On 23/02/12 12:02, Marcos Cruz wrote:
En/Je/On 2012-02-23 10:40, Stephen Usher escribió / skribis / wrote :
need for a modern equivalent to the old home computer systems and
the BASIC language which came on them.
I miss such a tool too. I agree it would be very helpful on home computing,
computing learning and professional fronts.
This makes me remember an article I mentioned here some time ago:
http://www.osnews.com/story/23464/Why_Johnny_Can_t_Code
http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2006/09/14/basic/
Indeed!
To this end, I see SuperBASIC as a very good starting point, which
needs to be extended with modern data structures such as compound
variables and proper variable scoping.
Right, but writing a new language is a huge task. Another approach could be to
adapt an existant multiplatform BASIC such as FreeBASIC
(htt://www.freebasic.net). It's a compiler, so a layer of macros and
preprocessor commands could do the task to some extent. But of course a
compiler would make things more complicated for the final user.
Then again, it adds to the energy barrier, having to edit, compile, run. I'd
like to avoid that. It also decreases the immediacy.
It's not so much writing a new language as building upon the legacy of an older
language which we know works, at least at the syntactical level.
The goals of this project are probably very different from those of most, if not
all, previous BASICs. i.e. not only easy of use for a 13 year old but also a
tool for scientists for producing output publishable in journals.
Steve
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