BBC BASIC
Shares rank 121 of 163 programming languages by recommenders
People recommend it as a far better BASIC than the C64's, with integrated assembly support and a rich dialect.
People recommend it as a far better BASIC than the C64's, with integrated assembly support and a rich dialect.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Better than C64 BASIC
“C64 BASIC wasn't great compared to BBC BASIC on the school BBC Micros”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “I Owe My Life to the Commodore 64” “BBC BASIC was far better than C64 BASIC.”
Comment from 26 May 2026 in “C64 Basic: Game Map Overhead "Camera View"” Integrated assembler for learning hardware
“That assembler was great when I was cutting my programming teeth and progressing a bit beyond BASIC to better understand the hardware.”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “C64 Basic: Game Map Overhead "Camera View"” “mostly run stuff under BBC BASIC (with it's integrated assembly support)”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Borland Turbo Basic” Bundled with RISC OS and Acorn
“You could just use RISC OS on the PI for BBC Basic.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Mini Micro Fantasy Computer” “comes with its own rather nice Acorn/BBC BASIC”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Thoreau BASIC – What if BASIC hadn't gone out of fashion?”
Other programming languages people recommend
The four most recommended other programming languages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 163 programming languages, rankedWhat people said
All 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Notably: BBC Basic, Elite”
“comes with its own rather nice Acorn/BBC BASIC”
“mostly run stuff under BBC BASIC (with it's integrated assembly support)”
“C64 BASIC wasn't great compared to BBC BASIC on the school BBC Micros”
“You could just use RISC OS on the PI for BBC Basic.”
“That assembler was great when I was cutting my programming teeth and progressing a bit beyond BASIC to better understand the hardware.”
“BBC BASIC was far better than C64 BASIC.”
“you could do the same with BBC BASIC”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.