Teaching Programming with BASIC (lackofimagination.org)
from Aijan@programming.dev to programming@programming.dev on 15 Jul 2024 09:50
https://programming.dev/post/16880110

#programming

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esc27@lemmy.world on 15 Jul 2024 11:13 next collapse

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.

Downcount@lemmy.world on 15 Jul 2024 11:41 next collapse

10 PRINT “upvoted”

20 GOTO 10

mspencer712@programming.dev on 15 Jul 2024 15:09 collapse

Hey no botting!

NEW

gyphie@lemmy.world on 15 Jul 2024 15:36 collapse

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.

Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world on 15 Jul 2024 12:47 next collapse

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@sh.itjust.works on 15 Jul 2024 15:40 collapse

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.”

Gurfaild@feddit.de on 15 Jul 2024 21:33 collapse

Searching for “MOVfuscator” results in this: github.com/Battelle/movfuscator

mindbleach@sh.itjust.works on 15 Jul 2024 21:35 collapse

D’oh! Good find, I had it wrong.

floofloof@lemmy.ca on 15 Jul 2024 13:18 next collapse

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.

mindbleach@sh.itjust.works on 15 Jul 2024 16:18 next collapse

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

Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 15 Jul 2024 22:03 collapse

I was obsessed with making variations of it on TI calculators in high school lol

yetAnotherUser@lemmy.ca on 15 Jul 2024 23:02 collapse

Did you end up posting any implementations to ticalc.org ?

Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 16 Jul 2024 01:07 collapse

No, this is actually the first time I’m hearing that this exists unfortunately.

Dropkick3038@programming.dev on 15 Jul 2024 16:22 next collapse

Learned how to render graphics the hard way in Apple BASIC back in grade school. Was fun.

PoY@lemmygrad.ml on 15 Jul 2024 19:34 next collapse

QBASIC was what programming I was in high school. That pretty much ensured programming II was an empty class

abbadon420@lemm.ee on 15 Jul 2024 21:45 collapse

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.