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The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

devblogs.microsoft.com

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Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#81

Post by redorb »

Soulsbane wrote: post #62
linguae wrote: post #56

The funny thing about this announcement is that a week ago I just found my old QBASIC textbook that I learned how to program with back in 1998. QBASIC was my very first programming language; I was a nine year old kid who loved computers and would read anything computer-related that was available, including my mom's textbooks (she was returning to college at the time and took some courses on computing and applications…

QBASIC was also my first programming language. Learned it my Senior year in high school computer programming class back in 1995.

I still have the Qbasic for dummies book my good friend lent me probably 20+ years ago, back then I was playing with Qbasic even though it was old

I remember changes the variables in the gorilla banana toss game that came with qbasic ~ first time seeing changes in programming changing the game and it was magical.

My friend ended up being a great programmer and I'm doing e-commerce front end / project management work. Great times and I'm thankful for the experience

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#83

Post by wuxb »

linguae wrote: post #56

The funny thing about this announcement is that a week ago I just found my old QBASIC textbook that I learned how to program with back in 1998. QBASIC was my very first programming language; I was a nine year old kid who loved computers and would read anything computer-related that was available, including my mom's textbooks (she was returning to college at the time and took some courses on computing and applications…

I wrote my first line of code on a game console without persistent storage. Coding is everything that makes computer a computer.

Now, some kids in college have an impression that coding is less relevant for a CS career.

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#84

Post by smacktoward »

copperx wrote: post #22
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #17

From a comment in the source > ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ON THE PDP-10 FROM FEBRUARY 9 TO APRIL 9 1975 Wow! I did not realize that it was written so quickly. Two months that literally changed the PC landscape forever.

It's funny how stuff that got put together quickly like GW-BASIC and JavaScript got so much success because of luck and popular appeal. It's like music. The best music has never been in the top of the charts. The best movies have never won Oscars. This is pop computing.

It wasn’t luck or popular appeal, it was like they say in real estate: “location, location, location.” JavaScript came bundled with every Web browser, and GW-BASIC came bundled with every IBM PC clone. A language that everybody in the world already has a copy of is going to get a lot of use, whether it’s good or not.

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#85

Post by hh2222 »

Newtonip wrote: post #82

My mom's IBM 8088 had GW-BASIC built into its BIOS. You could turn on the computer and go straight into it without having any storage medium present.

Have an original IBM PC sitting here. It has a 5 pin DIN plug on the back to connect a casette tape drive. I also recall BASICA.COM on diskette leveraged the BASIC routines in the original ROM, so it was about 1/3 the size of GWBASIC.EXE.

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#86

Post by nsxwolf »

Newtonip wrote: post #82

My mom's IBM 8088 had GW-BASIC built into its BIOS. You could turn on the computer and go straight into it without having any storage medium present.

That was actually “Cassette BASIC” written by IBM.

It was scary to see it when you didn’t expect to, because that meant something was wrong with your disk drives!

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#87

Post by tjalfi »

4cao wrote: post #10
bitcrazed wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think there weren't codes of conduct back in 1983? ;)

Markdown itself is from 2004 but the .md extension/suffix wasn't used for it until sometime later (not really sure where it appeared first).

MDCD[0], an open source DOS archiver, used the .MD extension in 1988.

[0] https://www.sac.sk/download/pack/mdcd10.zip

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#89

Post by weq »

linguae wrote: post #56

The funny thing about this announcement is that a week ago I just found my old QBASIC textbook that I learned how to program with back in 1998. QBASIC was my very first programming language; I was a nine year old kid who loved computers and would read anything computer-related that was available, including my mom's textbooks (she was returning to college at the time and took some courses on computing and applications…

Borrowed mine from the library at age 13 (`98) when i got a hand-me-down Apricot from a friend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apricot_Computers

Re: The original source code of Microsoft GW-BASIC from 1983

#90

Post by bsharitt »

My biggest take away here is that old MS-DOS has been made free software. I had a Compaq Portable that I’m restoring, and I gave half a though to combining my love of retro hardware with free software and running FreeDOS even if it is a bit of a resource hog. But I think this machine(its the original version of the Compaq Portable) came with DOS 2.something, so the now open source DOS 2.0 might work without the performance hit of FreeDOS. Neat.
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