When BASIC was at the top, do you agree?

[madscijr]

Hey I'm still rooting for the last one on that list, ALGOL, which I assume stands for A LOT of GARBAGE ON LINUX.  

BASIC was high on the list back in the day because every Windows computer came with a copy of QBasic and just about every learning institution, with a  computer science program, made use of it. I actually think MS engineers had their collective hive minds blown when they started seeing programs created with it well above their expectations; so they took a shot at trying to switch coders and instructors over to .NET, which I'm pretty sure stands for NON ESSENTIAL TRASH. Even I have a .NET copy taking up a lot of room in my Recycle Bin.

Pete

- I love BASIC and the SOURCE it rode in on.

.NET was the beginning of the end for Visual Basic for Windows. Version 6 was the last version of Visual Basic that was usable. Microsoft did the world a disservice by not including a Visual Basic lite version with Windows 95 and above. But then again, you can't have well educated Windows users now can you.

I couldn't agree more. For years I wondered why they didn't include "Visual Basic Lite" (aka a standalone VBA for writing standalone programs) with every copy of Windows... Instead we got vbscript, which is at least some form of BASIC, but they've been pushing PowerHell more and more. The closest we got to vbscript with a GUI was HTAs, but they never updated the engine to work with HTML5. 

So thank the Maker for the QB64 language family!

[madscijr]

Hi wonderful QB64pe community!
The time runs as its nature, and today I'm lucky to get some time to make this thread.

The question is towards any experienced BASIC coder that want to remember old good days.




Is there another gold time for BASIC?

Fine to meet you today QB64's friends.

My intro to computers was in middle school, where there was a room with a few TRS-80 computers - Model Is and IIIs, all with monochrome screens and cassette recorders for storage (I think the IIIs had 5.25" floppy drives, but we never used 'em). There was also a single Franklin Ace 1000 that could actually display COLOR! 

We played a couple Scott Adams text adventures and learned very rudimentary BASIC programs. When I learned the INPUT command and IF/THEN and GOTO, I made a text adventure called Bus Stop where you just picked a direction to walk and it randomly either told you you made it onto the school bus, or else you stepped in dog shit or got hit by a car. It was barely a game, but it opened the doors to a lot of creativity.

[Pete]

For me, it's been a fun ride. My first system was a T.I. 4A in 1980. That's 4K memory with a cassette tape drive. I managed to custom code a 4-player Monopoly game on it... In the equivalent of SCREEN 0, of course! Next was an Atari 16K system. I bought my first PC with Windows 3.1 and QBasic in 1990. I bought QuickBASIC almost immediately, just $50. Oh, the PC was $4,500, but hey, it was a state of the art 486, and only weighed 10,000 pounds. 

I remember how I was constantly outgrowing QB, even after learning about multi-modular programming. I had to use single letter variables to cut down on memory, and probably spent twice the time I needed to code my projects because of the memory restrictions. When Microsoft announced they would no longer support QB on 32-bit systems, a couple of college aged coders, at the QBasic Forum, proposed making a 32-bit BASIC compiler. It sounded good, but knowing what was involved, well,  I didn't see anything coming of it, until this guy, nicknamed Galleon, came long. It took some prodding, but I was able to get Mac, our forum owner, to put up a QB64 sub-forum for Galleon (Rob) and that's how QB64 got started. It was great to see the progress. His project successfully maintained compatibility over the years. I still recall how long it took to compile a large program, but that markedly improved over time. Since those days, QB64 past Rob has continued to grow thanks to other developers like Fell, at the former QB64 net site, and the developers here at Phoenix. 

My old friend Mac, at the QBasic Forum, had in his signature, "QB Forever!" I wish he was still with us to see what is has become.

Pete

[Kernelpanic]

That was my first contact with a computer. Actually, you could only try it out two days, but since it was over Christmas, I didn't have to return it until January 2nd, XX; that were 12 days.

On the same day I borrowed it, I also bought my first computer book.


My first own computer was a Plantron with an 8086 CPU. The one on the right in the picture with two drives.



PS: The editor turns the text for the Plantron into a link to the Apple picture . . . 

[TerryRitchie]

For me, it's been a fun ride. My first system was a T.I. 4A in 1980. That's 4K memory with a cassette tape drive. I managed to custom code a 4-player Monopoly game on it... In the equivalent of SCREEN 0, of course! Next was an Atari 16K system. I bought my first PC with Windows 3.1 and QBasic in 1990. I bought QuickBASIC almost immediately, just $50. Oh, the PC was $4,500, but hey, it was a state of the art 486, and only weighed 10,000 pounds. 

I remember how I was constantly outgrowing QB, even after learning about multi-modular programming. I had to use single letter variables to cut down on memory, and probably spent twice the time I needed to code my projects because of the memory restrictions. When Microsoft announced they would no longer support QB on 32-bit systems, a couple of college aged coders, at the QBasic Forum, proposed making a 32-bit BASIC compiler. It sounded good, but knowing what was involved, well,  I didn't see anything coming of it, until this guy, nicknamed Galleon, came long. It took some prodding, but I was able to get Mac, our forum owner, to put up a QB64 sub-forum for Galleon (Rob) and that's how QB64 got started. It was great to see the progress. His project successfully maintained compatibility over the years. I still recall how long it took to compile a large program, but that markedly improved over time. Since those days, QB64 past Rob has continued to grow thanks to other developers like Fell, at the former QB64 net site, and the developers here at Phoenix. 

My old friend Mac, at the QBasic Forum, had in his signature, "QB Forever!" I wish he was still with us to see what is has become.

Pete

Wow, you were there at QB64's roots. I didn't discover QB64 until 2010 while researching ways to make a QB45 game I was working on (a Mega-Bug clone) execute faster. When Galleon showed me how to use the _PUTIMAGE statement to enlarge an image I was hooked. I wish Rob was still active with the project.

[Pete]

Wow, you were there at QB64's roots. I didn't discover QB64 until 2010 while researching ways to make a QB45 game I was working on (a Mega-Bug clone) execute faster. When Galleon showed me how to use the _PUTIMAGE statement to enlarge an image I was hooked. I wish Rob was still active with the project.

@TerryRitchie

If you'd like to see the posts from that original QB64 forum: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/qbasic/q...t-f585676/

Initially the project was compiler only. As more and more keywords were added, folks could since that this was going to be the real deal. At one point, Rob I think went into burnout, which like any real hardcore coder resulted in starting another project. Fortunately for us that was the IDE! That also made the aquatic community happy, as most others going through similar burnout experiences simply end up disrupting that community using a primitive system of string and hooked objects.

Pete

- Dark matter is a made up substance that fills the void of knowledge in the universe.