# QuickBASIC

8 Hacker News commenters recommended QuickBASIC and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for its built-in syntax help, example programs and an interpreter that reports errors, making it a comfortable place to learn programming.

## Why people recommend it

- Built-in help and syntax reference (2 comments): "the help menu listed all the commands and the interpreter gave errors when I did something wrong" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47362560)) "The built in syntax help, which was incredible, and some example programs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47178676))
- Opens up what beginners can build (2 comments): "happily learning to code my own video games on Intel 486 PC in QuickBasic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50241192)) "I couldn't believe how much more functionality it opened up to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45822863))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [HyperCard](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hypercard.md): 62 recommend
- [QBasic](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qbasic.md): 27 recommend
- [Folk Computer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/folk-computer.md): 6 recommend
- [Glamorous Toolkit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/glamorous-toolkit.md): 6 recommend
- [DrRacket](https://hackerapproved.com/p/drracket.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "QuickBASIC", https://hackerapproved.com/p/quickbasic/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).