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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

#91

Post by jhallenworld »

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.

Well this was way before the IBM PC.. Microsoft clearly had a plan in those days. They implemented all of the popular languages for microprocessors: Fortran-80, Cobol-80, Basic, PASCAL- but not C. They bought C from Lattice.

(I started with 6800 / 6809 assembly language, and then Microsoft C 4.0).

Also: PDP-10 (TENEX) was awesome to use, was a very nice development platform.

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

#92

Post by perl4ever »

I wasn't particularly aware of it, but it looks like the TRS-80 BASIC that introduced me to programming was also probably developed by Microsoft, and I'm pretty sure that AmigaBASIC was as well. I think I also used QuickBASIC on the Mac a little, but what I particularly remember was a demo for it that visually showed different sorting algorithms, that inspired me to do something similar in Pascal.

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

#93

Post by downerending »

Not sure whether it was exactly this version, but on an early job in the mid 80s, used a Microsoft BASIC compiler on a PC in a shared office. At least by default, when compiling, it would ring the "bell" on every syntax error. And by "ring", I mean loudly. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Which I discovered sitting at the PC, surrounded by secretaries, who commenced withering stares.

That's the first day I remember not liking Microsoft.

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

#94

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

jhallenworld wrote: post #91
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.

Well this was way before the IBM PC.. Microsoft clearly had a plan in those days. They implemented all of the popular languages for microprocessors: Fortran-80, Cobol-80, Basic, PASCAL- but not C. They bought C from Lattice. (I started with 6800 / 6809 assembly language, and then Microsoft C 4.0). Also: PDP-10 (TENEX) was awesome to use, was a very nice development platform.

The PC in the comment was referring to “personal computer” in the generic sense.

It is interesting now to see Microsoft going back to its roots as a provider of developer tools for multiple platforms.

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

#95

Post by Someone1234 »

Tehdasi wrote: post #61
adzm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

C# and .net core don't have as much cruft, and the simple dev environment in code or visual studio are invaluable - especially the debuggers which are imo one of the most important learning tools.

Argueably MS already provide a complete language pre-installed in PowerShell. However would be nice if they more of a beginners IDE for simple programming.

Powershell ISE is pre-installed.

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

#96

Post by perl4ever »

pknerd wrote: post #24

GWBasic was good resource to get into programming world during my teenage. Now I want to teach coding to my 10 years old son. Will you still recommend GWBASIC/Quick basic or Python or other languages for kids?

A large part of why I (and I assume others) started with BASIC was because it was accessible. I really wanted to do "real" programming, but C compilers were expensive and there was no internet connection when I was in grade school. Now you can just download Linux and practically infinite languages.

Also, I can't help thinking of how it can be counterproductive to try to push someone in a certain direction.

A lot of times showing what you value and want for yourself tends to have more influence than what you try to get others to value.

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

#97

Post by weej »

wuxb wrote: post #83
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.

"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - Edsger Dijkstra

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

#98

Post by kristopolous »

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.

Paul Allen flew down to New Mexico where MITS was without ever having tested Basic on a real Altair 8800.

It was on essentially ticker-tape, which was the medium at the time (wikipedia's photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_BASIC#/media/File:Altai...)

Paul Allen was still "writing" it on the plane which in this case meant taking careful notes, cross-checking it very carefully and then manually punching holes into the paper. This is 1975, laptops are many years away.

It'd take about 30 minutes to load into the machine. Paul Allen claims they were the longest 30 minutes of his life. The MITS people were just smiling and waiting patiently, eager to see the cool software while Allen, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea whether it would work or not (they wrote it on an emulator after all).

After the 30 minutes it was ready to go and bam, everything worked. Bill and Paul had a company. Microcomputer software was now a thing.

Maybe I should do a computer history podcast ... I just checked and I don't really like most of them ... The video game crash of 1983 for example, I'd do at least 10 30 minute episodes on. The NES came out of it. I mean yeah, at least 10 episodes. I'll pick something super small (for example the HP 9100a) and see how it goes

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

#99

Post by pan69 »

perl4ever wrote: post #92

I wasn't particularly aware of it, but it looks like the TRS-80 BASIC that introduced me to programming was also probably developed by Microsoft, and I'm pretty sure that AmigaBASIC was as well. I think I also used QuickBASIC on the Mac a little, but what I particularly remember was a demo for it that visually showed different sorting algorithms, that inspired me to do something similar in Pascal.

Microsoft BASIC was all over the place in the late 70's and early 80's. Before MS-DOS, Microsoft was basically a programming languages company (and they still are today). They licensed their BASIC to many other companies, even Apple.

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

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

#100

Post by pan69 » 

  --------- ---- -- ---- ----- --- ---- -----
  COPYRIGHT 1975 BY BILL GATES AND PAUL ALLEN
  --------- ---- -- ---- ----- --- ---- -----
  
  ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ON THE PDP-10 FROM
  FEBRUARY 9 TO  APRIL 9 1975
  
  BILL GATES WROTE A LOT OF STUFF.
  PAUL ALLEN WROTE A LOT OF OTHER STUFF AND FAST CODE.
  MONTE DAVIDOFF WROTE THE MATH PACKAGE (F4I.MAC).
I love comments like these. They also say that the GW refers to Bill Gates, as in Gates William but I don't know the details on that.

https://github.com/microsoft/GW-BASIC/blob/master/GWMAIN.ASM

Edit: Forgot to say, I was 3 years old when they wrote this code, wow! and I learned programming with GW-BASIC in the late 80's.

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