I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
brain if there was a disk failure).

In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
(more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
understand what the hell I was doing.

Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
success it is today.

* not quite, since BASIC interpretations varied from platform to
platform, but - especially in the early days - it didn't take too much
effort to port programs between different systems

10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
20 GOTO 10
RUN

Do any of you remember this BASIC games too like Lemonade on Apple 2? ;)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
> people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
> as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
> paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
> the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
> time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
> if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
> nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
> brain if there was a disk failure).

> In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
> (more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
> hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
> world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
> steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
> was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
> 'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
> the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
> hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
> programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
> understand what the hell I was doing.

> Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
> 1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
> pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
> success it is today.

> * not quite, since BASIC interpretations varied from platform to
> platform, but - especially in the early days - it didn't take too much
> effort to port programs between different systems

--
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..." --Romans 5:1. May (1st & hump) day after napping <3 hrs.
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| |o o| |
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On Wed, 01 May 2024 17:16:40 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
>(more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
>hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
>world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
>steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
>was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
>'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
>the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
>hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
>programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
>understand what the hell I was doing.

This is how I remember BASIC as well. Typing in programs from
magazines. I definitely spent more time typing them in then playing
them though.

On 5/1/2024 2:16 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
> people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
> as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
> paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
> the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
> time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
> if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
> nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
> brain if there was a disk failure).
>
> In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
> (more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
> hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
> world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
> steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
> was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
> 'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
> the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
> hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
> programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
> understand what the hell I was doing.
>
> Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
> 1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
> pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
> success it is today.
>

> * not quite, since BASIC interpretations varied from platform to
> platform, but - especially in the early days - it didn't take too much
> effort to port programs between different systems

I took a BASIC class in Jr. College in the 80's, I made a few programs.
The one I remember most was one that would roll D&D characters on 3d6 in
order until you qualified for the class you wanted to play (1e/2e) which
was over 1000 rolls for the one Paladin.

I'm still slowly trying to learn Javascript, but it makes absolutely no
sense to me in comparison. I can type a simple program in and try to
figure out why it isn't working, but that's about it, which is discouraging.

I had tried to learn Python many years ago on my own, but just didn't
have the motivation, I remember it making a lot more sense though.
Maybe I should go back to that, but I wanted the web native abilities of
Javascript.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Wed, 01 May 2024 22:04:50 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
>20 GOTO 10
>RUN

A mandatory program to be typed into any 8-bit PC sitting plugged in
but unattended on a store display.

Although I'd always use a ; at the end of line 10 just to fill out the
screen. And - depending on mood - I'd probably use something... erm,
less polite than 'hello world' ;-)

>Do any of you remember this BASIC games too like Lemonade on Apple 2? ;)

I remember I played a bunch of programs written in BASIC. I don't
really remember any specifically that were written in BASIC.

For instance, I think the original "Ultima" game was coded in BASIC.
So too the original "Wizardry" game. Both were later ported to other
languages for performance reasons though, and I can't for the life of
me remember which version I played.

I do recall occasionally hitting system break and listing the code (or
trying to list the code). Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
When it did, I marveled at the complexity and tried my best to
understand at least SOME of what it was doing (usually
unsuccessfully).

But, in truth, my interest in computers was pretty sporadic until I
got my IBM PC/compatible* computer. By then BASIC was on its way out;
still a viable 'starter' language to learn the, erm, basics of
programming, but not really something you'd use to program anything
serious. I honestly don't even know if my first PC had BASIC in its
ROMs (although, given it /did/ have the 'no ROM BASIC found system
halted' message in its BIOS, it seems unlikely ;-)

Anyway, everyone knows LOGO was the truly superior language. It had
turtle graphics! ;-)

* written out just to avoid the '8-bits and Macs are PCs too!' crowd.
You know who you are ;-) ;-) ;-)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
....
> Anyway, everyone knows LOGO was the truly superior language. It had
> turtle graphics! ;-)

LOGO was rad. I rememer my sixth grade teacher was a nerd/geek who had a
turtle robot plotter that drew on a giant paper on the floor! :D
https://duckduckgo.com/?kl=us-en&q=apple+logo+turtle+robot&iax=images&ia=images
--
"Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." --Ecclesiastes 5:2. 26 yrs. :O
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 01 May 2024 17:16:40 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
> <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> >In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
> >(more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
> >hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
> >world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
> >steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
> >was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
> >'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
> >the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
> >hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
> >programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
> >understand what the hell I was doing.

