When you first started to write program, what was the first programming language you learned?
Please don't post repeats. If someone already posted it, just vote for it.
on a 386 running dos
Frederic Morin
2008-11-02 21:29:38
here the same :) (or was it a 286?? can't remember)
Andreas Niedermair
2009-03-20 09:48:02
me too, but on a K6 (yes, i learn to program few years ago)
unkiwii
2009-04-07 12:10:24
I first learned on a 486SX 33Mhz with 4MB Ram.
Chris Pietschmann
2009-05-13 03:50:43
also on a 386 running dos with POWERBUTTON - god do I miss those :-)
Chris
2009-07-17 06:42:01
second language, but first language where I could do graphics!
Jared Updike
2009-07-17 07:17:24
On an old 486DX with 12 MB of RAM and Windows 95... Ya, pretty old.
George Edison
2010-05-05 21:10:57
Me too, but quite late, 2005 or something. I'm weird like that. When I switched to VB.Net I was completely shocked of all the possibilities ;-)
Jouke van der Maas
2010-07-20 20:25:25
To be honest I didn't learn Logo until I was 12, but by then I was already proficient with basic
Robert Gould
2008-10-09 15:51:12
LOGO and BASIC, although I've pretty much forgotten most of LOGO now. Might go back to it one day.
Jonathan Prior
2009-05-19 04:01:26
Logo, and then python. I only switched because I realized snakes > turtles.
asperous.us
2009-07-17 07:02:13
Same for me. My TRS-80 for X-mas from my gramps when I was 11 was and still is priceless to me. I got the tape recorder add-on for my birthday a few months later so I could save my programs, and run 3rd party ones (games, for me). Thanks for the memories ;)
Dane
2008-10-07 08:41:49
+1 for me too. My Dad retired from the Air Force in 1980 and worked at Tandy Headquarters for a while. The summer after High School I was able to go to his office after work and mess with the computers.
Mark Harrison
2010-05-18 08:37:01
Ahhh, those were the days when my parents handed me a 'How to Program Games in Basic' book.
Jason Mock
2009-10-07 17:15:59
Depends on the complexity of the batch files. I've seen some pretty wild bats out there...
Chris Charabaruk
2008-10-06 23:34:52
+3
A:
Apple BASIC, followed by its assembly. I loved the fact that the Apple ][+ had the built in disassembler, made it very easy to figure out how things worked.
zigdon
2008-10-06 23:11:53
Really? How do I get to that builtin dissassembler, that would be really cool!
TokenMacGuy
2009-06-05 18:44:26
Atari 400 for me, but it's the same. :) I remember writing programs that drew pictures with the funky text graphics blocks it used.
Kaz Dragon
2009-12-02 12:19:43
I also started with PHP, although I'm not sad about it. Have branched a lot, learned C, C++, Perl, Python, Java, shell...
Adriano Varoli Piazza
2008-10-06 23:15:18
I'm not terribly worked up over it. But it's not my favorite language to write (or edit!) either.
eyelidlessness
2008-10-06 23:16:54
I thought this was a great language to start with. I found it amazingly easy to start with and my skills took off. And I moved on to other languages very easily
The.Anti.9
2008-10-06 23:21:30
Well, sure, but I have encountered a few other, much better, questions where I had a legitimate one word answer, and had to pad my response. This one comes to mind: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/175892/prevent-an-element-from-capturing-the-mouse-using-jquery#175904Comment form is short, TBC.
eyelidlessness
2008-10-07 18:51:02
Note that while the poster requested clarification in a comment, the way the question was framed implied that no such clarification would be necessary.The character limits (both min and max) seem arbitrary and unhelpful. Note above that posting a single SO URL took up a lot of the character limit.
eyelidlessness
2008-10-07 18:54:13
I still remember the joy when I discovered a program to renumber my lines!
vfilby
2008-10-29 22:46:41
You mean **** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 **** ? (Also, Plus/4 is for elitists. Real people had C64)
DrJokepu
2008-11-02 17:50:13
VIC-20 ftw, most C64 owners couldn't program at all. Maybe the font was too hard to read, I don't know.
