[prezjordan]

I wish SmallBASIC (there are two of them! [0] [1]) would catch on (become a household name). Very easy, approachable, and has the same charm as normal BASIC/QBASIC - with regards to the development environment. Perfect for children.

[0]: http://smallbasic.com/ (Microsoft SmallBASIC)

[1]: http://smallbasic.sourceforge.net/ (SmallBASIC - One more basic)

[rbanffy]

It's still way beyond 8-bit BASIC. I think the BASIC interpreters that ran on small home computers of the late 70's and early 80's were in a sweet spot between being high-level languages (variable names, strings, arrays) and being close enough to the metal to illustrate things like conditional branching (no multi-line IF's demanded the use of GOTO's for conditional branches).