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Succinctly explains why programming can be rewarding to do. It also describes the playground people of a certain age had: 'READY>' I hear kids these days can

Succinctly explains why programming can be rewarding to do. It also describes the playground people of a certain age had: 'READY>' I hear kids these days can do well learning Python - if they can get an adult to install the dev tools. There's got to be something as accessible and interactive as BASIC was, and that should be everywhere.

kenjackson 15y ago
It's the web browser. Just open up notepad (or whatever the default text editor is) and start coding. Start with HTML and then add some JS.
- peteretep 15y ago
  A thousand times this. I got really in to programming when I realized I could create ... and then share with anyone to whom I could get a URL
- Timothee 15y ago
  If you want to go this route I'd go one step further: just use the console in the web browser. It's pretty much as accessible and everywhere as BASIC was.
chromatic 15y ago
How about a BASIC running in a web browser?
- edtechdev 15y ago
  Unfortunately we still aren't quite there yet, although just about everything else has been ported to run on javascript: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-languages-that-compile-to-JS https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang... And making basic/visual basic on top of javascript is a little challenging since it is case-insensitive and statically typed (later versions). But I'd especially recommend Scratch from MIT for kids: http://scratch.mit.edu/ http://scratch.mit.edu/ Many people are working on ports or similar tools in flash and html5, but none are quite there yet. Also see the game Light Bot (1 or 2): http://www.silvergames.com/light-bot-2 http://www.silvergames.com/light-bot-2 And for older folks, some nice in browser development sites include http://www.playmycode.com/ http://www.playmycode.com/ (uses a ruby-like language) and http://pixieengine.com/ http://pixieengine.com/ (uses coffeescript) And for making websites see kodingen.com or playing with javascript, see jsfiddle or jsdo.it or processingjs.
  - chromatic 15y ago
    I've been working with a couple of other people on http://www.clubcompy.com/ http://www.clubcompy.com/ which runs completely in the browser.
- brs 15y ago
  For those of us who grew up with QBasic: http://stevehanov.ca/blog/index.php?id=92 http://stevehanov.ca/blog/index.php?id=92
cturner 15y ago
There's been lots of cool tools recently - unix in a abrowser and the like. Does anyone know of a z80- or 6502-in-a-browser? I found this, but I want the prompt. http://www.visual6502.org/JSSim/index.html http://www.visual6502.org/JSSim/index.html It should be easier to do machine code programming in a browser sandbox, because the sandbox could give you tools for viewing memory.
_frog 15y ago
That's kind of the goal of Hackety Hack[1], to provide a framework for learning to program coupled with fun, simple libraries for graphics, sound and whatnot. [1]: http://hackety-hack.com/ http://hackety-hack.com/

kenjackson 15y ago

It's the web browser. Just open up notepad (or whatever the default text editor is) and start coding. Start with HTML and then add some JS.

peteretep 15y ago
A thousand times this. I got really in to programming when I realized I could create ... and then share with anyone to whom I could get a URL
Timothee 15y ago
If you want to go this route I'd go one step further: just use the console in the web browser. It's pretty much as accessible and everywhere as BASIC was.

chromatic 15y ago

How about a BASIC running in a web browser?

edtechdev 15y ago
Unfortunately we still aren't quite there yet, although just about everything else has been ported to run on javascript: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-languages-that-compile-to-JS https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang... And making basic/visual basic on top of javascript is a little challenging since it is case-insensitive and statically typed (later versions). But I'd especially recommend Scratch from MIT for kids: http://scratch.mit.edu/ http://scratch.mit.edu/ Many people are working on ports or similar tools in flash and html5, but none are quite there yet. Also see the game Light Bot (1 or 2): http://www.silvergames.com/light-bot-2 http://www.silvergames.com/light-bot-2 And for older folks, some nice in browser development sites include http://www.playmycode.com/ http://www.playmycode.com/ (uses a ruby-like language) and http://pixieengine.com/ http://pixieengine.com/ (uses coffeescript) And for making websites see kodingen.com or playing with javascript, see jsfiddle or jsdo.it or processingjs.
- chromatic 15y ago
  I've been working with a couple of other people on http://www.clubcompy.com/ http://www.clubcompy.com/ which runs completely in the browser.
brs 15y ago
For those of us who grew up with QBasic: http://stevehanov.ca/blog/index.php?id=92 http://stevehanov.ca/blog/index.php?id=92

cturner 15y ago

There's been lots of cool tools recently - unix in a abrowser and the like. Does anyone know of a z80- or 6502-in-a-browser? I found this, but I want the prompt. http://www.visual6502.org/JSSim/index.html http://www.visual6502.org/JSSim/index.html It should be easier to do machine code programming in a browser sandbox, because the sandbox could give you tools for viewing memory.

_frog 15y ago

That's kind of the goal of Hackety Hack[1], to provide a framework for learning to program coupled with fun, simple libraries for graphics, sound and whatnot. [1]: http://hackety-hack.com/ http://hackety-hack.com/