Guge
2008-12-03 20:27:06
I think the sheer number of people that started with some flavor of basic show that it is the easiest language to break into programming. Can't beat super simple English language syntax.
argonide
2008-12-14 19:46:12
pO53280,0:pO53281,0:pO646,7:?"***C64 rules***":fOI=1TO2000:nE:sY64738
Thorsten79
2008-12-14 21:03:20
I was watching my elder brother to write code on it :) All I remember is flying baloons !
dr. evil
2009-04-06 16:22:36
10 PRINT "ANDREAS IS THE BEST"20 GOTO 10Was probably the first program I ever wrote. Mind you RULEZ wasn't even in the vocabulary 20+ years ago.
Andreas Magnusson
2009-06-05 23:53:08
@argonide: not so much "easy" as "just there", perhaps. C64 BASIC was actually my 2nd platform, after Applesoft :-)"Press play on cassette" -- forgot that blasted ",7" again!
Roboprog
2009-06-06 01:56:41
Copying listings from The Secret Guide To Computers (http://secretfun.com) 18th edition. (see also http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000761.html)
Aidan Ryan
2008-10-23 00:51:17
+4
A:
Well, it was in the backseat of my Dad's wagon on prom night and... oh wait, wait, sorry misread that question.
BASIC on the Commodore VIC 20
chadmyers
2008-10-06 23:15:28
+3
A:
BASIC on a mainframe, entered on punchcards. I was 9, so I couldn't tell you what kind of mainframe.
MusiGenesis
2008-10-06 23:18:31
Okay, you just won the awesome. I thought it was cool that I was doing BASIC and 6502 assembly at 7yo, but 9yo on a mainframe is a whole new level. :D
Chris Charabaruk
2008-10-06 23:22:19
No, you're cooler. I still have never done assembly. My program just simulated the rolling of 4-, 8-, 12- and 20-sided dice (you can guess what for). Coding at 7 is pretty out there.
MusiGenesis
2008-10-06 23:26:33
Thanks, but I never got to do anything with mainframes, myself.How about we just agree to be equally cool?
Chris Charabaruk
2008-10-06 23:35:47
I was 15 when I used BASIC on a mainframe. Not as cool as you guys. It was my first chance to use a computer.
David G
2008-10-09 15:54:09
Me, too! I started with the ZX-81, with the membrane keyboard and the audio tape I/O
Alan
2008-10-07 01:17:41
Luxury!Actually, the ZX-81 and ZX-80 were very similar. Ours also had the membrane keyboard and audio tape I/O. Was there an actual tape peripheral? We used a regular cassette player wired to the ZX-80, but I don't know if that's normal.Good times!
Phoenix
2008-10-07 02:35:48
Sinclair Basic on a Spectrum+. Same Basic but with colour, a keyboard with real, moving keys and no _fast_ mode...
Stephen Darlington
2008-10-13 21:32:47
Me too, on a Spectrum. After Basic, it was Z-80 machine code. Remember EX AF, AF'?
Anton Tykhyy
2009-04-06 16:08:27
OK, you win the "one-downsman-ship" contest (so far). That is a "modest" machine. Not that I could afford my *own* computer until after college.
Roboprog
2009-06-06 02:00:10
I remember my 16k ZX Spectrum. Good times. (My first program drew an envelope, one pixel at a time. OK, that was because I hadn't discovered the `DRAW` command. :-))
Donal Fellows
2010-05-18 08:15:18
My father worked at the local uni, and that's what they had readily available.
TimB
2008-10-06 23:21:04
Fortran was the first I learned -- My father taught me it as I pursued the Boy Scout Computers Merit Badge -- though I never actually wrote a program in it till college.
James Curran
2008-10-08 14:25:49
I'm astounded and old feeling that Fortran has so few votes! .. My first job included a lot of JCL and programming Fortran on 80 column punched cards
Scott Evernden
2008-10-13 21:49:33
I've seen this as well, although I was spared the joy of actually using it.
ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells
2008-11-23 17:31:48
FORTRAN IV? You never used FORTRAN II? On a GE-255 (along with original Dartmouth BASIC)? You kids get off my lawn!
joel.neely
2009-02-05 13:08:26
So few votes? Chalk it up to "mortality" :-) Of course, after doing 2 BASIC dialects in/after high school, FORTran (77) was the first thing I did in college. This was an immediate improvement: no more global variables; actual ELSIFs! (sorry to those who had to suffer with IV)
Roboprog
2009-06-06 02:03:37
Fortran 77 - Applicon Ink Jet Color plotter (circa 1978) software was all Fortran. General and Business graphics, 2D and 3D plotting. Pixel pumping in a language not ever meant for it - what fun!
Scott Evernden
2009-10-07 17:04:51
+4
A:
Microsoft BASIC 2.0, Commodore edition (that's right, Microsoft provided the BASIC seen on the Commodore computers). Quickly followed up with 6502 assembly.
I should mention that this was on a Commodore 64 (classic, not 64C) and I still dabble once and a while with VICE, because you gotta know and stick to your roots.
Chris Charabaruk
2008-10-06 23:20:50
+37
A:
TI-83 Basic. Instead of paying attention in math class I would program in Basic on my calculator.
It probably explains why I'm so horrible at math, yet so into programming.
Dan Herbert
2008-10-06 23:23:30
I programmed my calculator to flash a pentagram while scrolling "I LOVE SATAN" during a grade 12 math class. Good times!
Cadoo
2009-04-15 04:06:21
I did IB maths methods in high school. We could use any program during our tests as long as we wrote it ourselves and it was a computational program rather than a storage system for notes. It was a great idea - something all mathematics courses should allow.
Vince
2009-12-05 02:47:04
A:
GW Basic on a Tandy 1000. I still remember when I figured out (with minimal documentation) how to allocate more memory to video and jump to screen 10, with 16 colors! gasp
DGM
2008-10-06 23:24:31
A:
I cut my programming teeth on zMUD scripts and macros. I spent a good chunk of my early teens as a MUD zombie, and this is the only reason I don't consider it a huge waste. Turns out there's nothing that motivates you to learn as much as improved performance in an online game!
Brant Bobby
2008-10-06 23:25:26
A:
mIrc script, and then Visual Basic 6.
mIrc script was pretty fun. It was the old days :P
Patrick Parent
2008-10-07 01:11:01
A:
Bally Arcade BASIC (it only had 1.2K of RAM), followed by Apple Basic on an Apple II.
Brian Stewart
2008-10-07 01:19:40
A:
Amsoft Basic on an Amstrad CPC 6128.
128k of RAM, and could only access one 64k bank at a time.
Blorgbeard
2008-10-07 01:55:33
+1
A:
GW-BASIC -> Amiga BASIC -> Aztec C -> Fortran 77 ............
........ Ruby :)
Scott Alan Miller
2008-10-07 02:20:23
+19
A:
C++
It wasn't as bad as it's usually made out to be for a first language, but I did have people to use as resources.
Jimmy
2008-10-07 02:37:04
Actually, I think C++ is a great first language -- far better than C or Basic -- You have neither pointers nor GOTO to distract you.
James Curran
2008-10-08 14:28:17
@James Curran, you have plenty of pointers to distract you in C++! Some of the low-level things like variadic arrays are abstracted in STL, though, so it's a bit easier. Still, I think it's important to understand the fundamentals using pointers.
strager
2008-12-14 19:31:11
YIKES! Good thing I never met the ++ beast until after college, and after "Object Pascal". And you went on programming? Wow.
Roboprog
2009-06-06 02:05:40
@James Curran: and C++ has goto (which, as we no, is Considered Harmful)
Jared Updike
2009-07-17 07:18:24
notJim
2009-10-07 17:17:45
+1
A:
Logo on an Apple ][
My perception of the universe shifted about 45 degrees when I realized a function could call itself...
