Description
Python is widely used as both a professional software engineering language, and as a "learning" language that many programmers get started with. But in the early days of computing there was BASIC, the Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. BASIC's original developers, Kemeny and Kurtz at Dartmouth University, created it as a language that all students, from every field could use, and that led to its widespread adoption. It quickly become the de facto home computer language, and was pre-installed on virtually all computers right up through the year 2000.
We'll review the syntax similarities and differences between Python and BASIC, compare the source code and execution of several identical programs written in both languages, and discuss the implementation of their respective "compilers". Maybe BASIC can still teach us, and future language designers, some lessons?