> This is how I remember BASIC as well. Typing in programs from
> magazines. I definitely spent more time typing them in then playing
> them though.

Heh, I remember manually typing from 3-2-1 Contact magazines! Some didn't work. :(
--
"Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." --Ecclesiastes 5:2. 26 yrs. :O
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 5/1/2024 2:16 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> >
> > I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
> > people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
> > as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
> > paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
> > the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
> > time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
> > if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
> > nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
> > brain if there was a disk failure).
> >
> > In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
> > (more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
> > hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
> > world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
> > steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
> > was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
> > 'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
> > the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
> > hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
> > programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
> > understand what the hell I was doing.
> >
> > Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
> > 1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
> > pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
> > success it is today.
> >

> > * not quite, since BASIC interpretations varied from platform to
> > platform, but - especially in the early days - it didn't take too much
> > effort to port programs between different systems

> I took a BASIC class in Jr. College in the 80's, I made a few programs.
> The one I remember most was one that would roll D&D characters on 3d6 in
> order until you qualified for the class you wanted to play (1e/2e) which
> was over 1000 rolls for the one Paladin.

> I'm still slowly trying to learn Javascript, but it makes absolutely no
> sense to me in comparison. I can type a simple program in and try to
> figure out why it isn't working, but that's about it, which is discouraging.

> I had tried to learn Python many years ago on my own, but just didn't
> have the motivation, I remember it making a lot more sense though.
> Maybe I should go back to that, but I wanted the web native abilities of
> Javascript.

I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)
--
"Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." --Ecclesiastes 5:2. 26 yrs. :O
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On 5/2/2024 11:38 AM, Ant wrote:
> Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)

I'm good at that. I break stuff all the time on the computer. I'm good
at figuring out what broke and fixing it too though, and that pays more
(maybe.)

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

On Thu, 02 May 2024 18:38:20 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)

So what you are saying is, you have a penchant for bugs? I'd never
have guessed. ;-)

On 01/05/2024 22:16, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
> people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
> as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
> paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
> the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
> time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
> if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
> nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
> brain if there was a disk failure).
>
> In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
> (more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
> hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
> world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
> steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
> was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
> 'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
> the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
> hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
> programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
> understand what the hell I was doing.
>
> Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
> 1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
> pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
> success it is today.
>

That was my first try at programming (Specky 48k) when I was probably
thirteen and the nice thing I found about it was it wasn't that
difficult to use and it was helped by the were magazines with lots of
examples of programs you could look at. I did later try Forth (too
complex for me at the time) and ZX80 assembler. The later I code some
very small functions which were really more examples that anything else
but it never seemed worth the effort compared to the ease of Basic.

My next try at programming was when I started work with Coral 66 before
quickly moving to Ada. The next step was almost by accident as a project
really needed a couple of C programmers and as I had used it a little at
University I was one of them. Boy was that a step learning curve to be
actually be able to write real programs in it. The syntax was relativity
easy to grasp but the fact that the language would allow you to do
almost anything was hard. It also didn't help that at the time compilers
were less than helpful with their error messages. The big hurdle though,
getting my head around pointers until I had a lightbulb moment.

My favourite comment about C is it's a language with all the efficient
of machine code with all the readability of machine code. Personally I
have a love/hate relationship with it.

On Wed, 01 May 2024 17:16:40 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
>programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
>understand what the hell I was doing.

Oh god. Those long DATA lines and a bunch of FOR-nested POKE statements.
You were entering a basic program that bootstrapped machine code. Doesn't
count.

But some of them were really BASIC.

I'm surprised it survived copyright battles.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On Thu, 02 May 2024 13:35:23 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>Anyway, everyone knows LOGO was the truly superior language. It had
>turtle graphics! ;-)
>
COMAL ftw. Also had turtle graphics ...and real subroutines.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On Thu, 2 May 2024 07:13:51 -0700, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Justisaur wrote:

>I took a BASIC class in Jr. College in the 80's, I made a few programs.
>The one I remember most was one that would roll D&D characters on 3d6 in
>order until you qualified for the class you wanted to play (1e/2e) which
>was over 1000 rolls for the one Paladin.

