BASIC turns 60: Why simplicity was this programming language’s blessing and its curse | ZDNET
May 15, 2024
Since the 1960s, BASIC has introduced countless beginners to computer programming. Here’s how the language got started, the paths it cleared for Windows and Apple, and where you can still find it today.
Source: BASIC turns 60: Why simplicity was this programming language’s blessing and its curse | ZDNET
Like many od let’s just say a certain vintage, I first learned to program (after a fashion) using BASIC, on Australia’s kick off version of the legendary TRS-80, the Dick Smith 80 (for younger and non Australian readers Dick Smith was the founder of a chain of electronics stores in the Kate 1970s or early 1980s.)
BASIC ingrained some bad habits that needed undoing when I learned Pascal a couple of years later at University–GOTO is harmful apparently, line numbers as entry points to what you could think of as functions.
“Serious” programmers always disparaged BASIC in all its forms (BASIC probably thanks CSS for taking some of the heat later in life)–eh gatekeepers gotta gatekeep.
But I ave found memories and am grateful for that gateway to the rest of my life. Thanks BASIC!
