{"product_id":"ok-the-resurrection-of-gw-basic-9781546955153","title":"Ok: The Resurrection of GW-BASIC","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGW-BASIC isn't dead yet. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Microsoft product of the early 1980s, GW-BASIC and its direct successors were loaded into more personal computers than any other programming language in history. GW-BASIC was a line-numbered, unstructured, loosely procedural high-level programming environment that immediately set you down in the thick of it: confronted with an Ok prompt, cursor blinking, the language interpreter made no bones about its high-level expectations of you. Algorithms, some just as complex as anything being coded these days, could be fashioned in GW-BASIC; program in the language now, and you'll experience a particular type of joy that attends to a successful solution of a new-world coding problem that, samurai-like, you are somehow able to slay using an old-world unstructured language. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMark Jones Lorenzo first wrote about GW-BASIC in \u003ci\u003eNot Ok\u003c\/i\u003e, arguing that reports of its death were greatly exaggerated--and proving it by offering a cookbook of engaging and cutting-edge algorithmic type-in recipes, earmarked for immediate consumption. And now it's time for a second helping. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf \u003ci\u003eNot Ok\u003c\/i\u003e was the appetizer, then \u003ci\u003eOk\u003c\/i\u003e is the main course, containing delicious recipes for even more complex programs that stretch GW-BASIC to its absolute limits while satiating the most discriminating programmers. Inside these pages you'll find the ingredients for cooking up Turing machines, the Game of Life, tic-tac-toe, the card game baccarat, a slider puzzle, an analog clock, permutation and combination generators, a slot machine, the Tower of Hanoi, an \"outguessing machine,\" a decimal-to-fraction converter, a statistical bootstrapping routine, and several recursive algorithms, among many other programs--including playable versions of a handful of classic arcade games of a bygone era. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn addition, GW-BASIC goes head-to-head with an object-oriented programming language that's more than just another flavor of the month: Java. Will the ragtag GW-BASIC hold its own against the unalloyed Goliath-like forces of modernity? Or will it finally succumb to the ravages of time (and a leviathan language), revealing itself to be well past its expiration date? The fate of GW-BASIC lies in your hands. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e* GW-BASIC is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation, which did not in any way endorse or assist in the production of this product.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMark Jones Lorenzo is a teacher. He lives in Pennsylvania with his dogs.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Createspace Independent Publishing Platform","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50419909460242,"sku":"9781546955153","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9065a5e9-497c-4820-a693-13d445d245c0.jpg?v=1729487392","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ok-the-resurrection-of-gw-basic-9781546955153","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}