I got into programming using GFA Basic on the Atari ST, which had:

• no line numbers

• indentation-based code blocks for conditionals, loops etc.

• string/byte/word/float/boolean variables

• pointers

• arrays, hashes and record types

• editor with auto-indenting, code folding and immediate error highlighting

• a super-fast interpreter and the ability to compile programs

• 600+ function library covering hardware/OS calls, matrices, collections etc

Really, it was an amazing language and I was very lucky to start on it, as it made the jump to Turbo Pascal a few years later relatively painless.

GFA Basic v3 Manual - http://www.atarimania.com/st/files/GFA_BASIC_Version_3_Inter... GFA Basic for Windows - https://gfabasic32.blogspot.com/p/about.html