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1271 sats \ 9 comments \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 31 Aug tech

Missed this last month when it appeared in Wired, but it brings back some great memories. I'll never be a "real" coder, but using BASIC on my Atari 800 back in the day taught me a lot about computers in general.

(Changed the title to fit -- original was "Back to BASIC—the Most Consequential Programming Language in the History of Computing")

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198 sats \ 0 replies \ @kristapsk 31 Aug

I started learning programming with QBasic that was included in MS-DOS 5.0.

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTCLNAT 31 Aug

Amazing. What memories. I am not a programmer but my first steps in computing were related to MSXBasic, QBasic, Pascal. Programs that you had to program first and then use that programming to get the results. They ran on 51/4 inch 512 byte disks and then on 31/2 inch disks with a capacity of 1.4 Mb. MSXBasic ran on a smart keyboard with a black and white monitor. And having an Ltel computer was a luxury. So many memories!!!

Thanks for bringing them to my mind.

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @SwapMarket 31 Aug

Apple ][ and Applesoft BASIC for me

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 31 Aug

I programmed my first programs in BASIC on a Casio graphing calculator.

177 sats \ 1 reply \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears OP 31 Aug

Oh man, those are good calculators. My daughter had one in high school (was way cheaper than the TI that was recommended) and ended up converting her teacher to one.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 31 Aug

My high school math teacher was a contrarian on just about everything and trained us all on Casios. They were cheaper and easier to use.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Lunchnet 31 Aug freebie

Lisp is another classic language that should make a comeback. https://www.sbcl.org/ is pretty good and actively developed.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @cyberduck00 1 Sep

When I was 14 I began coding with BASIC , BASICA, Turbo Basic and Pascal. Basic is very special. It is really where I started being a nerd.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @mdominicorobin24 1 Sep

Thirty two years ago I had a chance to learn about basic computing classes that my former classmate attended. He showed me his notebooks related to his computing class and that is when I notice the lecture about Basic. Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code is what I saw and from then on my adventure and exploration as a hobbyist coder started. Basic helped me in so many ways.