Organize and Share Your Code Effortlessly: Exploring the Liberty BASIC Lesson Browser

 The Liberty BASIC Lesson Browser is a super helpful tool for anyone using Liberty BASIC, a really user-friendly programming language. This browser isn't just for learning; it's amazing for keeping all your coding projects neat and organized.

When you use the Lesson Browser, you can easily find your way around lots of programming lessons. But the best part is how it lets you keep all your own codes and programs in one place. Whether you’re working on a small project or something big, this browser makes it easy to save your work, put it into categories, and find it again whenever you need it. This is super handy because it helps you see how much you’ve learned and find old projects quickly.

If you like sharing what you make with others, the Lesson Browser is great for that too. You can show your codes and programs to other people who use Liberty BASIC. This is not only fun but also a great way to get new ideas and make your work even better.

For educators this tool is super useful because it makes it really easy to build educational materials, and for students it provides a great way to keep all your work organized.

So, in short, the Liberty BASIC Lesson Browser is more than just a way to learn programming. It’s a really useful tool for keeping your own coding projects organized and sharing them with friends and other coders. It's a must-have for anyone using Liberty BASIC.

Watch a demo of the Lesson Browser!

The Heart Behind Liberty BASIC

 As the creator of Liberty BASIC, I want to share the story behind this programming language, a project born out of my passion for making programming accessible, fun, and wondrous for everyone.  My journey in the realm of coding began with the magical experience of BASIC, a language that opened the doors to the world of software creation for me. I want to bring that same sense of excitement and possibility to others through Liberty BASIC.

What makes this especially inspiring I think is that Liberty BASIC was originally meant to be a programming game, where the player programmed robots in BASIC.

Bringing Back the Magic of BASIC

When I realized that the BASIC I was writing for the robot game would become a real programming tool, I decided to go for it!  My idea for Liberty BASIC was to recapture the spirit of the early days of BASIC. BASIC was the gateway for many into programming. It was simple, inviting, and allowed immediate interaction and results. My vision was to reignite that spark of wonder, making programming as much fun as it was for me when I first started.

Simplicity and Approachability

At the heart of Liberty BASIC lies its simplicity and approachability. The language is designed to be easy to learn and use, especially for those who are new to programming. It’s like giving someone a set of simple, intuitive tools to start building their dream projects right away.

Fun and Immediate Results

One of the unique features of Liberty BASIC is how it makes programming fun. I believe in the power of seeing your work come to life quickly. Beginners should be able to write a few lines of code and immediately see a window pop up, a graphic drawn, or a simple game come to life. This immediate feedback is not just rewarding; it's crucial in maintaining enthusiasm and interest in learning.

Liberty BASIC vs. Other Languages

While other languages like Python and JavaScript are powerful and versatile, they can be daunting for beginners.  I've always tried very hard to balance simplicity with capability. 

My Vision and Journey

My personal journey with programming has always been about the joy of creating and of learning new ways to think. With Liberty BASIC, I wanted to offer a tool that makes programming feel like an adventure, not a chore. It's been heartwarming to see people of all ages take their first steps in programming with Liberty BASIC, discovering the same joy and wonder that I found years ago.

In essence, Liberty BASIC is more than just a programming language; it's a celebration of the simplicity, fun, and wonder that programming can bring. It's been a wonderful journey that I am eager to invite others to join.

Links

        Liberty BASIC website 

        Liberty BASIC community forum  

        Liberty BASIC video playlist  

End User Programming - Real Computer Literacy

Most people will agree that it is good to understand the mechanical working of cars if you are going to drive one. It helps you to drive more safely, and if you break down somewhere you stand a chance of helping yourself out of a tough spot. When you go to the mechanic you will be able to avoid being ripped off by unscrupulous people.

It is no different with computers. If you learn to program computers it helps you to take advantage of them, and not the other way around. This is the real computer literacy; not the ability to operate a tablet or cell phone, or to know your way around the preferences or control panel of Windows or Mac OS. Many times I see people praising this kind of feature knowledge by young people. "Oh, young people are so smart. When I have a problem with my phone I ask my kids for help." We need to give them more than that, or else they may think more highly of themselves than they ought to.

So, what vehicle can we use to give computer literacy to the people? Computer programming is the critical thing because it gives the user a real understanding of computers. For the average person to attain programming skills we don't need a complicated enterprise grade programming language, which would frustrate more than enlighten people. BASIC was the engine for people to learn programming in the early days, and still could be if Windows, Mac and Linux would just include it.  Easy programming languages are missing or hidden from the user, and this causes a very real harm.

Why don't people create their own software anymore? They don't feel the need for it. They can just buy what they need.  While this is true, there are so many times when packaged software doesn't do exactly what is needed. There are also so many kinds of useful software that could be written that will not make it onto store shelves.

In fact they may even wonder why they should bother. They aren't encouraged to learn programming anymore like they once were. They don't know what they're missing if you ask me. Programming is a much better way to spend brain cells than watching TV or surfing the web. Personal computing was envisioned as a way to bring the power of the computer to the individual, a very empowering idea. Being limited to using prewritten applications is like being told that as an artist you're only allowed to paint by numbers.

