"The "scripting" languages that serve as entry-level tools for today's aspiring programmers -- like Perl and Python -- don't make this experience accessible to students in the same way. BASIC was close enough to the algorithm that you could actually follow the reasoning of the machine as it made choices and followed logical pathways."
Wow, and here I thought I was using conditions in P&P all these years--I'll have to run a "grep if *p[ly]" when I get back to the office. Though I do agree that there is a certain satisfaction in coding at a lower level, if the level is assembler.
I don't know what the story is in the Mac world, but as far as I can tell most of the Windows boxes out there will let you code and run VBScript if you have a passion for that sort of thing.
Wow, and here I thought I was using conditions in P&P all these years--I'll have to run a "grep if *p[ly]" when I get back to the office. Though I do agree that there is a certain satisfaction in coding at a lower level, if the level is assembler.
I don't know what the story is in the Mac world, but as far as I can tell most of the Windows boxes out there will let you code and run VBScript if you have a passion for that sort of thing.