The BASIC programming language turns 60

2 years ago by Sundray to c/retrocomputing

Easy-to-use language that drove Apple, TRS-80, IBM, and Commodore PCs debuted in 1964.

I was definitely a Commodore kid, and BASIC was my first language. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I still like BASIC for hobby stuff.

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Bricriu 10 points 2 years ago

I learned TI BASIC on a Texas Instruments 99/4a back in the very early 80s. Wrote some programs from magazines, saved them on tapes, and went on to automate D&D character creation in an attempt to rules-lawyer an all-PC dwarf army.

Fun fact, though: TI BASIC lived on until at least the late 90s, on the TI graphing calculators that everyone taking Algebra/Trig had to buy -- or borrow from the school. I wrote a surreal choose-your-own-adventure game on my calculator, large enough that because of memory limitations, you couldn't open the file to edit it without deleting another, ancillary file.

And since you could transfer programs via a proprietary cable, I put that game on every school calculator and as many of my friends' as wanted it. It was still there years later when I visited.

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whostosay 3 points 2 years ago

This is that real gangster shit in case any of you were wondering

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kalimari 2 points 2 years ago

TI BASIC is still on my TI-84+ CE calculator that I use today

I’m not sure if the Python edition TI 84 supports it though

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