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Usborne 1980s Computer Books

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Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books

#4

Post by fredrickleo »

lelanthran wrote: post #2

Man, I just posted this in a recent thread :-) Still think my comment applies: they need to be updated for a modern platform (not Python).

Heh, I've been working on an interpreter to run them https://github.com/fredrick-pennachi/OldBasic It's not quite finished yet but it can run the programs I've typed out here https://github.com/fredrick-pennachi/BASIC-programs

Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books

#5

Post by redwall_hp »

These are actually how I first learned to program, but around 2001-2002, when I was about ten years old. I found a couple of them at the library, and that's when I realized it was something you could just learn...but lacked a BASIC interpreter.

I ended up also finding a No Starch Press book on JavaScript, and porting the BASIC listings to ye olde pre-Node JavaScript as my first foray into programming.

Then I also got a Commodore 64 on eBay some time later.

Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books

#6

Post by flir »

redwall_hp wrote: post #5

These are actually how I first learned to program, but around 2001-2002, when I was about ten years old. I found a couple of them at the library, and that's when I realized it was something you could just learn...but lacked a BASIC interpreter. I ended up also finding a No Starch Press book on JavaScript, and porting the BASIC listings to ye olde pre-Node JavaScript as my first foray into programming. Then I also got…

If my school's library had had Machine Code for Beginners, my career might have been very different. (I'm actually a bit annoyed; I didn't know that existed).

I definitely remember Creepy, Battle and Space.

Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books

#8

Post by xp84 »

redwall_hp wrote: post #5

These are actually how I first learned to program, but around 2001-2002, when I was about ten years old. I found a couple of them at the library, and that's when I realized it was something you could just learn...but lacked a BASIC interpreter. I ended up also finding a No Starch Press book on JavaScript, and porting the BASIC listings to ye olde pre-Node JavaScript as my first foray into programming. Then I also got…

That’s super cool. I’m actually surprised if you had a PC in 2001 that it didn’t have QBASIC on it though. I think that was being shipped with Windows at least through Windows 98.

But of course, your solution to that was twice as good for your education than if you’d learned only BASIC so that’s good.

My experience was kind of similar except I was learning in the mid 90s and only had access to various flavors of BASIC, because all the computers my school had were from 1980-1987 or so. When I saw modern GUI computers though, I couldn’t understand how what I’d learned in the character-based world could be applied to the GUI paradigm, so I gave up on programming until the Web and PHP gave me a usable mental model to get back into it.

Re: Usborne 1980s Computer Books

#10

Post by lelanthran »

chb wrote: post #7
lelanthran wrote: post #2

Man, I just posted this in a recent thread :-) Still think my comment applies: they need to be updated for a modern platform (not Python).

What “modern platform” would you suggest?

> What “modern platform” would you suggest?

I can't really think of a suitable one TBH; Python's completely out of the running, Java and C# have a lot of unnecessary (for this goal) boilerplate, Pascal is not a bad choice.

Maybe Javascript? The books can then instruct "type this into an HTML file".

In my mind, a more modern platform would be a simulated one that has its own machine language (byte-code compiled, perhaps) so that these books, which take you all the way into machine language, would make sense.

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