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Re: Computing Editorial (please read)
mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon) writes:
>If you have already mastered some other programming language, even
>assembler language, then BASIC has little conceptual content to add
>to your toolkit.
>But if you have never programmed a computer, BASIC is a door to a
>brave new world of automated logic and calculation. What you do on
>the other side of that door (including, of course, mastering other
>languages) is limited only by your imagination and ambition.
Well put. I learned BASIC on the Tomy Tutor, which had a benighted variant
most closely related to TI BASIC (which is odd too). However, when I later
switched to the C64, the principles I learned on the Tutor held generally
true for Commodore BASIC, and when I picked up 6502 assembly, I had a good
grounding in how the Commodore worked, and from thence on to Pascal, and
(ugh) C, and Perl, and ...
BASIC presents a low barrier to entry for programming, or at least it did.
Monstrosities like Visual BASIC are rapidly destroying this legacy, though.
For a great programming language that best approximates classic BASIC
programming on a modern architecture, check out METAL for the Power Mac.
It's simple to use, same principles and ideas, and builds stand-alone
executables that even work in OS X :-) the UI stuff needs work, but for
quick demos, QuickTime stuff, and games and hacks, it's great and 100% free.
http://www.iit.edu/~sarimar/GDS/
--
Cameron Kaiser * ckaiser@stockholm.ptloma.edu * posting with a Commodore 128
personal page: http://www.armory.com/%7Espectre/
** Computer Workshops: games, productivity software and more for C64/128! **
** http://www.armory.com/%7Espectre/cwi/ **