Review of BASIC by John

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This chapter tracks BASIC as a language that has mirrored the development of computing, both technologically and socially. The main focus is on the C64/TRS-80/Early DOS era, but the meat of the chapter is sandwiched between two sections describing where BASIC came from before then and where it has gone since.

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=== Goals ===

+

This chapter tracks BASIC as a language that has mirrored the development of computing, both technologically and socially. The main focus is on the C64/TRS-80/Early DOS era, but the meat of the chapter is sandwiched between two sections describing where BASIC came from before then and where it has gone since. While the chapter does talk about some aspects of the language itself, it is usually in the context of explaining why changes were introduced to BASIC over time in response to changes in development expectations and computing.

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=== Structure ===

History: This section starts with Dartmouth BASIC and covers the pre-home computing era. While there is a description of the technological development of the language, the emphasis is really on how it became a widely implemented language (free compilers, pushes in education, etc.) Ends with 8080s and M BASIC. Introduces the early Byte magazines as a means of code distribution.

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BASIC on the PC: Describes how BASIC got onto the Apple II, TRS-80, and PET, leading into the C64 and DOS. Looks briefly at the cross-platform similarities as beneficial to the language, but more at how BASIC acted as a continuation of the previous era's homebrew computing activity.

+

BASIC on the PC: Describes how BASIC got onto the Apple II, TRS-80, and PET, leading into the C64 and DOS. Looks briefly at the cross-platform similarities as beneficial to the language, but more at how BASIC acted as a continuation of the previous era's homebrew computing activity. Ends with the transformation of the workspace introduced by integrated text editors (like QuickBASIC/QBasic) and discusses how BASIC's iconic line numbers were dropped from the syntax.

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BASIC in print: Explores the influence of Byte, Run, Compute!, etc. less on the programs themselves than on the people who typed them in and thereby learned BASIC and programming in general. This section ties back to 10 PRINT... by taking one-liners as an example of these methods carried to their extremes. Carries through to the development of diskmags like Loadstar and ends with Doom, shareware, and OSS.

+

BASIC in print: Explores the influence of Byte, Run, Compute!, etc. less on the programs themselves than on the people who typed them in and thereby learned BASIC and programming in general. This section ties back to 10 PRINT... by taking one-liners as an example of these methods carried to their extremes. Carries through to the development of diskmags like Loadstar and ends with BBS/online distribution, Doom, shareware, and OSS. This is the section where the case is made for BASIC kicking off a generation of programmers.

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Legacy: Tracks where the language has gone since its heyday at the dawn of home computing. VB is strongly mentioned, but put into contrast with Mono and various niche implementations to pose the question of which version is the true legacy of C64 era BASIC usage and ethos.

+

Legacy: Tracks where the language has gone since its heyday at the dawn of home computing. VB is strongly mentioned (along with a discussion of introducing objects, visual IDEs, etc.) but put into contrast with Mono and various niche implementations to pose the question of which version is the true legacy of C64 era BASIC usage and ethos. Suggests another type of successor in learning languages like Scratch, but also talks about the difference in using a language to learn programming and learning programming by using a language (ie, learning with intent vs. learning due to hands on use because the user wants to run a program).

=== Original Review ===

Review of BASIC by John

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Revision as of 07:00, 10 January 2011

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 (in progress)
-This chapter tracks BASIC as a language that has mirrored the development of computing, both technologically and socially.  The main focus is on the C64/TRS-80/Early DOS era, but the meat of the chapter is sandwiched between two sections describing where BASIC came from before then and where it has gone since.
+=== Goals ===
+This chapter tracks BASIC as a language that has mirrored the development of computing, both technologically and socially.  The main focus is on the C64/TRS-80/Early DOS era, but the meat of the chapter is sandwiched between two sections describing where BASIC came from before then and where it has gone since.  While the chapter does talk about some aspects of the language itself, it is usually in the context of explaining why changes were introduced to BASIC over time in response to changes in development expectations and computing.
+=== Structure ===
 History:  This section starts with Dartmouth BASIC and covers the pre-home computing era.  While there is a description of the technological development of the language, the emphasis is really on how it became a widely implemented language (free compilers, pushes in education, etc.)  Ends with 8080s and M BASIC.  Introduces the early Byte magazines as a means of code distribution.
-BASIC on the PC:  Describes how BASIC got onto the Apple II, TRS-80, and PET, leading into the C64 and DOS.  Looks briefly at the cross-platform similarities as beneficial to the language, but more at how BASIC acted as a continuation of the previous era's homebrew computing activity.
+BASIC on the PC:  Describes how BASIC got onto the Apple II, TRS-80, and PET, leading into the C64 and DOS.  Looks briefly at the cross-platform similarities as beneficial to the language, but more at how BASIC acted as a continuation of the previous era's homebrew computing activity.  Ends with the transformation of the workspace introduced by integrated text editors (like QuickBASIC/QBasic) and discusses how BASIC's iconic line numbers were dropped from the syntax.
-BASIC in print:  Explores the influence of Byte, Run, Compute!, etc. less on the programs themselves than on the people who typed them in and thereby learned BASIC and programming in general.  This section ties back to 10 PRINT... by taking one-liners as an example of these methods carried to their extremes.  Carries through to the development of diskmags like Loadstar and ends with Doom, shareware, and OSS.
+BASIC in print:  Explores the influence of Byte, Run, Compute!, etc. less on the programs themselves than on the people who typed them in and thereby learned BASIC and programming in general.  This section ties back to 10 PRINT... by taking one-liners as an example of these methods carried to their extremes.  Carries through to the development of diskmags like Loadstar and ends with BBS/online distribution, Doom, shareware, and OSS.  This is the section where the case is made for BASIC kicking off a generation of programmers.
-Legacy:  Tracks where the language has gone since its heyday at the dawn of home computing.  VB is strongly mentioned, but put into contrast with Mono and various niche implementations to pose the question of which version is the true legacy of C64 era BASIC usage and ethos.
+Legacy:  Tracks where the language has gone since its heyday at the dawn of home computing.  VB is strongly mentioned (along with a discussion of introducing objects, visual IDEs, etc.) but put into contrast with Mono and various niche implementations to pose the question of which version is the true legacy of C64 era BASIC usage and ethos.  Suggests another type of successor in learning languages like Scratch, but also talks about the difference in using a language to learn programming and learning programming by using a language (ie, learning with intent vs. learning due to hands on use because the user wants to run a program).
 === Original Review ===