Apple IIe - Manual (Page 40)

Page 40 of 74 IIe
Printed: Tuesday, March 4, 2003 10:40:15 AM
Logo
Logo is a programming language that is especially suited to children and beginning programmers
of any age because it's great for creating computer graphics.
Using simple commands like
FORWARD, LEFT, and RIGHT, you learn to write programs that produce elaborate and colorful
geometric designs.
Logo encourages you to learn by trial and error because mistakes are so
painless. If you make a mistake, the worst that can happen is that you'll get a geometric
design other than the one you intended, and half the time the result is better than your
original plan.
But Logo does more than let you create graphics. You can use it for fun or for
serious applications.
Pascal
Named after Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century philosopher and mathematician, this language is used
in high school and college computer classes to teach programming because it stresses a
systematic approach to programming.
You break programming problems down into tasks and
subtasks, and then write your program in manageable-sized chunks.
6502 Assembly Language
This language is one small step up from the language of electrical impulses that is the native
tongue of the Apple IIe.
It's a lot harder to learn than languages like Logo and BASIC that
use English-like commands, but it gives you faster programs because it doesn't need as much
translation for the computer to understand it, and it gives you more control over the operation
of the computer.
Other Languages
Ask your dealer for information on other programming languages available for the Apple IIe such
as like COBOL, FORTRAN, SuperPILOT, FORTH, C, PL/1, LISP, Modula-2.
Chapter 5 Summary
Writing a computer program involves breaking a task down into small steps and expressing those
steps in terms the computer can understand.
Popular Programming Languages
Logo: Easy and fun to learn (with lots of emphasis on graphics), yet powerful enough for
serious programming.
BASIC: Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code is built into the Apple IIe and many
other personal computers, so there are lots of people who speak the same language. BASIC is
good for beginners because it resembles English and is easy to learn.
Computer as Calculator
Because BASIC is built into the Apple IIe, you can use your computer as a calculator.
(To get
into the BASIC environment quickly, press CONTROL-RESET after starting up your Apple IIe
without a disk in the built in disk drive.)
Here are the mathematical symbols the computer
understands:
+ addition - subtraction * multiplication /division
Some BASIC Vocabulary