BASIC-256 is an easy to use version of BASIC designed to teach anybody the basics of computer programming.

BASIC-256 uses traditional control structures like gosub, for/next, and goto, which helps kids easily see how program flow-control works. It has a built-in graphics mode which lets them draw pictures on screen in minutes, and a set of detailed, easy-to-follow tutorials that introduce programming concepts through fun exercises.

BASIC-256 has an excellent tutorial as well. Here is Tutorial 1 from their website:

A computer program is a set of instructions that tells a computer what to do. The computer reads the instructions one at a time and does exactly what they say.

Here's an example:

print "Welcome to BASIC-256!!!"
If you type that line into the BASIC-256 editor and click the [Run] button, you should see a welcome message printed out in the Text Output window. If you don't see a welcome message, make sure you typed it exactly as shown and try again.

Now how does this work? You might already have guessed what the PRINT command does. The PRINT command prints a message onto the screen. The message has to be in quotation marks. You can change the welcome message to anything you'd like, as long as you put it in quotes. Let's try changing it now. Why don't we make the program more friendly and have it greet us by name?

print "Welcome to BASIC-256, Ian!!!"
(You can put your name in -- Ian is my name) There, that's better. But what if we want the computer to say something else? Let's try adding another line to the program.

print "Welcome to BASIC-256, Ian!!!"
print "How are you today?"
Now, when you run the program, you should see two lines printed out. Adding another line means that the computer runs the first line, and then the second one, in order.