Moishe
2008-10-07 02:42:11
+3
A:
z80 assembly (on the trs-80 model 1, but that's an aside, not part of the answer).
paxdiablo
2008-10-07 08:03:45
How many people to you think started with Z-80 assembly on a machine BESIDES the TRS-80?
James Curran
2008-10-08 14:29:59
Probably not many, I also had a System 80 from Dick Smith (although this was a sort-of-clone of the TRS-80).
paxdiablo
2008-10-09 05:43:50
In European parts of the world, ZX Spectrum was immensely more popular than the TRS-80 and it was also build around the Z80...
gabr
2008-10-09 09:45:08
I started on a Z-80 on the DG-Z80 (an S100 bus card) predecessor to the Microbee in Australia.
Peter K.
2008-10-14 14:00:38
+1
A:
SNOBOL, in a computational linguistics class. The first real assignment was an English-to-Pig-Latin translator; it took about five lines of code. I've been a fan of languages with dynamic typing, garbage collection, and rich control structures ever since.
Randy Hudson
2008-10-08 01:26:44
A:
Data General BASIC on a DG Nova 2; age 12. MiniComps can crash too!
Steven A. Lowe
2008-10-08 01:30:52
+1
A:
Assembler on CDC 6600 Mainframe followed closely by CDC advanced Fortran IV.
kloucks
2008-10-08 01:39:11
A:
BASIC running on an IBM mainframe computer, using Selectric terminals.
For those unfamiliar, that's an IBM Selectric typewriter, (with fanfold paper running through it), driven by a serial interface with a 100 baud modem.
Chris Noe
2008-10-08 02:09:52
A:
Borland C++, the DOS version (I could not remember the version number). I've learn this from college as prerequisite for my Engineering class
OnesimusUnbound
2008-10-08 12:03:29
Atari _ST_ 520.Greetings from the person who brought Megamax Modula-2 to the ST :)
Thomas Tempelmann
2009-04-17 19:22:25
+1
A:
One of the first BASIC interpereters on what my fuzzy memory remembers as an old Burroughs mainframe with a teletypewriter (we're talking approximately 1965 or so here)
David
2008-10-08 12:08:40
A:
BBC Basic
Editing/Replying in Opera identified as Opera doesn't work sometimes (just upgraded to Opera 9.6) :(
PintSizedCat
2008-10-08 12:11:57
Most probably you tried to added an answer shorter than 10 characters. The system doesn't allow it.
gabr
2008-10-09 09:43:07
+12
A:
TI-Basic on a TI99 4/A, then TI-Extended Basic, powered by hardware handled sprites :)
controlbreak
2008-10-09 09:42:10
Did you have the speech synth module:10 CALL SPEECH "How about a nice game of Chess?"
kenj0418
2009-06-04 21:46:34
+2
A:
Hypercard on my Mac Plus. The scripting language HyperCard used was called HyperTalk, although AppleScript was able to be used also.
Justin Bozonier
2008-10-13 21:17:29
A:
TribesScript. Not my "first" programming language but it was the first I cared about.
Chris Porter
2008-10-13 21:31:40
A:
mine was c++ , I had a bad experience learning it since the guy teaching it knew as much c++ as I did.
Ronald Conco
2008-10-14 11:55:55
A:
Embarrassing but Visual Basic 6.0 was the first I actually programmed with...
Tigraine
2008-10-14 11:57:18
A:
it was either Woz' Integer Basic on Apple ][ or Microsofts Applesoft Basic on the same Apple ][ clone (Yes, Microsoft created Applesoft Basic)
Kris
2008-10-19 12:09:45
A:
My first language was taught to me at High School.. It was an assembler language for a PDP-8 mainframe that was owned by the nearby technical college. My next language was BASIC, this was done old a Research Machine micro running CP/M. Exposure to BASIC on a Commodore Pet followed shortly, by this time i was well and truly hooked.
JDibble
2008-10-19 15:44:09
A:
C++ in highschool. Didn't hit pointers and recursion for a while though.
Riddari
2008-10-19 16:02:15
A:
I have a feeling my story is pretty common for people my age(early 20s)
qbasic begat php
php begat java
java begat c
c begat ruby(changing directions)
ruby begat ...(smalltalk?,scheme?, something else?)
