

Petit Computer brings the power of BASIC to Nintendo 3DS and DSi - yitchelle
http://www.gizmag.com/petit-computer-basic-programming-nintendo-3ds-dsi/23410/

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rrmm
It's cool that they're putting programming languages where kids _might_ get
exposure to them. Of course, most of the reason people were acquainted with
BASIC was that it was the _only_ thing that came with a home computer.

Typing might be a bit of a pain though which would limit the usefulness of
this sort of thing; a visual language might work better on systems with no
keyboard (although I'm not a big fan of them).

BASIC was my first language. About the best I can say for it is that it
underscored the sequential aspect of the machine. I'm curious as to what
people's first languages were here.

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yitchelle
My first language was BASIC when it had line numbers! That was on Atari 800.

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rrmm
I started with BASIC on a TRS-80 and then C64. When I first saw QBasic, I was
a bit offended they took out the line numbers...I mean, how is one supposed to
program without line numbers?!

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angdis
Adorable as a cool future-retro gadget. OK, probably not optimal for
pedagogical purposes!

I once read about a sewing machine had a gameboy interface (don't remember if
it was a hack or OEM). These things are so tough and ubiquitous, it is
surprising that they aren't used as cheap interfaces to machinery.

Check it out: <http://www.retrothing.com/2006/04/izek_sewing_mac.html>

