Thomas Kurtz, Co-Creator of Computer Language Basic, Dies at 96

[Olli]

Do not ask questions to me... The sadness forces me to type in the big random... Rest in peace

Code: Select all

Global Dim mt.s(255)  ; (m)onofont (t)ext
Global mti.i
Global dspMode.i
Global X, Y
Global Dim c.i(52, 32)
For i = 0 To 52
  c(i, 0) = 1
Next
For i = 0 To 52 Step 6
  c(i, 32) = 1
Next


Procedure pr(mt.s)
  mt(mti) + mt
EndProcedure

Procedure prn(mt.s, n = 1)
  pr(mt)
  For i = 1 To n
    mti + 1
  Next
EndProcedure

Procedure dsp(mt.s)
  pr(mt)
  X = 0
  Y = 0
  If dspMode = 0
    For i = 0 To mti
      Debug mt(i)
    Next
  EndIf
  If dspMode = 1
    msg.s = ""
    For i = 0 To mti
      msg + mt(i) + Chr(10)
    Next
    MessageRequester("", msg)
  EndIf
  If dspMode = 2
    StartDrawing(ScreenOutput() )
    For i = 0 To mti
      DrawText(X, Y, mt(i), RGB(255, 255, 255), RGB(0, 0, 0) )
      Y + TextHeight(mt(i) )
    Next
    StopDrawing()
    FlipBuffers()
  EndIf
  If dspMode = 3
    StartDrawing(ScreenOutput() )
    For i = 0 To mti
      lmt = Len(mt(i) )
      jX = 0
      For j = 1 To lmt
        a = Asc(UCase(Mid(mt(i), j, 1) ) )
        If a = ' ': ch = 0: EndIf
        If a = '!': ch = %0010000100001000000000100: EndIf
        If a = '=': ch = %0000011110000001111000000: EndIf
        If a = '$': ch = %0111110100011100010111110: EndIf
        If a = '*': ch = %0010010101011101010100100: EndIf
        If a = ':': ch = %0110001100000000110001100: EndIf
        If a = '\': ch = %1000001000001000001000001: EndIf
        If a = '_': ch = %0000000000000000000011111: EndIf
        If a = 'A': ch = %0111010001111111000110001: EndIf
        If a = 'B': ch = %1111010001111101000111110: EndIf
        If a = 'C': ch = %0111010001100001000101110: EndIf
        If a = 'D': ch = %1111010001100011000111110: EndIf
        If a = 'E': ch = %1111110000111001000011111: EndIf
        If a = 'F': ch = %1111110000111001000010000: EndIf
        If a = 'G': ch = %0111110000101111000101111: EndIf
        If a = 'H': ch = %1000110001111111000110001: EndIf
        If a = 'I': ch = %0111000100001000010001110: EndIf
        If a = 'J': ch = %0001100001000011000101110: EndIf
        If a = 'K': ch = %1000110010111001001010001: EndIf
        If a = 'L': ch = %1000010000100001000011111: EndIf
        ;        If a = 'M': ch = %1000111011101011000111011: EndIf
        If a = 'M': ch = %1000111111100011000110001: EndIf
        If a = 'N': ch = %1000111001101011001110001: EndIf
        If a = 'O': ch = %0111010001100011000101110: EndIf
        If a = 'P': ch = %1111010001111101000010000: EndIf
        If a = 'Q': ch = %0111010001101011001001101: EndIf
        If a = 'R': ch = %1111010001111101000110001: EndIf
        If a = 'S': ch = %0111110000011100000111110: EndIf
        If a = 'T': ch = %1111100100001000010000100: EndIf
        If a = 'U': ch = %1000110001100011000101110: EndIf
        If a = 'V': ch = %1000110001100010101000100: EndIf
        If a = 'W': ch = %1000110001101011101110001: EndIf
        If a = 'X': ch = %1000101010001000101010001: EndIf
        If a = 'Y': ch = %1000101010001000010001110: EndIf
        If a = 'Z': ch = %1111100010001000100011111: EndIf
        If a = '.': ch = %0000000000000000110001100: EndIf
        If a = '0': ch = %0111010011101011100101110: EndIf
        If a = '1': ch = %0010001100101000010011111: EndIf
        If a = '2': ch = %1111000001011101000011111: EndIf
        If a = '3': ch = %1111000001001100000111110: EndIf
        If a = '4': ch = %0011001010100101111100010: EndIf
        If a = '5': ch = %1111110000111100000111110: EndIf
        If a = '6': ch = %0111110000111101000101110: EndIf
        If a = '7': ch = %1111100001000100010000100: EndIf
        If a = '8': ch = %0111010001011101000101110: EndIf
        If a = '9': ch = %0111010001011110000111110: EndIf
        If a = 219: ch = %1111111111111111111111111: EndIf
        If ((a >= 'A' And a =< 'Z') Or (a >= '0' And a =< '9') ) And 1
          If a <> 'N'
            mask = ch & %1000010000100001000010000
            If mask
              mask >> 1
              ch | mask
            EndIf
            mask = ch & %0000100001000010000100001
            If mask
              mask << 1
              ch | mask
            EndIf
          Else
            ch = %1001111011111111101111001
            EndIf ;
          EndIf
         c0 = RGB(127, 63, 31)
         c = RGB(255, 127, 63)
         If j-1<0 Or j-1>52 Or I<0 Or I>32
           Debug i
          Debug j
           End
         EndIf
         If c(j-1,i)
            Box(X + jX, Y, 7, 7, c)
         EndIf
          For iY = 0 To 4
            For iX = 0 To 4
              If Bool(ch & (1 << ((4 - iY) * 5 + (4 - iX) ) ) ) XOr c(j-1,i)
                If c(j-1,i) <> 1
                  Box(X + jX + iX + 1, Y + iY + 1, 2, 2, 0)
                EndIf
                Box(X + jX + iX + 1, Y + iY + 1, 1, 1, c)
              Else
                Box(X + jX + iX + 1, Y + iY + 1, 1, 1, c0)
              EndIf
            Next
          Next
          jX + 6
        Next
        Y + 6
      Next
      StopDrawing()
      FlipBuffers()
    EndIf
  EndProcedure
  
