Microsoft GW-Basic Interpreter Source Code

Re:Microsoft GW-Basic Interpreter Source Code by unfocussed_mike on Monday March 07, 2022 @06:41PM (#30594804)

Yes -- I think sort of the most basic BASIC programming is done with Scratch, and then they graduate to Python.

In the UK I gather kids are taught Scratch and Python in an overlapping fashion, so they see the structure on the Scratch view and then have a better chance of understanding how the code works without being thrown off by the symbols.

This is probably better in a pedagogical sense, and I am sure Scratch programmers have a better early understanding of flow control and things like loop termination conditions than BASIC programmers did; Scratch makes it more physical.

But it does lose that absolute immediacy of being able to type simple words onto an empty screen and see it do things.

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Re:Microsoft GW-Basic Interpreter Source Code by zozbot234 on Monday March 07, 2022 @08:53PM (#30595622)

Scratch and especially Python are a lot more complex than BASIC. OTOH, Scratch having a structural rather than solely text-based interface might also make a more complex language immediately usable, by removing the difficulty associated with keywords and surface syntax. This is the kind of thing that would really benefit from a well-designed usability experiment.

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