Small Basic: make programming accessible to everyone!

The new Microsoft Small Basic project is a very simple programming language and a no less simple development environment with an intuitive interface. The product is intended for novice developers, especially children, who want to comprehend the basics of creating programs.

Those who started programming a long time ago, probably remember well the wonderful language Basic. The simplicity of Basic made it possible to quickly start creating simple programs, and the accessibility of the language itself made it possible for anyone to explore it to have the desire for it.
With time, technologies became more complex, Basic turned into Visual Basic, then Visual Basic .NET, acquired OOP concepts, acquired support for the embedded query language (LINQ), and much more. Innovations allow experienced programmers to quickly develop high-quality software, but they make development less accessible for beginners.
Therefore, Microsoft released the product Small Basic, which has a number of advantages that beginners should appreciate when starting to master programming:

1. A very simple development environment - a text editor with a multi-functional tooltip and only a few buttons for editing text and running programs.
2. Simple language with just 15 keywords
3. Built-in development environment contextual documentation for all elements of the language
4. The possibility of expanding Small Basic components to include additional functionality (such an opportunity for creators of online services will appeal to millions of enthusiasts who can create something of their own using the service and Small Basic) For example, the delivery is already going to work with the services of Flickr.

You can learn more about the project on the Small Basic page .

View the Small Basic Documentation
Install Small Basic