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BASIC Computer Language Turns 40

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the everybody's-training-wheels dept.

5 REM nam37 codes
10 PRINT "In 1963 two Dartmouth College math professors had a radical"
20 PRINT "idea - create a computer language muscular enough to harness"
30 PRINT "the power of the period's computers, yet simple enough that even"
40 PRINT "the school's janitors could use it."
50 END

39 of 1,042 comments (clear)

  1. missing line by squarefish · · Score: 5, Funny

    GOTO 10

    --
    Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
    1. Re:missing line by Peridriga · · Score: 5, Funny

      shouldn't that be:

      10 PRINT "First Post"
      20 GOTO 10

    2. Re:missing line by CougarCat · · Score: 5, Funny

      10 print "BASIC? Boy does that ring a..." 20 print CHR$(7) 30 goto 10

  2. A Poem! by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 5, Funny
    10 PRINT "This is a"
    20 PRINT "Haiku program"
    30 GOTO 10
    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

    1. Re:A Poem! by YomikoReadman · · Score: 4, Funny

      10 PRINT "Not haiku" 20 PRINT "Instead, Senryu" 30 PRINT GOTO 10

      --
      I have no regrets, this is the only path.
      My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
    2. Re:A Poem! by squidfood · · Score: 5, Funny

      Problem finally solved!...

      10 GOTO 30
      20 REM ???
      30 PRINT "PROFIT!"

    3. Re:A Poem! by Pieroxy · · Score: 4, Funny

      On a slightly offtopic note, I think slashcode should allow us to mod down our own posts. I mean, when I'm trolling or flaming, I do it knowingly (most of the time at least). If I could already mod myself down, it would be beneficial so that the moderators are not disturbed by my post. They would save their mod points to mod up interesting content instead of modding down garbage.

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
    4. Re:A Poem! by Dejitaru+Neko · · Score: 5, Funny

      Pu-ro-gu-ra-mu. Five syllables. :P

      --
      Nyo nyo, the Neko Boy has spoken.
    5. Re:A Poem! by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Interestingly, this post is modded up, while another one from two minutes earlier is modded down.

      Just goes to show you, like comedy, its all in the timing. ;)

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  3. They had a dream by Xel'Naga · · Score: 5, Funny

    Obviously they failed, and so they created BASIC instead.

    1. Re:They had a dream by Lane.exe · · Score: 5, Funny
      But without BASIC would we have QBASIC and that nifty gorilla-banana-chunking program?

      --
      IAALS.
  4. And now we have ... by mcx101 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... BASIC's much acclaimed successor, Visual Basic ;-)

    --
    My operat~1 system unders~1 long filena~1 , does yours?
    1. Re:And now we have ... by nacturation · · Score: 5, Funny

      I tried Audible Basic, but it wasn't very good. Tactile Basic wasn't too bad, but please... please, for the sake of the children, stay away from Olfactory Basic.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  5. Janitors are programmers too! by stienman · · Score: 5, Funny

    yet simple enough that even the school's janitors could use it

    And that, children, is where the seeds of garbage collection were sowed.

    -Adam

  6. 5 REM Testing.. by pirodude · · Score: 4, Funny

    10 PRINT "I hearby declare..."
    20 PRINT "that all comments in this story"
    30 PRINT "be typed in basic"
    40 END

    1. Re:5 REM Testing.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      10 REM "In that case, they should be comments."
      20 END

    2. Re:5 REM Testing.. by jared_hanson · · Score: 5, Funny

      System.out.println("10 PRINT \"Hell\"");
      System.out.println("GOTO 10");

      --
      -- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
    3. Re:5 REM Testing.. by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
      > 10 PRINT "I hearby declare..."
      > 20 PRINT "that all comments in this story"
      > 30 PRINT "be typed in basic"
      > 40 END

      1 PRINT "FUCK YOU"<BR>
      2 GOTO 1<BR>
      3 REM ITS BEEN 20 YEARS SINCE I DID THAT TO A VIC-20<BR>
      4 REM AND THEY STILL DONT LET ME IN THAT MALL
  7. Obligatory Dijkstra quote by Kaa · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Learning BASIC causes permanent brain damage." -- E.Dijkstra

    --

    Kaa
    Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
  8. Re:I miss the simple life by nomadic · · Score: 3, Funny

    ILLEGAL FUNCTION CALL

  9. Nostolgia by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok, who remembers the Star Trek game from Dartmouth? You know, the one where you got to enter coordinates to move the ship to, then fire photons and phasers at Klingons? You could even consult the library computer! Failing that, who remembers coding the "trench" game?

    | * |
    | * |
    | * |
    | * |
    |* |
    | |
    | |
    *BOOM* YOU CRASHED. TRY AGAIN? [Y/N]

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  10. Re:ahem by deck · · Score: 5, Funny

    10 PRINT "Concived: 1963"
    20 PRINT "Born: 1964"
    30 END

  11. Re:ahem by nycsubway · · Score: 5, Funny

    That is because array indexes start at 1 instead of zero. So it's really 41 years if you start from year one.

