Microsoft open sources GWBASIC

[Tomasz Rola]

On Thu, May 21, 2020 at 10:42:54PM -0700, jim stephens via cctalk wrote:
> 
> Seems of interest.  Will be interesting to play with.
> 
> https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/microsoft-open-sources-gw-basic/
> 

Around 1992 I tried to use Basic on my Amiga to compute some stuff
from the physics lab. As a student, I was to learn few things - laser
and mirrors, spectroscope etc, each exercise was to be summed up,
measurents given, plots plotted, means, standard deviations and
measurement errors and whatever I forgot, too. So I thought, here is
this shiny computer of mine, I will make good use of it.

The Basic had Microsoft printed on it.

The bloody code delivered nonsense. Every time I tried to fix it,
nonsense again.

I finished writing the report with good old calculator.

My contempt (if not hate) of Microsoft started on that day, I
think. My huge reservation towards Basic-the-language, probably too.

Of course, chance was, I might have been this much
inexperienced. Albeit I wrote my first programs six years earlier,
but, sure,  might have been not my day.

Oh, they open sourced. If you ever watched Spaceballs, you will know
what I mean: "Oh shit, here goes the planet"...

:-)

-- 
Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **