Learn BASIC Now
Cover of the MS-DOS Edition (1989) | |
| Author | Michael Halvorson David Rygmyr |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | BASIC programming language |
| Publisher | Microsoft Press |
Publication date | 1989 (MS-DOS Edition) 1990 (Macintosh Edition) |
| ISBN | 1-55615-240-X (MS-DOS) ISBN 1-55615-314-7 (Macintosh) |
Learn BASIC Now is a book series written by Michael Halvorson and David Rygmyr, published by Microsoft Press. The primers introduced computer programming concepts to students and self-taught learners who were interested in creating games and application programs for early personal computers, including IBM-PC compatible systems and the Apple Macintosh.
Learn BASIC Now included three software disks containing the Microsoft QuickBASIC Interpreter 1.0 1989—which later reincarnated as the ubiquitous Microsoft QBasic (2000-1991)—and the book’s sample programs. The books were influential in the popularization of the BASIC language and released during a significant growth phase of the personal computer industry when the installed base of BASIC programmers hit four million active users.
Since the books were distributed by Microsoft Press and featured a robust, menu-driven programming environment, Learn BASIC Now became an important catalyst for the learn-to-program movement, a broad-based computer literacy initiative in the 1980s and 1990s that encouraged people of all ages to learn to write computer programs.