14 DAY TRIAL // Are you looking to start learning about programming on your own? Do you want a simple approach with accessible documentation to guide you along? Then, Microsoft Small Basic might just be the answer for you. Users will be able to download from Microsoft not just Small Basic but also the Introducing Small Basic – English resource, and will be hard at work writing their first program in no time. Actually, here it is: TextWindow.WriteLine("Hello World"). Now wasn’t that simple? That’s all it takes in Small Basic to say “Hello World” in a window, in this case a Command Prompt dialog window.
Now, make no mistake about it, if you’ve already worked with C++, C#, Java, etc. then Small Basic is not for you. “Microsoft Small Basic is a project that is aimed at making computer programming accessible to beginners. The project comprises a simple programming language that gathers inspiration from the original BASIC programming language; a modern and attractive programming environment; and rich, extensible libraries. Together they make programming fun for kids and adults alike,” the Redmond company revealed.
The role of Small Basic is not to allow the creation of professional programs, not even by a long shot. However, it can contribute to transforming a computer enthusiast into a beginner developer. Moving forward from Small Basic, devs will find that they will come across variable, arrays, routines and subroutines, mouse events and so on and so forth in other programming languages, and even if the syntax is bound to differ the concept will be the same.
“In the beginning there were just a few programming languages and they were really easy to learn and comprehend. But as computers and software became more and more sophisticated, programming languages evolved fast, gathering more complex concepts along the way. As a result most modern programming languages and their concepts are pretty challenging to grasp by a beginner. This fact has started discouraging people from learning or attempting computer programming. Small Basic is a programming language that is designed to make programming extremely easy, approachable and fun for beginners,” reads an excerpt from the documentation’s introduction.
Small Basic is available for download here.