This is why I’ve long argued that BASIC is the most consequential language in the history of computing. It’s a language for noobs, sure, but back then most everyone was a noob. Throughout the ...

The pioneer of structured programming, Edsger Dijkstra, said in 1975, for example, that it was almost impossible to teach good programming to students who had previously come into contact with BASIC.

The author introduces some basic dynamic programming techniques, using examples, with the help of the computer algebra system Maple. The emphasis is on building confidence and intuition for the ...