Tiny Basic for Arduino

40 points by AlexeyBrin 3 hours ago on hackernews | 10 comments

We've come a long way. Dr. Dobbs, Volume 1 #5 (PDF) [2]

Source (8080) available on github [0]

Others: [1]

I forgot how I first loaded it. Doubtful that I typed it in, but I do recall getting a paper tape from somewhere and loading it via a cheap optical reader.

Life got interesting when I got a NorthStar disk for the IMSAI. And ever after.

[0] https://github.com/kevinthecheung/tiny-basic

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_BASIC

[2] http://cini.classiccmp.org/pdf/DrDobbs/DrDobbs-1976-05-v1n5....

Firefox will complain about http. Allow download. I checked it, it's real pdf.

Surac | 2 hours ago

Well the title is missleading a little bit. Technical it is a Arduino but only the 32 bit ARM Cortex-M Arduinos are supported. Not exactly what i had in mind reading Arduiono. If you intrestend in a fantastic BASIC for cheap RP2040 RP3250 look for MMBasic

seplox | 2 hours ago

Interesting that the author doesn't mention Parallax BASIC Stamp [0] when it's a Basic-programmable microcontroller that's been on the market since the 1990s. Regardless, the Arduino Due is 4x the CPU at about the same price. Kinda neat.

While this is fun, I'm not sure why anyone would choose Basic over CircuitPython or MicroPython [1] if they're trying to program a modern micro with a beginner friendly language.

[0] https://www.parallax.com/products/basic-stamp-2-microcontrol...

[1] https://learn.adafruit.com/getting-started-with-raspberry-pi...

: TuxedoBuddy | an hour ago
Holy moley, that price though!
: gmiller123456 | an hour ago
Not sure why they should mention the Stamp. Back in the 90's and 00's they cost like $80 and were not an open system. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $160, so not even close to being as accessible as even the high end Arduinos today.

hn_submit | an hour ago

So now you need an interpreter (Python) to run an interpreter (BASIC)?

incanus77 | an hour ago

How would you do it?

: hn_submit | 23 minutes ago
Rust would be my first choice with C++ and assembler as other options.
I mean, crap like this means we need 1GB for a weather app and 4GB RAM for a simple text editor.

[OP] AlexeyBrin | an hour ago

Nothing wrong with implementing an interpreter in another interpreter, this is actually a classic CS rite of passage.

This TinyBASIC however, is using Python only during the build phase, the actual interpreter code is in C and what runs on the Arduino is a binary.

morninglight | an hour ago

In a classroom setting, Geoff Graham's BASIC for the Raspberry Pi Pico and Pico 2 is hard to beat.

It has support for much of PICO's I/O capability including network connectivity. It is VERY easy to work with and has excellent documentation.

AND it is a free download with an active community.

https://geoffg.net/