[Coco] Happy Birthday BASIC!

[Frank Pittel]

The cool thing about QB64 is that it converts the basic program to C and
then compiles it so the programs are free standing and don't need the IDE
to run.

On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:06 PM, Steve Strowbridge <ogsteviestrow at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Good stuff, Glen, I'm aware of the QB64 and plan to do a project or two in
> it, Q-BASIC is what I transitioned to once I left the CoCo world for the
> Tandy-1000/MS-DOS world, and it was a very easy transition.
> If it were not for BASIC I might not have been as interested in getting
> hands on with the computer, the Coco version of MS BASIC, and the very well
> designed manual were great for me at 14 to grasp and apply the concepts.
> I felt very empowered and capable with what I could pull off in DECB. and
> even more so in Quick BASIC for DOS, it was so capable, it almost was an
> enabler, because I never felt the "need" to learn lower level languages as
> I could accomplish my goals with it.  However, if I had to start with a
> lower level, I may have been intimidated or even not interested, and who
> knows what I'd be doing today.
>
>
> Steve Strowbridge, aka
> The Original Gamer Stevie Strow
> http://ogsteviestrow.com
> ogsteviestrow at gmail.com
>
>
> On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 4:54 PM, Glen Hewlett <glen.hewlett at sympatico.ca>
> wrote:
>
> > I don’t know if it’s just me but I had always felt that BASIC was looked
> > down upon by most serious programmers in the 80’s and 90’s.  I always
> > thought it was an awesome language and easy to write programs with.
> Super
> > quick development/test/debug times and easy to learn.
> >
> > Maybe because of the name Beginner’s All purpose Symbolic Instruction
> Code
> > had the name Beginner in it made it so that it was looked down at, I
> don’t
> > know.  Sure there are more powerful languages but for general purpose
> > programming on an old computer I think BASIC is awesome.
> >
> > I’m still fighting with my Pacman transcode in 100% assembly, but I have
> > written some programs in BASIC on the CoCo to help me convert the ROM
> > graphics from the original hardware into something the CoCo 3 can use and
> > it was a joy.  I also wrote some BASIC code to convert graphic sprites
> into
> > compiled sprites and enjoyed the experience on the CoCo.
> >
> > FYI - There is a compiler for QB for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android
> > called QB64 that takes your BASIC program and compiles it into a super
> fast
> > machine language program native to your computer.  I only mention it
> since
> > Quick Basic is VERY similar to CoCo Basic and someone here might get a
> kick
> > out of using it.  It can be found here: http://www.qb64.net/
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Glen
> >
> > > On May 2, 2017, at 4:11 PM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > It is there, albeit as a brief allusion to the fact:
> > >
> > > History -> Origin
> > > 2nd paragraph
> > > 3rd sentence reads:
> > >
> > > "Wanting use of the language to become widespread, its designers made
> the
> > > compiler available free of charge."
> > >
> > > Wayne
> > >
> > > On May 2, 2017 11:44 AM, "Salvador Garcia via Coco" <
> > coco at maltedmedia.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Something that I did not locate in that Wiki entry is that the
> original
> > >> BASIC was a compiled language.
> > >>
> > >> Seeing how many shunned BASIC because it was interpreted, I believe
> that
> > >> this is an important item.
> > >>
> > >> And if anyone feels nostalgic, you can still program like it is 1964
> > here:
> > >>
> > >> http://www.vintageisthenewold.com/program-in-basic-like-it-is-1964/
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Salvador
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>      From: Frank Pittel <fpittel at gmail.com>
> > >> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> > >> Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 11:10 AM
> > >> Subject: [Coco] Happy Birthday BASIC!
> > >>
> > >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Coco mailing list
> > >> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > >> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Coco mailing list
> > >> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > >> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> > >>
> > >
> > > --
> > > Coco mailing list
> > > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> >
> >
> > --
> > Coco mailing list
> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> >
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>