Oh god. I remember doing that in grade school. What's really funny is we
also had a house-rule of rolling inheritance. d8. If you rolled a 1, you
were the first born, and in line for a fortune if you were from the right
background. 2, 3, etc. were next in line.

But if you rolled an 8, you were a bastard child. The BASIC program thus
output "Oh no! You're a bastard!" In endearing all caps.

I got sent to the office where I explained what a bastard child is to the
principal with a non-plussed look on my face.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 02 May 2024 18:38:20 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

> >I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)

> So what you are saying is, you have a penchant for bugs? I'd never
> have guessed. ;-)

(-:
--
"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." --Psalm 5:3. SW forces R coming! May da 4th B with U eve!
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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On Thu, 2 May 2024 13:34:39 -0700, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Justisaur wrote:

>On 5/2/2024 11:38 AM, Ant wrote:
>> Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)
>
>I'm good at that. I break stuff all the time on the computer. I'm good
>at figuring out what broke and fixing it too though, and that pays more
>(maybe.)

I once caused a bug in XP where you would click on a specific folder
shortcut on the desktop, and it would bring up the right folder or
another *entirely different* folder (same one each time), alternating
each time you clicked it.

Reboot fixed it. Go figure.

Anyone have any good, freaky bug stories like that one?

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On 5/3/2024 1:09 PM, Zaghadka wrote:
> On Thu, 2 May 2024 13:34:39 -0700, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
> Justisaur wrote:
>
>> On 5/2/2024 11:38 AM, Ant wrote:
>>> Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)
>>
>> I'm good at that. I break stuff all the time on the computer. I'm good
>> at figuring out what broke and fixing it too though, and that pays more
>> (maybe.)
>
> I once caused a bug in XP where you would click on a specific folder
> shortcut on the desktop, and it would bring up the right folder or
> another *entirely different* folder (same one each time), alternating
> each time you clicked it.
>
> Reboot fixed it. Go figure.
>
> Anyone have any good, freaky bug stories like that one?
>
Does being a 10 year kid encountering a spider as big as me count?

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC programs from some
> magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to understand what the
> hell I was doing.

I remember much the same. Even worse, when I got a Commodore VIC-20 and
tried to type in some hot game from a magazine, turned out it didn't
work and also the tape drive didn't work... In fact it was the third or
fourth VIC-20 which finally worked fully. I kinda lost the taste for
typing in things then I think although I think there was some simple
type in game for the C-64 I and some friends actually played.

And programming anything on the Microsoft crap basic 2.0 was awful
anyways but that was more Commodore's fault. I remember I got a Super
Expander cartridge for the VIC which included some graphics drawing
commands and had some fun with that.

So at least I did learn something about programming with BASIC, in fact
I spent a week in a geeky summer camp which included some BASIC
classes. But that week was 1% learning, 99% playing and copying games...

Still, my fumblings with the Commodores and the BASIC remained, well,
basic. I fumbled with machine code in a monitor too, trying to get some
graphical stuff working but it was just so much toil for so little
effect I never got any good with that. In retrospect I wonder how come
no one seemed to have even an assembler for development, everyone was just
fumbling in BASIC and machine code in a monitor.

Anyways, I minored in software development in my university studies but
have never really programmed professionally, other than little tools for
mangling this or that, usually some kind of text based data from one
format into other. But boy, was I lucky in that some of the software
courses thought Unix shell programming and C. The former is still useful
40 years later and in my hardware and DSP courses, C programming skill
was assumed. In different years basic programming concepts had been
taught in Scheme and ML which would've been of much less practical use,
to put it mildly.

Back to BASIC, more recently there was this book "10 PRINT". It explores
a one liner basic program which prints an endless maze. The Commodore
specific version (from some Commodore user manual) of the program is
simply this:

10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10

That randomly picks and prints one of two specific characters, in ASCII
the closest matches would be / and \, which creates a maze.

The 10 PRINT book's available for free online at https://10print.org/.

On 03/05/2024 21:09, Zaghadka wrote:
> Reboot fixed it. Go figure.

It's a bit of a meme to say have you tried switching it off and on again
but that's my first port of call for a problem. My phone very
occasionally decides that no I haven't got any pictures which is less
than helpful as that's how I 'write' my shopping list. Reboot it then
all is fine again.

