Posts

The Enduring Appeal of BASIC

Back in 2018 I started the BASIC Programming Language group on Facebook.  Since then it has grown to more than 7000 members, and the posting has only accelerated.  What I find really interesting about it is that the membership suddenly began to grow very rapidly in the last few months, more than doubling. When a member wants to post for the first time there are a couple of questions that they need to answer, and I approve or deny the right to post based on the answers, the other groups the person belongs to and I also factor any pending comments.  The overwhelming majority of the requests to post are approved. One of the questions is, what is your first BASIC or your preferred version of BASIC? It becomes clear that there are so many different versions of BASIC that people use and have used.  I find this to be very impressive.  Additionally there are a bunch of people in the group who have written their own versions of BASIC, including myself (Liberty BASIC)....
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End User Programming - Real Computer Literacy

BASIC was the engine for end user programming in the early days, and still would be I think if Windows, Mac and Linux would just include it.  Easy programming languages are missing or hidden from the user. Why don't people create their own software anymore? They don't feel the need for it. They can just buy what they need.  While this is true, there are so many times when packaged software doesn't do exactly what is needed. There are also so many kinds of useful software that could be written that will not make it onto store shelves. In fact they may even wonder why they should bother. They don't know what they're missing if you ask me. Programming is a much better way to spend brain cells than watching TV or surfing the web. It is really hard to create software with the programming languages endorsed by the mainstream.  We have gotten away from simpler languages like BASIC, perhaps under the assumption that more complexity is better, but good computing avoids needl...
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