> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:26:05 +0100 > From: tom ehlert <t...@drivesnapshot.de> > To: "Discussion and general questions about FreeDOS." > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> > Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] Coding in BASIC for Freedos? > > > On Sun, Mar 17, 2024 at 6:26 AM Liam Proven via Freedos-user > > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > > [..] > >> There are good reasons that DOS went away some 35 years ago. It has > >> its uses but not being able to flip to another window or another > >> screen to consult documentation, or try something out, or look it up > >> online, is a *massive* handicap. > > +1
This is an example of limited imagination. In this day and age it is common for people to use their phone to take a photo of an error message for troubleshooting. The idea that someone is stuck on a single dedicated computer in a vacuum without any other technology available is very retro indeed. It can be both, or something in between, or just for fun. Even when DOS was still commercially produced, professional developers often preferred to do their development on another operating system. Many classic DOS games were developed using more powerful systems. This includes originals like Zork. They used DOS as their runtime. But before they became professional developers, while they were still learning, they probably used all kinds of gross technologies, and wrote shoddy code, and probably had fun along the way. > Nope. AFAICT it's a person wanting to learn programming; no mentioning of > FreeDOS. If it isn't FreeDOS related, then is it off-topic on this mailing list? There's a lot of snobbery in the programming world. A famous expert declared that students who learned to program on BASIC were ruined forever. It's all too easy to debate a dead person, but i would respond "Whew! Now the pressure is off." Since i am ruined forever as a programmer, now i get to have fun. I don't have to take myself too seriously. > I fail to see the advantage. Your failure of imagination is not helping this person. If i were wanting to tinker with BASIC on DOS, I'd probably start with QBASIC.EXE because there has been so much written about it. Once i got the hang of that, then i'd graduate to something free. Here are some links. I hope they help. BASIC Techniques And Utilities Book: <http://ethanwiner.com/fullmoon.html> Programmed Lessons in QBasic <https://chortle.ccsu.edu/QBasic/index.html> QB Express Magazine & Tutorials <http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/express/express.shtml> QBasic 1.1 Web-based, runs in a web browser <https://archive.org/details/msdos_qbasic_megapack> QBasic 1.1 Download <https://web.archive.org/web/20060101175728/ http://download.microsoft.com/download/ win95upg/tool_s/1.0/W95/EN-US/olddos.exe> -Ben _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