So we need an easy way to start programming. It can be really hard to create software with the programming languages endorsed by the mainstream.  We have gotten away from simpler languages like BASIC, perhaps under the assumption that more complexity is better, but good computing avoids needless complexity.  Even with a language like Python there is too much to learn before you get results.  The Raspberry Pi computer, a device popular in schools, is a strong device for many purposes but it is too complicated to be a foundation for teaching computing to K-12 or as a first programming tool for most adult beginners.

Computers don't come with an easy to use programming language anymore.  This is SOOOO important. It used to be that when you turned the average computer on, the first thing it did was start BASIC. You could start programming immediately, and it was very easy to pick up. Nothing bad happened if you made a mistake, and it was fun!

People like to say that BASIC is a bad language for teaching programming.  The early versions of BASIC do have their weak points, but newer versions of BASIC are very strong for students and end users.  An entire industry of computer software came out of young people using computers that started up in BASIC programming mode.

Have The Courage to Declutter - Best Practices Series

The things in our homes each have their own purpose, and they have their proper place.  In the course of time there is the inevitable accumulation of things, and this can become clutter which is a problem.  This is a way to think about programming.  It is not a perfect metaphor of course but I think it is useful.

Clean Your Room and Take Out the Trash

Living is a messy affair.  We do all kinds of things in our rooms.  Things like eating, opening and reading mail, getting dressed and undressed, play video games, etc.  If we don't stop and put things away and throw out the trash our rooms will unlivable.  How can we apply this when programming? First all if you find that you are commenting out code (in some languages comments are called remarks) then after a while your code will become harder to read and maintain.  Similarly if you notice you never use some part of your code any more it might be a good idea to delete that code.

Be brave and delete the old code.  If you want to keep the code then save the file in a different name so that you won't lose that version of it.  If you are using some kind of source code control (also known as version control) then you will never lose old code.

Don't Be a Hoarder

Hoarders are afraid to get rid of things and they often have many of the same kinds of things until their house fills up with so much stuff that they can't find anything and there is no room to live in their house anymore.

How to implement this idea in programming?  Each idea should only be expressed in one place. Do you notice sometimes when you're writing code that you are doing the same thing again and again so that when you change something then it needs to be changed everywhere you have that similar code?  You need to create a subroutine or a function that does that one thing in only one place, and then call that routine from all those places where the code was duplicated.  This is a kind of code refactoring.

Live In a Tiny House

Imagine your program must fit in a constrained memory.  What is the purpose of this, you might ask?  Today we have what is essentially unlimited memory in our computers.  If you just sat down and wrote code every day for the rest of your life you would never be able to fill up all that memory.  You might not be able to resist the temptation to add every single feature that you can to your software.  People who live in a tiny house often ask themselves what are the essential things, and what can be disposed of?  The more features you have, the more code you have, and the more complicated it is, and this makes it harder to extend and maintain.

    -"Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein

I hope this article is helpful to you and will give you something to incorporate into your work.

Naming Things Well - Best Practices Series

Some BASIC programmers come from the experience of needing to fit their programs in 4K of RAM or less, so it feels natural to give variable names single letters such as a, b, c or I, j, k. Of course most classic BASIC interpreters don't have support more for than 2 characters for variables. Some BASICs will let you call your variable 'count' but only the c and o will be recognized as the variable name.

To be fair, I've seen more than a few C programmers also choose single character variable names. Bad habits are language agnostic. ;)

In programming languages today including Liberty BASIC, you can give your variable names and other things such as subroutines and functions longer names. What's more, computers have so much memory that we can dispense with trying to save memory with short variable names. And if you're used to using line numbers I strongly encourage you to discard them in favor of named labels. Once you are used to this it will make your programming better.

Why does it matter?

Programming is an exercise in thinking and so it is really important to pick the best possible names for the parts of your programming ideas. When you or somebody else reads your code it will help to understand the code if the variables and function/sub names are chosen well.

What if you are about to go to the store to buy some milk and you told your friend "I'm g to the s to b some m." How well would you be understood?

So, when you write code ask yourself (or the coder next to you) what is the best name for this variable or routine? Later on you may even realize there is a better name and so don't hesitate to act on that impulse and update your code with the new better name.

Think of your coding as a journey to discover the truth of the code, and naming things is an important part of the discovery.

Raspberry Pi Deluxe Starter Kit Giveaway!

We are giving away a deluxe Raspberry Pi kit, and this includes all kinds of nice accessories including an electronics learning lab.  No purchase is required, so enter by Aug 31, 2017 to be included in the raffle.

Check out the video here for details about the kit!  https://youtu.be/toln-Z_z4RY

To enter the drawing, send an email to carlg@justbasic.com with the subject Raspberry Pi Contest, and we will send you a confirmation email. The winner will be announced at the end of August 2017.

Please share this information with your friends.

BASIC for the Raspberry Pi?

What's Raspberry Pi? It is a cool new single board computer about the size of a credit card. It runs Linux (it can run other things) and it only costs $35, or $25 if you don't care about networking. You only need a micro USB charger or batteries to power it, a keyboard and mouse, and an HDMI compatible monitor or TV set.

This new device is aimed at schools, but the appeal of such a device is obviously very broad. I went to their forum and mentioned the idea of producing a version of BASIC for the RP. The reactions were mixed. Seems like that crowd is strongly committed to Python. That's okay, I've got my hands full right now with Liberty BASIC and Run BASIC.

Perhaps in the future I will have a chance to do something. It would probably be my first open source project, based on Squeak Smalltalk.