The Golden Age of Basic - IEEE Spectrum
▻http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/the-golden-age-of-basic
Today, programmers can begin their journeys into the world of code in quite a few ways. 8 to 12-year olds can use MIT’s Scratch, manipulating colorful blocks on screen to build programs. Older kids can tinker with writing HTML and Javascript, have a go at writing Python scripts on a Raspberry Pi or just go straight to downloading free compilers and development environments for languages like C or C++. Visual and musical artists can try their hand at Processing. There’s even the option of learning how to build insanely elaborate devices in the virtual world of Minecraft. Online tutorials and courses, written and video-based, abound.
But in the 1980s, most kids didn’t have access to the Internet, integrated development environments, rich graphics, or even a choice of languages. What we had were 8-bit home computers, a blinking cursor, and Basic.