Mark Lubin
2008-10-23 00:27:19
+2
A:
I remember when I first figured out how an If statement worked, it was a great moment. After that discovery, I read the manual front to back and worked my way up to writing my own apps and games - fun times.
Matt Refghi
2008-10-23 01:09:27
A:
Whatever language was used for Intellivision's keyboard component. Otherwise, Basic.
rich
2008-10-23 15:21:40
+15
A:
BASIC on a ZX Spectrum 48 back in the dark ages on programming languages (1984)!
Sean
2008-10-23 15:28:26
10 BORDER 0 : PAPER 0 : INK 7 : CLS20 PRINT AT 10,10; "Hello, World!"RUN
Jimmy Chandra
2009-07-02 10:26:23
Ah -- the humble speccy. Fond memories of this. If I could upvote twice, I would :-) Have you seen this [music vid]? http://www2.b3ta.com/heyhey16k/
Chris J
2009-12-02 12:23:07
That's harsh. I hope you found joy in real programming languages later on ;-)
Thorsten79
2008-12-14 20:59:28
+1 on that. It is a nice language to start with. Simple, clean, concise, easy. Sad that I didn't give it more attention. Because of that I now vastly prefer C-family of languages :)
Ion Todirel
2010-05-19 20:26:07
A:
I first started programming using Mallard basic - on an Amstrad PCW... which was basically a word processor.
The books which encouraged me were the 'Teach yourself programming' range, which I think were published by Osborne(?) They were designed for kids and included an overview of key concepts, followed by pages and pages of source code which you were expected to copy. Originally published during the days of the ZX Spectrum, VIC20, Acorn Electron and C64.
codeinthehole
2008-11-02 15:25:43
A:
TI-58 calculator. No permanent storage. It remembered the program until you turned it off - then you had to retype the program to run it again.
Mike
2008-11-02 17:05:58
Aahh, the RCA-1802 - my second computer (post-ZX80) was the COMX-35 which used this chip. I still remember the weird SCRT call-and-return code (there was no dedicated PC/SP, one of the registers (variable) was used).
paxdiablo
2008-11-22 13:04:52
+6
A:
JavaScript :(, It was my introductory language and I decided to abandon it because I lost interest in Web development.
Maccy
2008-12-14 17:26:50
Go JavaScript. I started out with HTML, then CSS, so JavaScript was a natural starting point. Maybe it should have been a natural end point too, but here I still am, hacking away like an idiot.
Paul D. Waite
2010-02-20 15:59:12
A:
Commodore Basic, but the first language I was taught was Karel the Robot in High School CS class.
rich
2008-12-14 17:48:16
+1
A:
6800 Assembler on a SWTP SS-50 bus micro-computer kit. 30+ years ago
Matthew
2008-12-14 19:28:19
+7
A:
My first language was Logo, in elementary school (in the early 80s). By the time I was next exposed to programming, in middle school (late 80s) I'd forgotten it. My second exposure was with AppleSoft BASIC.
I didn't really grok programming until high school, when I taught myself HyperTalk at home while learning GW-BASIC in class.
bendin
2008-12-14 19:29:53
I first learned to really program a computer to do real work with almost this exact story.
TokenMacGuy
2009-06-05 18:55:20
I had completely forgotten about that until seeing your post. I'm not sure what the one we were using was called, it could have been logo.
xnine
2010-09-01 15:15:14
A:
Basic on a Sord M5, then Z80 assembler, then Turbo Pascal under CPM.
Brian Rasmussen
2008-12-14 20:34:13
+1
A:
First ZX Spectrum Basic,
Then Commodore 64 Basic, (and LOGO)
Then a long gap when my first Windows machine didn't boot into a Basic prompt :-(
(although IIRC it had something called QBasic?)
Then Java -- which put me off programming for a long time.
Then Python, which got me interested again -- hooked, in fact.
