BASIC turned 53 earlier this month, and it got me thinking: For many computer users of a certain age, BASIC was the first foray into programming - and using it was a veritable rite of passage for the first generation of personal computer owners. Is there still a place today for a programming language for non-programmers?
I spent many hours playing with BASIC on my Atari 800, Apple II, TRS-80 and Commodore Amiga. There was also a great version on the PDP-11 and DECSystem-20 at the university I attended. Honestly, Visual Basic destroyed BASIC by co-opting it.It suddenly became way too “professional” and unapproachable with all the Microsoft fluff around it. BASIC was at its best when you could 10 PRINT “Hello World”, type RUN and the world of possibilities was immediately open to you.
It’s a shame that there’s no language quite that simple available anymore. Even Swift requires a good bit of “CS 101” before you can genuinely get something useful out of it. I was able to teach my mom BASIC in a manner of days and she was coding tools to help her with recipes and household finances almost immediately… it was so strange to see my mom geeking out, a mix of joy and pride on her face that was as intense as when she successfully staged a dinner party. I don’t think Swift would have worked so well for her.
BASIC allowed incremental development. There were no compilation errors. From the very first line, stuff happened. No compilers. No files, and especially no MAKE, libraries or includes. The most sophisticated thing was GOSUB or OPEN to manipulate files. Even printing meant just using LPRINT instead of PRINT. Those were the days, when you could write a decent program in an afternoon.