street BASIC

English

Etymology

The term was introduced by computer scientists Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny.

Noun

street BASIC (countable and uncountable, plural street BASICs)

1. (programming, derogatory) Any variety of the BASIC programming language that lacks good structure and encourages poor programming practices.
   • 1988, Cynthia Solomon, Computer Environments for Children, page 94:

     Street BASIC is becoming the language taught in junior high; it is sandwiched between Logo, which is taught in elementary school, and Pascal, which is taught in high school.

   • 2009, Harry Henderson, Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, page 40:

     In 1984, BASIC's original developers responded to what they saw as the problems of “street Basic” by introducing True BASIC, a modern, well-structured version of the language, and the 1988 ANSI BASIC standard incorporated similar features.