And now learning C++ and Java again thanks to Python healing my programmer soul!! :-)
nakedfanatic
2008-12-14 20:43:17
wow, I'd forgotten the "good old days" when IBM PC clones would boot up in to basic :)
Antony Scott
2009-03-20 09:49:24
+1
A:
some flavor of Basic that ran on MSX (don't quite remember its exact name, maybe QBASIC?)
hasen j
2009-03-20 09:54:30
It was MSX BASIC, a dialect of the BASIC programming language. In fact, an extended version of Microsoft Standard BASIC Version 4.5.
Juliano
2010-04-02 23:40:25
A:
I went to one of those bad colleges who taught Java as a first language... of course, the next class they turned around and dumped us into C data structures and another in Assembly, so I guess they didn't corrupt us too badly.
MattGWagner
2009-04-06 16:12:44
+1
A:
TI-BASIC for the TI-83... wrote a quadratic formula shortcut app for Algebra
jle
2009-04-06 16:16:04
A:
AMOS on the Commodore Amiga.
I remember typing in some crazy Amiga Format code to get Pong to work!
Jon Winstanley
2009-04-07 11:45:54
A:
Basic on a Commodore 64 Long break... GW Basic Long Break... QBasic Long Break... Visual Basic 3
Cyril Gupta
2009-04-07 11:54:05
A:
C (in college).
And then C++, then Java, then VB.NET, then C# (as hobby during college days).
After getting my first job: VB, Java, Python, C and now C++. All in 4 years!
artknish
2009-04-07 12:01:43
A:
Q-BASIC => JavaScript => TI-83 BASIC => PHP. HTML before JavaScript but that doesn't really count.
Patrick Lucas
2009-04-15 03:48:58
A:
I first programmed in logic circuits (1970).
The first programming Language that I learned was FORTRAN II (1971).
The first program that I was actually able to run on a computer was in NCR BASIC(1973).
RBarryYoung
2009-06-06 01:05:40
A:
C++... in college before it was replaced in the curriculum with java midway through my degree.
sdmiller
2009-06-06 01:24:49
+2
A:
COMAL during high school.
Judging by the lack of a mention so far, it must be pretty rare.
Mark Simpson
2009-06-07 01:45:44
+19
A:
English Phonics.
After an initial grasp of the syntax, I learned the power to command large dynamic objects through space and time with simple utterances.
Although, the system has a sometimes buggy interface and not always predictable return values.
Gordon Potter
2009-07-17 07:16:11
Funny answer. I meant to say just "Funny" but minimum post length prevented me from doing so.
Moshe
2010-01-04 04:07:56
+1
A:
Started with Python 3 Years ago on fresh installed Debian System.
bastianneu
2009-08-21 13:02:48
A:
DEC BASIC PLUS - 1978 - on punched cards for first 6 weeks. Then switching to a paper terminal running at 110 Baud over acoustic coupler..... I then built an Acorn Atom - 6502/Basic, then onto Apple ][ 6502/AppleSoft Basic.
Tony Lambert
2009-08-21 13:11:48
A:
Pascal.
Specifically via a little-remembered tutorial program from Symantec called "Just Enough Pascal".
mbarnett
2009-10-07 17:01:25
A:
BASIC, on the TI Calculator (TI-82)
Once I learned how to program functions, I didn't see the need to spend time learning math. Fortunately, my Algebra II teacher realized what I was doing and forced me to learn (by not allowing calculators on tests).
JasCav
2009-10-07 17:01:33
A:
I don't remember. That was a long time ago.
In high school I used some dialect of Basic on some kind of (HP, I think) desktop printing calculator as well as Fortran on a mini the high school had inherited.
First serious project was in RatFor.
Larry Lustig
2009-10-07 17:03:39
A:
Plain-old C, not the easiest language to start with, but one you've mastered pointers, things tend to get a lot easier :)
ErikSchierboom
2009-11-16 09:55:16
A:
My first programming language learned is Turbo C for me this is the core of all programming languages. haha :)) If you easily understand the Turbo C You will easily learn other programming languages.
