Sunday, April 18, 2010
Little eulogy for BASIC
Yesterday I was thinking about the years in the 80's when I did tech work in acoustics and speech. Pondering, it struck me that computers of that era had some element of intimacy that's missing today, some ingredient that made it easier to set up things like data entry and data correction on the fly. Finally remembered what it was: BASIC. On the earliest PC's and Apples you were in BASIC as soon as the machine was on. (Which was instantly after you flipped the switch; no three-minute warmups or shutdowns!) BASIC gave you the power to shape the machine for any purpose, the power to calculate or type or organize anything from a central starting point.
Obviously a modern machine has infinitely more moxie "under the hood", but you have to go through more steps to reach that power. You can't simply type in a formula and get your answer. I still try to do this sometimes, in the middle of a complicated thought process, and get derailed and distracted when nothing happens!
Another remnant: With the original PC, DOS came up instantly when you flipped the switch. You typed BASICA to get into the useful part. Now, after 30 years without using any form of the BASIC language, I still automatically type basica every time I write the word basic.
Here is an online simulator that has the feel of original BASIC. ¶ 8:31 AM
Obviously a modern machine has infinitely more moxie "under the hood", but you have to go through more steps to reach that power. You can't simply type in a formula and get your answer. I still try to do this sometimes, in the middle of a complicated thought process, and get derailed and distracted when nothing happens!
Another remnant: With the original PC, DOS came up instantly when you flipped the switch. You typed BASICA to get into the useful part. Now, after 30 years without using any form of the BASIC language, I still automatically type basica every time I write the word basic.
Here is an online simulator that has the feel of original BASIC. ¶ 8:31 AM
