Introducing Small Basic - Microsoft releases yet another programming language

An alternative: http://hacketyhack.net/

Small Basic appears to have a rather clunky syntax, despite having a very small number of keywords and built-in methods. These odd little bits of syntax can throw newbies off.

Wow! So Microsoft is now feeling threatened by _why? I didn't realize he was quite that important!

I've found that it's rarely, if ever, the number of keywords that directly contributes to the complexity of a language, but the size and accessibility of the standard library.

Look how easy it is to set the desktop background image! You just need to know that the SetWallPaper method of the Desktop object needs to be invoked! Admittedly, it is the small, quick successes that lead to further interest in programming.

Setting the desktop background image is the Hello World of GUI apps.

Here is a bit of history on the language.

http://blogs.msdn.com/smallbasic/archive/2008/10/23/hello-wo...

Earlier discussion here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=341997

Reminds me of Popeye cigarettes...