On Fri, 3 May 2024 18:07:12 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>> Anyone have any good, freaky bug stories like that one?

>Does being a 10 year kid encountering a spider as big as me count?

I didn't know you lived in Australia.

On 5/4/2024 6:28 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Fri, 3 May 2024 18:07:12 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>
>
>>> Anyone have any good, freaky bug stories like that one?
>
>> Does being a 10 year kid encountering a spider as big as me count?
>
> I didn't know you lived in Australia.
>
I don't and didn't.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote at 18:38 this Thursday (GMT):
> Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> On 5/1/2024 2:16 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> >
>> > I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
>> > people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
>> > as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
>> > paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
>> > the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
>> > time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
>> > if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
>> > nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
>> > brain if there was a disk failure).
>> >
>> > In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
>> > (more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
>> > hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
>> > world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
>> > steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
>> > was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
>> > 'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
>> > the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
>> > hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
>> > programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
>> > understand what the hell I was doing.
>> >
>> > Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
>> > 1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
>> > pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
>> > success it is today.
>> >
>
>> > * not quite, since BASIC interpretations varied from platform to
>> > platform, but - especially in the early days - it didn't take too much
>> > effort to port programs between different systems
>
>> I took a BASIC class in Jr. College in the 80's, I made a few programs.
>> The one I remember most was one that would roll D&D characters on 3d6 in
>> order until you qualified for the class you wanted to play (1e/2e) which
>> was over 1000 rolls for the one Paladin.
>
>> I'm still slowly trying to learn Javascript, but it makes absolutely no
>> sense to me in comparison. I can type a simple program in and try to
>> figure out why it isn't working, but that's about it, which is discouraging.
>
>> I had tried to learn Python many years ago on my own, but just didn't
>> have the motivation, I remember it making a lot more sense though.
>> Maybe I should go back to that, but I wanted the web native abilities of
>> Javascript.
>
> I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)

Wait you were a QA tester?
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user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote at 19:46 this Friday (GMT):
> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 02 May 2024 18:38:20 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>
>
>
>> >I don't like coding. I do like breaking stuff though as a QA tester. ;)
>
>> So what you are saying is, you have a penchant for bugs? I'd never
>> have guessed. ;-)
>
> (-:

same :D
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user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote at 22:04 this Wednesday (GMT):
> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'd wager that even if you don't know anything else about it, most
>> people have at least heard of the BASIC programming language. Designed
>> as an easy-to-use language, its comparatively lightweight footprint
>> paired well with the newest microcomputers of the 70s and 80s. It was
>> the de facto standard language for many PCs - in fact, for the longest
>> time, even IBM PC/Compatibles would try to boot to a BASIC interpreter
>> if no boot-sector was found on floppy or hard-drive, burning the
>> nonsensical "No ROM BASIC System Halted" message into many a PC-users
>> brain if there was a disk failure).
>
>> In some ways BASIC was the Java of its time; a common language that
>> (more or less) ran on many different computers regardless of
>> hardware.* Many classic games were coded in BASIC, and -even as the
>> world slowly moved away from that language - many developer's first
>> steps (and games!) were made using BASIC. Microsoft's first product
>> was a BASIC interpreter; without it, they'd never have had the cash to
>> 'create' their DOS operating system and we might still all be under
>> the thumb of IBM (and probably still using 16-bit processors. IBM
>> hated innovation). I myself have semi-fond memories of typing in BASIC
>> programs from some magazine into my 8-bit PC, and then struggling to
>> understand what the hell I was doing.
>
>> Anyway, BASIC turned 60 today, with the first BASIC program being run
>> 1 May 1964 in Dartmouth College. So let's all raise a glass to this
>> pioneer of computing that helped make the microcomputer industry the
>> success it is today.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> * not quite, since BASIC interpretations varied from platform to
>> platform, but - especially in the early days - it didn't take too much
>> effort to port programs between different systems
> 10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
> 20 GOTO 10
> RUN
>
> Do any of you remember this BASIC games too like Lemonade on Apple 2? ;)

BASIC was way before my time ^^"
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user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On Sat, 4 May 2024 23:10:04 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

>BASIC was way before my time ^^"

You are, I am guessing, one of the youngest people in this newsgroup
then. I was typing BASIC programs from magazines and then saving them
to tape when I was a kid.