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Yes. You owned the entire machine, there was a progression to assembler (awkard, but possible if you didn't mind hand-assembling the hex and typing into a BASIC

Yes. You owned the entire machine, there was a progression to assembler (awkard, but possible if you didn't mind hand-assembling the hex and typing into a BASIC shell), and you could a huge amount just with that. The capabilities and the limits captured your imagination in a way that the modern stack doesn't come close to. And especially in the UK, easy and cheap access to 8-bit machines for teenagers launched a generation of coding careers. So Dijsktra is wrong. It's very possible to learn CS principles after learning BASIC. it's certainly an adjustment, but it's very easy to sell if you explain that you can build larger structured projects from smaller elements, including more complex data structures - not a difficult concept for anyone who taught themselves assembler from magazine articles and books, because there was no other help or support. The other thing BASIC did was gave some of those teens a career. The cost of entry to a small game business was very low, and there were plenty of games that didn't even need assembler. A bit of advertising in the magazines, maybe some hand duplication to start with, and good games made non-trivial money almost immediately, through organic word of mouth promotion.

jaybrendansmith 3y ago
I found it very easy to learn these principles once BASIC taught me loops and functions. Once out of BASIC, a tough concept to grok was passing pointers and different data types, because BASIC made global and local variables so brainless. Object-oriented languages are in many ways further from assembly than BASIC, but even VB teaches you objects and methods and properties albeit in a very simple form. Leaving the virtual box framework of basic was also somewhat difficult, but I don't think learning basic made it any harder or easier, just more frustrating because it seemed so pointless at first. It's like learning to drive an automatic and having someone tell you that you must now learn a manual transmission with manual brakes and steering, and how to change the oil/clean the carb. Seems silly at first, but ultimately rewarding.

jaybrendansmith 3y ago

I found it very easy to learn these principles once BASIC taught me loops and functions. Once out of BASIC, a tough concept to grok was passing pointers and different data types, because BASIC made global and local variables so brainless. Object-oriented languages are in many ways further from assembly than BASIC, but even VB teaches you objects and methods and properties albeit in a very simple form. Leaving the virtual box framework of basic was also somewhat difficult, but I don't think learning basic made it any harder or easier, just more frustrating because it seemed so pointless at first. It's like learning to drive an automatic and having someone tell you that you must now learn a manual transmission with manual brakes and steering, and how to change the oil/clean the carb. Seems silly at first, but ultimately rewarding.