  Procedure clk(duration)
    t0 = ElapsedMilliseconds()
    Repeat
      clk = ElapsedMilliseconds()
      Delay(8)
      ClearScreen(RGB(127, 63, 31) )
      ExamineKeyboard()
      ExamineMouse()
      mt(0) = Left(mt(0), 50) + Right("  " + Str((t0 + duration - clk) / 1000), 3)
      dsp("")
    Until clk > t0 + duration Or KeyboardPushed(#PB_Key_Escape) Or MouseButton(#PB_MouseButton_Right)
  EndProcedure
  
  ;-
  
  preFile.s = GetCurrentDirectory()
  preFile.s = "...\"
  pr(preFile + "UNTITLED.BAS")
  mt(mti) + Space(53 - Len(mt(mti) ) )
  prn("")
  pr("VIDEO...")
  If InitSprite()
    prn("OK")
    dspMode = 1
    pr("SCREEN...")
    If OpenScreen(320, 200, 32, "")
      prn("OK")
      dspMode = 2
      pr("KEYBOARD...")
      If InitKeyboard()
        prn("OK")
        pr("MOUSE...")
        If InitMouse()
          prn("OK")
          pr("MODE 52*32...")
          
          dspMode = 3
          prn("OK")
          prn("OK")
          prn("A$=B$"+Chr(219) )
          prn("", 24)
          prn("1HELP 2PROC 3FIND 4SAVE 5EXEC 6LOAD 7UNDO 8CLIP 9QUIT")
          clk(5 * 60000)
        Else
          dsp("FAILED")
        EndIf
      Else
        dsp("FAILED")
      EndIf    
    Else
      dsp("FAILED")
    EndIf
  Else
    dsp("FAILED")
  EndIf

[threedslider]

Pascal and C were/are not real languages.

What do you mean it ? Pascal and C are real languages Just the use was different

Maybe you mean it is more accessible to novices and children for BASIC than Pascal and C

[Mijikai]

RIP Legend
Dartmouth Faculty of Arts and Sciences about him (includes a 38 min documentary):
https://faculty.dartmouth.edu/artsandsc ... omas-kurtz

[threedslider]

@Mijikai : Thank you for your link it is an inspiration for all programmer to be like

For those who want to test the true basic is here : https://www.truebasic.com/about

Enjoy happy basic !

[minimy]

Rest in peace. Great minds never die.
It is a pity that they are not talked about in schools and universities, these being the fathers of modern computing.