    --
    http://github.com/gbook/nidb
  12. It feels like elementary school again by nocomment · · Score: 4, Funny

    10 ? "CmdrTaco and Kathleen stting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G";
    15 ? CHR$(7)
    20 goto 10

    --
    /* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
    /* http://allyourbasearebelongto.us */
  13. a BASIC error by M0nkfish · · Score: 5, Funny

    10 PRINT "Happy Birthday to you"
    11 PRINT "Happy Birthday to you"
    12 PRINT "Happy Birthday dear BASIC"
    13 END

    Dammit... Missed out a line. Now I remember why I should always increment line numbers by 10.

    1. Re:a BASIC error by TomV · · Score: 4, Funny

      how about the 'more structured for no adequate reason' edition?:

      10 gosub 60
      20 gosub 60
      30 print "happy birthday dear BASIC"
      40 gosub 60
      50 end
      60 print "happy birthday to you"
      70 return

      (tested in MS Office XP VBA, will not work in vb.net as gosub has now gonesub and will not return)

  14. Re:ahem by silvaran · · Score: 4, Funny

    10 PRINT "Concived: 1963"
    20 PRINT "Born: 1964"
    30 END
    25 PRINT "Spell checked: Never"
    RUN

  15. 60 PROFIT! by dpilot · · Score: 3, Funny

    Syntax Error "PROFIT!"
    -------------------^
    Command Not Found "PROFIT"

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  16. And lo...... by crivens · · Score: 3, Funny

    And lo, thousands of people suddenly decided to call themselves excellent programmers!

  17. shouldn't that be... by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 3, Funny

    45 IF $ARTICLE="BASIC" GOSUB 60
    60 PRINT "COOL! I USED TO PROGRAM ON MY APPLE //e IN APPLE BASIC! I COULD MAKE BAD GRAPHICS AND ASCII ART ALL DAY WITH MY 80 COLUMN EXPANSION CARD!"
    70 GOTO 50

    CVS

    --
    free ipod and free gmail!
  18. BASIC Sex Ed by Throtex · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't forget to PEEK before you POKE!

  19. Whow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I didn't know you could insert hyperlinks into BASIC programs... Guess I missed that last update. =P

  20. Re:Today we use Bash by Jorkapp · · Score: 4, Funny

    At first I was considering having my sig in BASIC:

    10 PRINT "Jorkapp is a Programmer"
    20 GOTO 10

    but it was too - Basic. IMO, my sig in C is more 1337.

    --
    Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
  21. 1K Adventure by UdoKeir · · Score: 5, Funny

    This one used to tie people up for a few minutes...

    10 PRINT "You are in a cave."
    20 PRINT "Go N, S, E OR W?"
    30 INPUT A$
    40 GOTO 10

  22. Re:Look at all these posts. by IWannaBeAnAC · · Score: 5, Funny
    Here's a clue kiddies
    Haiku in English is dumb
    Add last line next time

    ;)

  23. I'm a janitor! by njord · · Score: 3, Funny

    You insensitive clod!

  24. BASIC? That's too newfangled for me! by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Funny
    11 FORMAT(1X,"I'M SO OLD THAT MY")
    12 FORMAT(1X,"FIRST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE")
    13 FORMAT(1X,"WAS NOT BASIC")
    WRITE(1,11)
    WRITE(1,12)
    WRITE(1,13)

    99 STOP
    END
    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  25. My first BASIC project by bshroyer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was one of four students in a pilot program in 4th grade (1980) wherein we learned BASIC programming (Apple II) and "New Math" (don't even get me started.)

    After learning the basics, I started my first project - a random text generator. I wanted to see if, left to its own devices, the Apple II would eventually reproduce the works of Shakespeare. Or at least, produce a few dirty words on its own.

    I spent two days coding (never having used a keyboard before, typing was arduous)
    The program went like this:

    10 A=INT(RND(1)*30) +1
    20 REM
    30 IF A=1 THEN $B="A"
    40 IF A=2 THEN $B="B"
    ...

    340 IF A=30 THEN $B="."
    350 PRINT $B;
    360 GOTO 10

    If I recall, there was no "copy" or "paste" function in the boot ROM AppleII BASIC. Typing this was hell on my 9-year-old fingers.
    The good news is, the program worked. The bad news is, after I'd finished it, the teacher showed me how to cut 29 lines out of my program using the $CHR() function. I wanted to shoot him.

    All in all, BASIC served me well. It's a great intro programming language for pre-teens.

    --
    The cure for cancer is coming: Reovirus
  26. Re:Today we use Bash by cosmo7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've never understood why you use a for loop for something like that and not a "while (1)". Can someone clue me in?

    while(1) sounds like the Queen talking.