The BASIC programming language turns 60

paulh, 8 days ago

I found that the simpler, early BASIC dialects were a good primer for assembly language. You had to create all the structure from jumps to numeric values. Goto and gosub mapped on to jump and call instructions.

Using labels in assembly was a step up from line numbers!

cupcakezealot, 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

went to computer camp in the early 90s (yes i was the stereotype) and we learned basic programming on radio shack computers (the monitor/keyboard combined type - i can’t remember the name)

then i moved on to qbasic and started programming basic type text adventure games with inventory management in my spare time :)

edit: looking it up, i believe it was the trs-80. it looks familiar but i’m not 100% positive. could have also been the model ii

blazeknave, 13 days ago

First line of code was in qbasic in 88

Bricriu, 13 days ago

I learned TI BASIC on a Texas Instruments 99/4a back in the very early 80s. Wrote some programs from magazines, saved them on tapes, and went on to automate D&D character creation in an attempt to rules-lawyer an all-PC dwarf army.

Fun fact, though: TI BASIC lived on until at least the late 90s, on the TI graphing calculators that everyone taking Algebra/Trig had to buy – or borrow from the school. I wrote a surreal choose-your-own-adventure game on my calculator, large enough that because of memory limitations, you couldn’t open the file to edit it without deleting another, ancillary file.

And since you could transfer programs via a proprietary cable, I put that game on every school calculator and as many of my friends’ as wanted it. It was still there years later when I visited.

whostosay, 13 days ago

This is that real gangster shit in case any of you were wondering

kalimari, 11 days ago

TI BASIC is still on my TI-84+ CE calculator that I use today

I’m not sure if the Python edition TI 84 supports it though

Kolanaki, 13 days ago

Easiest Hello World program ever was in BASIC.

<span style="color:#323232;">10 PRINT "Hello World"
</span><span style="color:#323232;">20 GOTO 10
</span>

Don’t even have to call a library or declare a variable! Meanwhile, I can’t even remember the shit you need to put in front of every C/C++ program (HREF/void.h or something; it’s usually there automatically these days in some compilers, like Visual Studio).

xyzzy, 11 days ago

C

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {

printf(“Hello, world”);

return 0;

}

C++

#include <iostream>

int main() {

std::cout << “Hello, world” << std::endl;

return 0;

}

ma11en, 13 days ago

Sinclair Spectrum 48k Basic for me.

xia, 13 days ago

Can something really “turn 60” if it is dead, though?

diplodocus, 13 days ago

Thanks, BASIC, for teaching me so much I had to later unlearn in order to not be a garbage programmer.

dan, 13 days ago

The first time I tried another programming language, I was confused as to how to write code without using GOTO.

vext01, 13 days ago

Some dialects of BASIC had more structured control flow.

eestileib, 13 days ago

I remember typing in BASIC programs from printed magazines. That’s how I got my start.

SpaceNoodle, 13 days ago

Same. It kinda spiraled out of control

Nougat, 13 days ago

I bought a year's subscription to Timex Sinclair User, which folded like four months later.

veroxii, 13 days ago

I recall my dad bought a book with VIC 20 games printed. And you bet I typed them all in. And then had to debug them.

It wasn’t this one but it was very similar: archive.org/details/games-for-your-vic-20/…/1up

And this book came with the computer and taught me how to code: archive.org/details/…/1up

Such fun memories. And now I’m CEO of a software company haha.

4am, 13 days ago

I used to write them on a Smith Corona correctable typewriter because we didn’t have a PC at home and then bring them into school to type in in the computer lab after school for computer club

vext01, 13 days ago

Same here! ZX spectrum.

thehatfox, 13 days ago

There are so many weird and wonderful BASIC dialects found on all sorts of platforms.

In Europe the PlayStation 2 shipped with a version of Yabasic on the bundled demo disc. It was an attempt to avoid some of import taxes by claiming the PS2 was a computer instead of a games console.

floofloof, 13 days ago

BBC BASIC was best BASIC. Fight me.

humorlessrepost, 13 days ago

GW BASIC best BASIC

gregorum, 13 days ago

GPL BASIC. First language I learned when I was 5 in 1984.

<span style="color:#323232;">10 PRINT “Hello world!”
</span><span style="color:#323232;">20 END
</span>

SpaceNoodle, 13 days ago

GPL as in the GPL? I thought that was first published in 1989

gregorum, 13 days ago

Oh, I guess I was just using Apple’s Intiger BASIC then!

LucasWaffyWaf, 13 days ago

10 PRINT “Sausage slaps”

20 GOTO 10

NemoWuMing, 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

• 10 PRINT "What is your name?"
• 20 INPUT $NAME
• 30 PRINT "Wet noodle slaps " + $NAME
• 40 GOTO 30

thehatfox, 13 days ago

There is an open source implementation of BBC Basic for modern systems that’s being actively developed - BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0.

therealbabyshell, 13 days ago

It is great with lots of libraries. I am writing a game in it right now.

wjrii, 13 days ago

In a world with GORILLA.BAS and NIBBLES.BAS, I simply cannot reject the QBASIC faith with which I was raised.

Boddhisatva, 13 days ago

Bring it! I once wrote a basic program off of the random dungeon generator tables in the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons - Dungeon Masters Guide using Atari BASIC.