprisingly interested when I show them Commodore 64 or BBC Micro BASIC. I was expecting them to groan but they wanted to write their own programs on them. They’re also more interested when it’s a physical machine than an emulator.

  • @[email protected]
    5•2 months ago

    I think it’s a bad idea to start with BASIC in this day and age. However, I do think it’s a very good idea to teach student BASIC once they’ve learned a modern language. It’s a great way to teach them why programming works the way it does and to teach about the roots.

  • @mindbleach
    3•2 months ago

    A fun exercise that nerd-sniped me last year: recreate The Matrix’s “code rain” effect.