:))
Robert Jayson
2009-12-02 12:11:45
A:
I did a bit of Clipper, but years later when I actually started learning programming I did Java.
mauro.dec
2009-12-02 12:19:00
A:
155 answers and I'm seriously the first to say Perl?
Perhaps one of the worst choices as a beginner language, but I was persistent. This was also before there were many great online resources so I learned from an old fashioned book, still have that worn out Discover Perl 5 book...
Rob
2009-12-05 02:53:06
+1
A:
"How To Program BASIC" for the mac. Then shortly after REALBasic.
bobber205
2010-01-04 04:05:48
Good grief, someone else who learned on REALBasic!Wish I'd started with C. Had to unlearn all the bad concepts I got from my high school CS class before I could understand memory management.
Ender
2010-07-25 06:18:30
+1
A:
PL/1 - I learned it on a GUI system called Libra. The next term I was back to punch cards, which was hard - especially programming lisp with all the parentheses.
Larry Watanabe
2010-01-04 04:09:04
A:
first GW-BASIC, second FORTRAN, third C, forth COBOL, fifth PASCAL, sixth C++, seventh JAVA, eighth VISUAL-BASIC, ninth PL/SQL, tenth CELLpro(brooks)
Paxi
2010-01-31 01:32:13
A:
I started with Visual Basic when I was 14 and started to learn C# and Java when I entered University. Recently, I've been playing around in C and PHP.
centralhawk3
2010-02-20 15:53:48
A:
ABC 80 BASIC. A Swedish computer from the late seventies.
The ABC 80 BASIC did something that I didn't find common back then (1984). It kind of compiled a row as you pressed enter. This way you got quick feedback of some typos and it also made it quite fast for being a BASIC. A feature I missed moving to C64 later on. Didn't miss it that long though because I figured out that the games and demos weren't made in BASIC at all and soon found myself hacking in a machine code monitor provided by some cartridge I forgot the name of.
Jonas Elfström
2010-05-18 08:28:32
A:
So many posts but I must add mine. My first programming was Apple Scripts on LC 630. :D
VOX
2010-06-25 17:10:18
A:
I'm not entirely sure. I could say "BASICA", but I hardly used that for anything even remotely useful.
So, I would say it was Turbo Pascal.
Turing Complete
2010-07-13 07:26:03
A:
LOGO - i did Logo on a free course in school when i was 14, then a pice of Pascal regards Jürgen
Jürgen
2010-07-20 20:22:59
A:
Algol 68.
I saw some Commodore PET BASIC but never really used it. In university we were taught programming in Algol 68.
It's odd to see languages like C# slowly catching up to features that have always been part of my programming practice because they were standard in Algol 68. Higher-order functions in particular.
reinierpost
2010-07-20 22:15:03
+1
A:
COBOL-74
Since 1978
I don't know why nobody mentioned
But now Visual Basic 2010
Tomorrow I don't Know
Bitnius
2010-07-25 05:40:22
A:
Pascal on a VAX/VMS terminal (nothing can beat that orange screen) at my high school. What made this special was that the year was 1999.
GWW
2010-07-25 05:42:45
A:
Blitz Basic was the first language I actually did anything in. Hated it and still do. Wasn't my first programming book, but it was the first I actually used.
sp0rus
2010-09-01 14:32:07
A:
REXX, specifically Mansfield REXX on an XT IBM compatible running DOS.
Rexx is rather neat: Dynamically typed scripting language. Never going back ;) Next was C, but at age 8, I didn't really get it yet - not until I had some Perl and VB under my belt (trying to get VB to call Win32 and fudging COM requires you to grok pointers... after that, C is a piece of cake...)
Daren Thomas
2010-09-01 14:38:18
A:
DEC BasicPlus on a PDP 11/40
Followed closely by Basic on a TRS-80, then Z-80 assembly - which was hand assembled because we didn't have an assembler!
John T
2010-09-01 14:45:41
A:
The very first was BASIC on a Commodore PET at home. But the first serious one was LISP at first uni semester, running on brain, pencil and paper.
PeterMmm
2010-09-01 15:03:37