30 years later, QBasic is still the best
nicolasbize.com
30 years later, QBasic is still the best
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Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#2Basic was, and still is, an excellent language for introduction to programming. Yes, there are things you shouldn't do, but that applies to every programming language.
There is nothing quite so simple, pure and fun as the older programming languages. Everything is a little bit bloated today - but it is infinitely much better when done right than you could ever do with these old languages.
for introduction, kudos! just mastering the branch/loop/return you have learned the basics of all programming.
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#3This is great.
I learned on Basic XE on an Atari XE, then GFA Basic (2, 3, and 3.5) on an ST. I still find reading Basic code to be considerably easier than most other "starter" languages. GFA was remarkable for its time, with its compiled code executing with performance rivaling some of the C compilers on the ST.
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#4I like BASIC and recently been thinking it might be nice to do some modern game dev on BASIC. My father got me into programming on a TI-99/4A [0] machine, so the BASIC language always has a place in my heart.
However, I recently also came across a nice game development course from Harvard, CS-50 [1] (an excellent course, much recommended!). And for CS-50 the Lua language is used in combination with the LÖVE [2] framework.
After previously dabbling with SpriteKit [3] and Swift I have to admit LÖVE has been extremely pleasurable and fun to use. It's really nice to get some quick results. And you can easily build for multiple platforms (iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, ...)
I also love that I'm able to develop just using SublimeText [4], a very lightweight editor and pretty serviceable for doing Lua dev ... no IDE required, just like BASIC.
It's a nice change of pace from the normal heavy-handed Xamarin (C#) / Xcode (Swift/Objective-C) dev that I do in my day-to-day work, making "boring" business apps.
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[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A
[1]: https://cs50.harvard.edu/games/2018/
[2]: https://love2d.org
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#5Basic was, and still is, an excellent language for introduction to programming. Yes, there are things you shouldn't do, but that applies to every programming language. There is nothing quite so simple, pure and fun as the older programming languages. Everything is a little bit bloated today - but it is infinitely much better when done right than you could ever do with these old languages. for introduction, kudos! jus…
I agree. I forget when I first started playing around with BASIC, but it helped once I got to high school and had a TI graphing calculator. Those calculators have a variant called TI-BASIC and I had a lot of fun coding and playing my own “Guess A Random Number” game.
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#6(2016)
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#7Promitive as it was, QBasic had the right mix of commands people wanted (drawing, colors, music, file access), with the immediacy of running and seeing where your errors were (stepping through code) to make many a beginner coder motivated enough to stay with it to learn and develop beyond. I'll always owe it a debt for being my outlet through my middle school years.
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#8A Commodore 64 emulator on a raspberry Pi connected to the family TV is what I used, with similar results. My boy was instantly programming and in awe of all the magic the words could weave. Boot straight into BASIC.
This one: https://cmaiolino.wordpress.com/
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#9What? Lock this man up for not teaching his son Haskell first!
I jest. People take the whole "imperative bad!" thing a little too far. I have fond memories of QBasic and certainly cut my teeth on it as a child. I did more TI-Basic on my graphing calculator since I could do that on the school bus. It can't have been too hazardous for my development since I independently rediscovered the idea of the "game loop" in my meddling.
Re: 30 years later, QBasic is still the best
#10(2016)
Really? Has something changed?