BASIC is 50 years old!
04-15-2014, 02:13 PM (This post was last modified: 04-19-2014 08:23 AM by Don Shepherd.)
Post: #25
 Don Shepherd Senior Member Posts: 745 Joined: Dec 2013
RE: BASIC is 50 years old!
In honor of BASIC's 50th anniversary on May 1, 2014, I list the first meaningful BASIC program I wrote, in spring 1973 for a Physical Geography class at the University of Louisville under Dr. John Anderson, one of the best teachers I have ever known. I wrote the program on a teletype machine connected to a HP-2000C minicomputer running BASIC.

Interestingly, the program uses the INPUT statement which was lacking in the original Dartmouth BASIC in 1964. That BASIC was not interactive. It wasn't until 1966 with BASIC version 3 that the INPUT statement was introduced, allowing a wide variety of interactive programs (and games of course). The program also uses string variables (A$) which appeared in BASIC version 4 in 1968. The program determines the Koppen classification code for a given region based on user responses to questions. This was a common method for classifying different types of climate regions for areas on earth based on precipitation and temperature, and it was very easy to code in BASIC. Code:  10 REM KOPPEN CLIMATE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM 20 REM WRITTEN SPRING, 1973 30 REM BY DON SHEPHERD, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE 40 INPUT "IS EVERY MONTH > 64.4 F";A$ 60 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 80 70 PRINT "A - TROPICAL" 75 STOP 80 INPUT "IS EVAPORATION > PRECIPITATION";A$ 100 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 120 110 PRINT "B - DRY" 115 STOP 120 INPUT "IS COLDEST MONTH 26.6 - 64.4 F";A$ 140 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 160 145 INPUT "IS AT LEAST ONE MONTH > 50 F";A$ 155 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 160 157 PRINT "C - WARM TEMPERATE" 158 STOP 160 INPUT "IS COLDEST MONTH < 26.6 F";A$ 180 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 200 185 INPUT "IS WARMEST MONTH > 50 F";A$ 187 IF A$<>"Y" THEN 200 188 PRINT "D - SNOW" 189 STOP 200 INPUT "IS WARMEST MONTH < 50 F";A$ 220 IF A\$<>"Y" THEN 240 230 PRINT "E - ICE" 235 STOP 240 PRINT "NOT CLASSIFIABLE" 999 END
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 Messages In This Thread BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-09-2014, 02:32 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Katie Wasserman - 04-09-2014, 03:49 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-09-2014, 07:20 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Eddie W. Shore - 04-10-2014, 01:33 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-10-2014, 02:39 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Egan Ford - 04-10-2014, 10:27 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-10-2014, 11:11 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Thomas Klemm - 04-11-2014, 12:56 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-11-2014, 12:18 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Marcus von Cube - 04-13-2014, 09:57 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-13-2014, 01:04 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Les Bell - 04-14-2014, 01:30 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Massimo Gnerucci - 04-14-2014, 05:58 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - HP67 - 04-10-2014, 03:38 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-10-2014, 05:48 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Alvaro - 04-10-2014, 09:23 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Bill (Smithville NJ) - 04-10-2014, 09:45 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Katie Wasserman - 04-11-2014, 04:09 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - peacecalc - 04-13-2014, 11:43 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Alvaro - 04-14-2014, 09:03 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-14-2014, 11:32 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-15-2014, 01:16 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Alvaro - 04-15-2014, 08:41 AM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-15-2014, 01:54 PM RE: BASIC is 50 years old! - Don Shepherd - 04-15-2014 02:13 PM

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