BASIC
| Name | Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code |
| Field | Computer Programming |
| Went Obsolete | 1980s - Still available for some systems |
| Made Obsolete By | Newer, "better" coding techniques, Visual Basic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic |
| Knowledge Assumed | Computer Programming, Logic, Von Neumann Architecture |
| When useful | Analysing historical program code |
BASIC was one of the first computer languages designed for non-engineers, written to be more general-purpose than other languages of the time. Originally designed in Dartmouth for use on a time-sharing system, it was adopted for use on the first microcomputers and home computers.
A VERY simplistic example:
10 A = 0 20 A = A + 1 30 PRINT A 40 GOTO 20
This would fill up a page with numbers forever (Or until someone hit the Stop, Break, Escape key)
With the Apple II and the personal computer revolution that followed, BASIC became the most widespread high-level programming language. Other computer makers such as Atari, Sinclair and Commodore also put BASIC interpreters into the ROM of their computers, and magazines published programs within their pages. Most computer users had at least some knowledge of BASIC.
However, it was unpopular with professional programmers, and many claim that it led to bad habits that hampered learning "real" programming languages. Its early reliance on the GOTO statement, for example, was derided. BASIC also fell out of use as more people bought computers and more software became available, and the percentage of users who wrote their own programs shrank.
Although BASIC lives on in many dialects such as Visual Basic and Star Office Basic, they bear little resemblance to the language that once dominated the home computer market.
| References | WikiPedia: BASIC | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC |
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edsger_Dijkstra(approve sites)||http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edsger_Dijkstra(approve sites)
Still used today on Graphical Calculators (Texas Instruments that I know of, TI-BASIC language). TI-BASIC is on TI-83 and TI-84 (how i scored perfect on trig) however, the new Ti-nspire calculators do not have the basic interpreter.
In true Microsoft fashion, Visual Basic "embraces and extends" BASIC, so it is disingenuous to say that BASIC is obsoleted by a new version of BASIC. All but the most esoteric BASIC tricks will still work in Visual Basic (including line numbers and goto statements), it's just that better alternatives are available.