This table is my contribution to the world of computing:
It is licensed by MIT.
Feel free to put your level

Code: Select all

PROGRAMMER LEVEL
10 ----|     Dennis Ritchie, Linus Torvalds, Thomas Kurtz, Fread, Freak and all PB team
 9 ----|     
 8 ----|     
 7 ----|     
 6 ----|     
 5 ----|     
 4 ----|     
 3 ----|     
 2 ----|     Next door girl (is a mistery)
 1 ----|     The postman (He doesn't use email)
 0 ----|     My wife (can count the money in my wallet and shop online)
-1 ----|     My level (mmm!.. what was the question?, I can count beers and days off)
-2 ----|     My uncle (can use a calculator)
-3 ----|     The Neighbor Below (He knows how to count the blows he gives on the wall)
-4-----|     Atila (Where his horse trod, no one reprogrammed)
-5 ----|     Homo habilis (They could do calculations with stones and sticks)

Sorry for the joke, but you were getting really sad

[TI-994A]

Code: Select all

PROGRAMMER LEVEL
10 ----|     Dennis Ritchie, Linus Torvalds, Thomas Kurtz, Fread, Freak and all PB team
 9 ----|     
 8 ----|     
 7 ----|     
 6 ----|     
 5 ----|     
 4 ----|     
 3 ----|     
 2 ----|     Next door girl (is a mistery)
 1 ----|     The postman (He doesn't use email)
 0 ----|     My wife (can count the money in my wallet and shop online)
-1 ----|     My level (mmm!.. what was the question?, I can count beers and days off)
-2 ----|     My uncle (can use a calculator)
-3 ----|     The Neighbor Below (He knows how to count the blows he gives on the wall)
-4-----|     Atila (Where his horse trod, no one reprogrammed)
-5 ----|     Homo habilis (They could do calculations with stones and sticks)

The world of online shopping has definitely escalated the computing skills of wives all over the world. From the calculator to the shopping cart!

[Olli]

You will have any problems, talking about women, like this !
Especially at a time when we are losing a major contributor. Who will now create the next version of Basic Instinct ? What for a sad miss...

[minimy]

I apologize if I have offended, I was just trying to make you laugh a little.
It is true that women in the world of computing, AI and design are hitting hard.
It was just a joke, humour is like that, although in these times you have to tiptoe around what you say.
Im talk about me, the postman and the Neighbor Below too.
I think laughing at obviously absurd things is good, where would Monty Python be if we took everything seriously?
if not, stop the world that I get off! (Groucho Marx)

I think TI-994A was joking too. (you are right... shhhh!)
Again sorry Olli

[TI-994A]

I apologize if I have offended, I was just trying to make you laugh a little.

...

I think TI-994A was joking too. (you are right... shhhh!)
Again sorry Olli

We're all joking; Olli more than us, in fact.

You'd simply missed it.

[tj1010]

Pascal and C were/are not real languages.

What do you mean it ? Pascal and C are real languages Just the use was different

Maybe you mean it is more accessible to novices and children for BASIC than Pascal and C

You could almost say it's like it was designed for that..

My favorite indulgence is asking for links to a persons products or works in the language they say is the best.. I find this is a great way to see how a real pro does coding in said language.

[threedslider]

You could almost say it's like it was designed for that..

My favorite indulgence is asking for links to a persons products or works in the language they say is the best.. I find this is a great way to see how a real pro does coding in said language.

Yeah but Basic is nice too, it was designed for more easy in programming

For links you can see as well in this forum and search to : Me, pjay, MrL, SPH and other nice programmer and we are all doing nice stuff

Some Pascal : https://castle-engine.io/ (created with Pascal) it is a game engine

And some C : https://www.glfw.org/ (created with C) it is a library for game

Happy coding !

[tj1010]

You could almost say it's like it was designed for that..

My favorite indulgence is asking for links to a persons products or works in the language they say is the best.. I find this is a great way to see how a real pro does coding in said language.

Yeah but Basic is nice too, it was designed for more easy in programming

For links you can see as well in this forum and search to : Me, pjay, MrL, SPH and other nice programmer and we are all doing nice stuff

Some Pascal : https://castle-engine.io/ (created with Pascal) it is a game engine

And some C : https://www.glfw.org/ (created with C) it is a library for game

Happy coding !

My argument is whatever makes a project feasible considering your free-time. Low level languages are great if you can actually finish a product in them as a solo developer, and finish it without dozens of remotely exploitable memory bugs.

Over a decade ago I was really into 3D game dev till I learned the programming is the easy part. Modeling and animating and doing voice-sync is massive work even with 2024 tooling like ZBrush and AI based tweening.. World building software has always been easy even back around 2008..