1. BASIC was a horrific language, except for one amazing thing: any kid could get started easily, and it all made sense. a whole generation

May 11, 2014 · 3:25 AM UTC

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Replying to @sama
@sama For me it was BASIC -> simple Flash -> Custom Starcraft Maps w/ scripts -> Actionscript -> "Real programming"
Replying to @sama
@sama I had a lot of fun with BASIC when I was a kid. I still remember the day I realized what a variable is, it felt so good.
Replying to @sama
@sama @optian not sure that basic was better for teaching children programming than Scratch from MIT.
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Replying to @sama
@sama key was that BASIC was on every computer & there was no installation req'd. low barrier to experimentation trumped quality of language
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@sama this tweet should have started with 10 since you were talking about BASIC
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Replying to @sama
@sama @jfarmer QBASIC was fun, except for the time I foolishly wiped a school computer's Autoexec file...
Replying to @sama
.@sama That's how I learned to program. I was 13, in Burma with a few 386s shared among the whole class. BASIC just made sense.
Replying to @sama
@sama I started with QBASIC, then Visual Basic. I then moved on to Delphi.
Replying to @sama
@sama my first programs were screensavers written in basic.