BASIC On Apple eMate 300?

[JAUG]

I'm thinking about buying some retro computer, mainly just to play with programming on BASIC language or maybe another one. After searching on eBay, now i'm choosing between Apple eMate 300 and Radio Shack TRS-80 model 100. I know that the last one have a BASIC built-in, but what about eMate? Does it have not only BASIC, but any kind of other programs? I tried to google, but it doesn't find anything like set of programs (goodemat, or something?). So is there any programs exist for eMate, including BASIC language?

[Jorpho]

Yikes, I've never even heard of that. There might be some flavor of BASIC out there for it, but I doubt it's something people used very much. You should be searching for Newton apps if you're trying to figure out what it's good for.

Here's the thing: what sort of BASIC were you planning to use? Pretty much every system had its own dialect of BASIC with subtle variations in the syntax of many commands. If you're trying to type in programs from some of the old reference books of the day, you'll probably want something standard, like an Atari 800, maybe. The TRS-80 is not a bad idea either, I suppose, but you're very, very, very limited in what you can do with something like that.

Really, the second best choice – especially if you don't have any old books of BASIC programs – is to just use FreeBASIC or Chipmunk BASIC or any of the various other modern, friendly PC flavors of BASIC. The best choice would be to just forget about BASIC altogether and use a "proper" programming language like Python.

[JAUG]

Yikes, I've never even heard of that. There might be some flavor of BASIC out there for it, but I doubt it's something people used very much. You should be searching for Newton apps if you're trying to figure out what it's good for.

Here's the thing: what sort of BASIC were you planning to use? Pretty much every system had its own dialect of BASIC with subtle variations in the syntax of many commands. If you're trying to type in programs from some of the old reference books of the day, you'll probably want something standard, like an Atari 800, maybe. The TRS-80 is not a bad idea either, I suppose, but you're very, very, very limited in what you can do with something like that.

Really, the second best choice – especially if you don't have any old books of BASIC programs – is to just use FreeBASIC or Chipmunk BASIC or any of the various other modern, friendly PC flavors of BASIC. The best choice would be to just forget about BASIC altogether and use a "proper" programming language like Python.

Well, i'm living in PAL region, and I still can't figure it out how to connect a NTSC console to my TV set, so I can't use microcomputers like Atari 800. I need to get a laptop. I'm not going to use this microcomputer for serious deals, just want to entertain myself. So I don't require a modern dialects of BASIC, yeah, I'll do that with help of the old reference books. Maybe i'll be using not only BASIC, maybe Pascal or FORTRAN, but that's not so important now. The deal is: if BASIC for eMate exists, i'll buy it, if not - TRS-80 will be my choice.

[Jorpho]

Let me emphasize that, whatever may have been true in the past, BASIC is, by all accounts, a really terrible language and a terrible way to learn programming. Fortran is worse.

If it comes down to those two machines, the eMate will be vaguely more functional in the sense that you can probably find some vaguely interesting things to do with it, but the TRS-80 will probably be a better machine for writing BASIC programs on (and not too much else).

[JAUG]

Let me emphasize that, whatever may have been true in the past, BASIC is, by all accounts, a really terrible language and a terrible way to learn programming. Fortran is worse.

If it comes down to those two machines, the eMate will be vaguely more functional in the sense that you can probably find some vaguely interesting things to do with it, but the TRS-80 will probably be a better machine for writing BASIC programs on (and not too much else).

The main is in a price. For now, I can spend only $60 including shipping price for this, and those two is affordable to me. Maybe you can advice something else?

[Jorpho]

Well, like I already mentioned, you can probably have both an entertaining and educational experience with Python on a modern machine.

Is there no such thing as a PAL Atari 800? Otherwise, something like an Amiga 500 or a Commodore 64 would probably be a good choice. Maybe even a ZX Spectrum.

Or how about an MSX? Very interesting machine, the MSX, and it definitely comes with BASIC – it's named after the Microsoft eXtended BASIC included inside it. They had those in Europe, right?