[Info-vax] BASIC (was Re: 64-bit)

[bill]

On 1/10/2024 7:02 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 1/10/2024 6:54 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>> On Wed, 10 Jan 2024 23:28:29 +0000, Chris Townley wrote:
>>> On 10/01/2024 20:17, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:07:04 -0500, mjos_examine wrote:
>>>>> ... I think BASIC did have a pretty good
>>>>> run in the 90's and early 2000's, particularly on the Windows desktop
>>>>> platform.
>>>>
>>>> It had a role on 1980s micros, I’ll grant you that. The ability to
>>>> switch on and start typing code made for quite a productive
>>>> environment: type a statement with a line number to add it to your
>>>> in-memory program, or without to execute the line immediately.
> 
>>> Have you ever used DEC/Compaq/HP basic?
>>
>> I think so, yes. It very much tried to emulate the interactive BASIC-PLUS
>> environment from RSTS/E, as I recall (right down to the “Ready” prompt).
> 
> VMS Basic is compiled just like Fortran, Cobol, Pascal and C.
> 
> Same is VB.NET.
> 
> And PowerBasic.
> 
> And FreeBASIC.

So is BASIC on RSTS/E.  You can run it in the interpreter till you
are done debugging and then compile it.

> 
>>> I maintained and developed an ERP system consisting of well over a
>>> million lines of code, which worked well to support our business
>>
>> So you got it to work, back in the day. Nowadays, there are easier 
>> ways of
>> achieving the same thing. For one thing, you would have many existing
>> libraries to draw on, instead of having to write all that code yourself.
> 
> The world has evolved.

Exactly.  BASIC also evolved, but better languages have passed it by.

bill