Earlier this month, Microsoft released Small Basic: yet another variation on BASIC (of which there are now over 200 known implementations). On first glance, this seems like a little bit pointless – but their intention was not to create another Visual Basic, but to create a teaching language that isn’t too far from things like C#, to allow easy progression.
I must say, I wasn’t overly convinced by the idea when I heard about it – but I thought I’d download and check it out. After a bit of testing, I must say that it’s actually quite impressive (at least, I imagine it will be as a learning environment). The thing that most impresses me is the supplied IDE… it’s really straightforward, there’s nothing remotely complex about it, and it has every piece of non-essential functionality completely stripped from it.
In addition, the fantastically-intuitive IntelliSense that is present in all Microsoft .NET IDEs has been ported, too… in a very simple, and usable, manner:
Whilst Small Basic isn’t providing a great deal of functionality (with only 15 keywords, and a very limited use of some of the default .NET libraries), I’m sure it can provide a fantastic learning environment for both younger kids, but also for anyone unfamiliar with programming – but desirous of an opportunity to try it out!
You can find out more information about it at the Microsoft Small Basic Website.