[glimshe]

I don't like to respond to people who directly reply to my comments to avoid flame wars. But, about your comment: THIS.

Python can be convenient, but often isn't. Just setting the path on my last install was annoying because Python got automatically installed by windows in a hard-to-find folder.

BASIC "just worked".

[phlakaton]

Yeah, but did BASIC have an SSL library?

The bar for "basic" programming these days is much higher in many cases.

[glimshe]

There is no question Python is a lot more useful and relevant to modern software development. Arguably a better language for many use cases.

The question is whether someone learning fundamental programming needs to use a language with SQL support. I think that BBC basic or quick basic are better choices for learning, but that's me. Also, BASIC has gorilla.bas :)

[zahlman]

>The question is whether someone learning fundamental programming needs to use a language with SQL support.

They aren't going to run into any of the issues you describe, either, because they won't need third-party libraries and should be learning fundamentals of programming before trying to make a GUI. But in the cases where someone reaches that point and is trying to use, say, the system Python on a Debian-based Linux distro, the solution is generally an Apt invocation away.