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WillThePerson
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19 Apr 2008, 9:50 am

I may start learning BASIC on my Apple computer but I've gone through all my files and haven't found anything to write it with, so, how am I going to be able to write BASIC?
Thanks for any help I recive.
(P.s. I use my family's iMac, but for coding I use a eMac.)



Asdquefty
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19 Apr 2008, 10:26 am

Try Chipmunk BASIC
http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/

I'm not sure why you want to start with BASIC, I would recommend Python. If you're feeling brave then you could get BlueJ and try some Java :)



WillThePerson
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19 Apr 2008, 10:41 am

Nevermind. The iMac is my family's computer and I'm not going to download anything on to it, and my eMac has no internet acsess.
eh.



wolphin
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19 Apr 2008, 8:33 pm

If you want a "basic"-type programming language that's fairly simple to learn, try python. It has a very easy to learn syntax and is like basic in a lot of ways.

The best part is that it's already on your Mac! Just open the "Terminal" program (under Applications -> Utilities) and type "python" at the command line.

I suggest checking out this online book, http://diveintopython.org/toc/index.html, that explains how to get started.



Encyclopedia
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19 Apr 2008, 9:30 pm

Yeah, BASIC is kind of outdated. It's a broad term too, there are so many variants.

Dive into Python is great. That's mostly how I learned Python. Still, it might be too hard for a beginner. If you've never programmed anything before, or if Dive into Python seems over your head, start with A Byte of Python, then read Dive into Python. Byte of Python is aimed at newbies. http://www.swaroopch.com/byteofpython/

http://docs.python.org has a tutorial and the library reference. After you've read the books, familiarize yourself with the library reference. You don't have to memorize it but knowing where to look is a good thing. (You might want to memorize the Built-in Objects though. It helps with programming a lot.)


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WillThePerson
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19 Apr 2008, 11:18 pm

wolphin wrote:
If you want a "basic"-type programming language that's fairly simple to learn, try python. It has a very easy to learn syntax and is like basic in a lot of ways.

The best part is that it's already on your Mac! Just open the "Terminal" program (under Applications -> Utilities) and type "python" at the command line.

I suggest checking out this online book, http://diveintopython.org/toc/index.html, that explains how to get started.

Quote:
Yeah, BASIC is kind of outdated. It's a broad term too, there are so many variants.

Dive into Python is great. That's mostly how I learned Python. Still, it might be too hard for a beginner. If you've never programmed anything before, or if Dive into Python seems over your head, start with A Byte of Python, then read Dive into Python. Byte of Python is aimed at newbies. http://www.swaroopch.com/byteofpython/

http://docs.python.org has a tutorial and the library reference. After you've read the books, familiarize yourself with the library reference. You don't have to memorize it but knowing where to look is a good thing. (You might want to memorize the Built-in Objects though. It helps with programming a lot.)


Thanks guys!. really helps.



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20 Apr 2008, 12:16 am

wolphin wrote:
The best part is that it's already on your Mac! Just open the "Terminal" program (under Applications -> Utilities) and type "python" at the command line.
The IDLE shell is probably better than the terminal if you have it, because it has color coded text and advanced tab-completion and stuff. It usually comes with Python too. Do you know how to access it on a Mac or is it even in the Mac version?



wolphin
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20 Apr 2008, 2:41 am

IDLE doesn't come with mac os x, as far as I know, and the OP didn't want to download anything...

If you do decide to go with python: I do recommend downloading the "official" python from python.org that does include IDLE and everything, as well as downloading the full "dive into python" book. It should be easy just to download the files onto a USB memory stick or burn to CD or something to get it on your emac, though.

The apple-packaged python can be subtly different than regular old python you download from the python people, so it's worth upgrading anyways if possible.

EDIT: Not that I recommend using IDLE. It's nice on windows, but on mac I haven't even figured out a way to change the default font (which is rather horrible). If you end up actually programming python, there are other tools like Eclipse with PyDev or even Emacs / Aquamacs that I think are more usable.