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I've been thinking about getting back into generative art recently, so I wanted to find an easy-to-learn language that I can use to make graphics. I'm into retrocomputing, so I thought it could be an opportunity to simultaneously learn an older language. I don't remember how, but I thought about BASIC perhaps because of its reputation for being easy to learn and also being widely available in early microcomputers.
Retrocomputing adventures: Running an onion service on an iMac G3
I admit that I've held the belief that BASIC was a bad language and that it's only a toy for beginners. But as I read more about BASIC—specifically the modern iterations of it—I was surprised to learn how useful it actually is for day-to-day computing. I started looking into SmallBASIC, and I couldn't stop thinking about all the little tools that I could make with it. I found it easy to learn, and I love that it comes with a lot of useful functions built-in.
The first thing I made was a little weather app. It creates a request to a weather and a pollution API (it understands JSON!), and it displays the result on the screen.
The second thing that I made is called Ear Transit which is an ambient noise player. It was surprisingly easy to work with the sound APIs.
I'm hoping to continue playing with more BASIC soon!
No copyright. Everything is in the public domain.
