mr.cat wrote on 2021-03-14, 10:06:Well, I can certainly sympathize with that. But remember that every guru in there started out as a newbie, once upon the time.
T […]
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Jo22 wrote on 2021-03-02, 02:36:^Personally, I really like vcfed.org, too, but I also always feel unconfortable posting there on a casual basis, so I only do if […]
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^Personally, I really like vcfed.org, too, but I also always feel unconfortable posting there on a casual basis, so I only do if I carefully prepared myself.
Always makes me feel disturbing the super users and gurus over there.. The x86 asm magic they practice is just way over my head.
Couldn't imagine to bring myself to post stuff over there about my beloved QuickBasic and VB DOS (not to mention VB6!), because BASIC might be akin to an affront.
You know, BASIC has a long tradition of being hated by these gray beards all over the world.. 🙁
Well, I can certainly sympathize with that. But remember that every guru in there started out as a newbie, once upon the time.
There was also a good reason to hate BASIC back in the old days: Enticing an entire generation to spaghetti code. I don't think that has been a problem for a long time though?
But yeah that's probably not the forum to announce new spaghetti if you're planning to do that 😜
+1
Yes, the problem is ideology (or paradims), as well.
BASIC was all about problem-solving and procedural programming style, I think. 🙃
When it was young, the alternative were ALGOL 60, FORTH and FORTRAN.
Programmed via punch cards or punch stripes that maybe had to be compiled first, even.
BASIC by comparison could be run interactively on a teletype or a luxurious glass terminal.
Java, C++ etc now use a different approach, for example. They rely on object-based style or object-oriented style.
To make matters more complicated, VB6 was object-based, but not object-oriented, for example. 😵
The thing is, that with procedural programming or more precisely that "spaghetti" coding (written in basic, assembly or machine code),
the code is (often) being processed in the same order it had been written.
This is helpful in understanding what the machine is actually doing.
And ironically, the most dirty code with many jumps (GOTOs) is also the fastest. 😉
If you use a PASCAL style programming in which everything is defined first and then combined with actual code it's not really the case.
Nowadays, it's also possible to write nicely organized programs in BASIC.
To do so, you can divide program code into groups. Or sub-routines, so to say.
Modern Basic can also use GOSUB or use GOTO without line numbers. You can even define stuff (DIM, DEF group).
Ironically, though, this became popular with Quick Basic/Turbo Basic (PowerBasic), which VB6 shares a lot with.
Edit: One of the very first micro controllers , the i8051, had a special version calked 8052 AH-BASIC.
It contained a very tiny, but advanced BASIC that acted like a miniature OS, with interrupt handling, EPROM writing/reading capabilities etc.
That BASIC is now released in source code form and can be compiled for comaptible µCs and run in emulation on an XT class PC.. 😀
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_MCS-51#De … vative_features
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM_rzw6WcXib … ry=8052ah-basic
Edit: Originally, assemblers had no ability to pre-define variables. That came with the "macro assemblers".
I mention this here, because nowadays people take macro assemblers for granted. 😉
Edit: Text tidied up.
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