I was writing BASIC code for everything until a few years ago -- VB.NET -- until it was really clear that it had become a totally second-class citizen and I switched to C#.
I still think VB.NET is vastly more readable than C/C#/Java etc.
I was a pretty successful BASIC programmer, starting on DEC PDP-11 RSTS/E BASIC. Line number BASIC was good enough for simple applications, but quickly turned into spaghetti code.
Later, the VAX had BASIC with functions and subroutines and dropped the line numbers and this version of BASIC was significantly better. It was procedural, but you could organize your code into modules, keeping it readable and maintainable.
Eventually the non line number BASIC spread to the PC. Microsoft Professional Development System, then Visual BASIC.
Structured BASIC dialects have function-local variables, BASIC dialects that support linking separately compiled modules support exported and non-exported variables, etc.
too bad it's for win, raspberry pi, arduino, esp32, etc need this sort of stuff. lot's of hardware folks who just want to do hardware and not learn programming. they might eventually learn python or C, but BASIC would be so much better.
Show HN: I wrote a BASIC interpreter that boots on UEFI machines - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49410814 - Aug 2026 (44 comments)
I still think VB.NET is vastly more readable than C/C#/Java etc.
Later, the VAX had BASIC with functions and subroutines and dropped the line numbers and this version of BASIC was significantly better. It was procedural, but you could organize your code into modules, keeping it readable and maintainable.
Eventually the non line number BASIC spread to the PC. Microsoft Professional Development System, then Visual BASIC.