BASIC turns 60

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

BASIC in Commercial and Business Use

  • Many comments stress that BASIC was widely used in real business systems, not just as a teaching toy.
  • “Business BASIC” dialects (e.g., MAI Basic Four, Pick BASIC, HP Business Basic) powered accounting, inventory, and other line‑of‑business apps for small and mid‑size firms.
  • A lot of “boring but essential” enterprise software was built in Visual Basic, classic ASP, and VBA, some still running after ports to VB.NET.
  • Some early commercial games and productivity tools (e.g., early Ultima, Peachtree, tax software, Atari titles) were at least partly written in BASIC.
  • BASIC often served as glue or “middleware” between systems, or as the scripting layer for devices and automation.

Dialects, Structure, and Compilation

  • Strong distinction between early unstructured, line‑numbered BASIC (home computers, teaching) and later “structured BASICs” (procedures, local variables, better types).
  • Debate over what counts as “real BASIC”: some argue later structured dialects are almost new languages sharing keywords; others view them as a natural evolution.
  • Original Dartmouth BASIC on timesharing systems was compiled (compile‑and‑go / JIT‑like), not purely interpreted; many minicomputer and mainframe BASICs also had true compilers.
  • 8‑bit home machines popularized the image of BASIC as slow, tokenized, interpreted, and unstructured.

Educational Role and Personal Computing

  • BASIC is credited with bootstrapping many programming careers, from 1970s minis to 1990s PCs and even early 2000s “JustBASIC” users.
  • Being the default shell on many home computers (C64, Apple II, TRS‑80, etc.) made entry frictionless: turn it on and you’re in BASIC.
  • Magazine “type‑in” programs and radio‑broadcast code (e.g., BASICODE) were key cultural mechanisms for sharing software and teaching.

Language Characteristics and Performance

  • BASIC is described as low‑level but approachable, close to FORTRAN in spirit: good for numerical work, array/matrix operations, and quick screen I/O.
  • Some dialects had powerful matrix primitives and business‑oriented features (decimal math, ISAM‑like file handling).
  • Reports that typed VBA can be only a few times slower than C; compiled BASICs (QuickBASIC, VMS BASIC, etc.) were viewed as fast enough for systems programming on their platforms.

Teaching Today and Legacy

  • Split views on modern pedagogy: some prefer BASIC over Scratch for its simplicity and text‑based rigor; others argue Scratch’s block model avoids syntax pitfalls for children.
  • BASIC strongly influenced later languages and design decisions (e.g., string handling in newer languages), and remains alive in niches (VBA, niche BASICs, even a Switch variant).