BASIC isn't standardised in the same way as many programming languages, so you can't lump all BASICs together and criticise them generically. For example if you are in the 'GOTO considered harmful' camp (which I am) you may disapprove of those BASICs in which GOTO is unavoidable, or at least encouraged. However other BASICs positively discourage the use of GOTO, notably BBC BASIC. In nearly 30 years of programming in BBC BASIC I've never used a GOTO (except in programs designed to test that GOTO works!).
BBC BASIC was designed quite specifically to teach programming, as a key part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project of the early 1980s. Advice was sought from academics of the day on the features the chosen language needed to have, and being sufficiently well-structured that GOTO can be entirely avoided was a central requirement.
As recently as 2006 BBC BASIC was chosen by Portsmouth University as the language to teach in the Introductory Programming Unit of their Engineering Foundation course.
The thing is, BASIC encourages use of GOTO, rather than being an unusual thing to use when unusual circumstances call for it.
I wouldn't agree that all BASICs encourage GOTO. The dialect of BASIC which I know best - BBC BASIC - was one of the first structured BASICs (possibly the very first) to make the use of GOTO completely unnecessary, and its use was positively discouraged from the start. In nearly 30 years of programming in BBC BASIC I can honestly say I have never used a GOTO except in programs written to test that the GOTO statement works!
As a kid in the 80s/90s, you couldn't ask for a better start than BBC BASIC on the Acorn, you could knock together fast enough games to be worth doing. The modern day equivalent I guess would be python and pyGame.
Or, dare I suggest, BBC BASIC! You can find some nice examples of games written in 'BBC BASIC for Windows' at http://www.bb4w-games.com/
I was disappointed to see you refer to BBC BASIC in the past tense, when it's still used today and still has the neat features such as a built-in assembler. In fact the latest version of BBC BASIC for Windows was released at the beginning of this year. There's a list of some of the more interesting and surprising applications of BBC BASIC over the last 28 years or so at http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/birthday/
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BASIC isn't standardised in the same way as many programming languages, so you can't lump all BASICs together and criticise them generically. For example if you are in the 'GOTO considered harmful' camp (which I am) you may disapprove of those BASICs in which GOTO is unavoidable, or at least encouraged. However other BASICs positively discourage the use of GOTO, notably BBC BASIC. In nearly 30 years of programming in BBC BASIC I've never used a GOTO (except in programs designed to test that GOTO works!).
BBC BASIC was designed quite specifically to teach programming, as a key part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project of the early 1980s. Advice was sought from academics of the day on the features the chosen language needed to have, and being sufficiently well-structured that GOTO can be entirely avoided was a central requirement.
As recently as 2006 BBC BASIC was chosen by Portsmouth University as the language to teach in the Introductory Programming Unit of their Engineering Foundation course.
The thing is, BASIC encourages use of GOTO, rather than being an unusual thing to use when unusual circumstances call for it.
I wouldn't agree that all BASICs encourage GOTO. The dialect of BASIC which I know best - BBC BASIC - was one of the first structured BASICs (possibly the very first) to make the use of GOTO completely unnecessary, and its use was positively discouraged from the start. In nearly 30 years of programming in BBC BASIC I can honestly say I have never used a GOTO except in programs written to test that the GOTO statement works!
As a kid in the 80s/90s, you couldn't ask for a better start than BBC BASIC on the Acorn, you could knock together fast enough games to be worth doing. The modern day equivalent I guess would be python and pyGame.
Or, dare I suggest, BBC BASIC! You can find some nice examples of games written in 'BBC BASIC for Windows' at http://www.bb4w-games.com/
I was disappointed to see you refer to BBC BASIC in the past tense, when it's still used today and still has the neat features such as a built-in assembler. In fact the latest version of BBC BASIC for Windows was released at the beginning of this year. There's a list of some of the more interesting and surprising applications of BBC BASIC over the last 28 years or so at http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/birthday/