Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rocky Mountain Basic

en.wikipedia.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 24 posts

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#11

Post by tessierashpool »

quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

In a way I do too. I learned BASIC as a child, before learning any “real” language or domain. I talk to people who are starting from scratch with JavaScript and I try to convince them to start with Scheme or something instead, because starting with something that just taught me the ideas of programming, without doing anything truly useful, turned out to be a huge advantage later on in life. I didn’t think about the browser, the DOM, the operating system, or any real-world use case, just 20 GOTO 10 and getting the computer to print silly words.

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#12

Post by 29athrowaway »

quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

One of my first program was something like:

- What is your name?

- is dumb, haha

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#13

Post by ygra »

quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

Ha, I too found the GWBASIC manual at home in a bookshelf and just read it. Afterwards I asked my father whether he had GWBASIC somewhere and he provided me with QBasic, which had integrated help (so I didn't have to refer to that 500-page tome). From there I eventually went to Turbo Pascal and later Visual Basic and much later to lots of other languages.

I still wonder sometimes what the modern equivalent to learn programming would be. Most modern programming languages are infinitely more capable, but the hurdle to start is also a lot higher in many cases. JavaScript is probably equivalent in that it's available everywhere, but there's so much you have to at least understand a bit before you can really write some code ...

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#14

Post by Minor49er »

quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

When I was really young, I opened a few .exe files in Notepad to try to figure out how they were created. I remember at one point seeing all of the garbage character output and thought, "wow, someone wrote and understands all of this?"

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#15

Post by AnimalMuppet »

gwbas1c wrote: post #3
quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

When I logged into my first dial-up BBS, I had no idea what to use as my handle. My manual for GWBasic was sitting in front of me. 25 years later I'm GWBas1c on Hacker news.

That is about the most "HN" comment I have ever read (or at least "nerd", in the positive sense).

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#16

Post by seryoiupfurds »

Minor49er wrote: post #14
quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

When I was really young, I opened a few .exe files in Notepad to try to figure out how they were created. I remember at one point seeing all of the garbage character output and thought, "wow, someone wrote and understands all of this?"

Conversely, I didn't have much luck renaming my basic programs to .exe.

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#17

Post by drewzero1 »

29athrowaway wrote: post #12
quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

One of my first program was something like: - What is your name? - is dumb, haha

Me too. One time I messed with my friend by adding a conditional to complement every name except his.

10 PRINT "WHAT IS YOUR NAME"; 20 INPUT NAME$ 30 IF NAME$ = "BILL" THEN 40 PRINT NAME$+" SOUNDS LIKE A NAME FOR A DORK!" 50 ELSE 60 PRINT NAME$+" SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT NAME!" 70 END IF

I also tried to prank people with a program I wrote that mimicked a BSOD, but I couldn't get anyone to fall for it.

PS- No hard feelings between me and NAME$, one of the few high school friends I still spend time with. He still remembers the program and laughs.

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#18

Post by stevekemp »

rvieira wrote: post #7
quaintdev wrote: post #2

I had no idea what programming was when I was 12 but I was very interested in Computers. Back then there was no Internet here in India so I used to explore every feature of Windows 98/ME and all the Software installed. What always intrigued me was how these .exe files are created because I could create every other file like(.bmp, .jpg, .doc, etc,.) with the Software installed but not .exe We had IT in our school but…

I had a similar experience. I was around 12, had a ZX Spectum and wrote a couple of lines to draw a circle on the TV. I was amazed too at this new super power, where I could "tell my TV" where to draw a circle just by changing a couple of numbers. Ironically, as developing software becomes increasingly complex, I feel more and more like it's the machine telling me what to do XD

Similar age for me, also with a ZX Spectrum - I guess that dates us, and our location pretty well.

I've posted this before, but it's always a fun trip down memory-lane:

https://blog.steve.fi/how_i_started_programming.html

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#19

Post by deckard1 »

seryoiupfurds wrote: post #16
Minor49er wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was really young, I opened a few .exe files in Notepad to try to figure out how they were created. I remember at one point seeing all of the garbage character output and thought, "wow, someone wrote and understands all of this?"

Conversely, I didn't have much luck renaming my basic programs to .exe.

this is how I switched from GW-BASIC to QuickBASIC. I found out that QB could make .exe files like a big boy compiler.

Switching to QuickBASIC was like stepping into the future, coming from GW-BASIC. No more line numbers. Actual subroutines. A quite nice IDE that separates out subroutines similar to the code browser in Smalltalk/Squeak.

Re: Rocky Mountain Basic

#20

Post by prosaic-hacker »

In fall 1975 in my senior year of High school, I toured the local Junior College (Vanier CEGEP) and saw a lab with a HP 9830A driving a HP flatbed plotter producing Biorhythm plots. I applied to that college and a year later the lab become my second home. I learned the 9830A Rocky Mountain Basic, wrote and shared many program on cassette tapes. The most fun was shared game we called Cosmic Pinball. Shells fired at static planets with the ballistic plots drawn out on the flatbed plotter. Longest run took 18 minutes before it finally hit 1 of the 7 planets. I should rewrite it in python.
Post reply on HN