In case anyone is interested, there is a little known language that is simpler than BASIC and yet allows one to write complex applications or just simple scripts. It can be interpreted or compiled to Java byte code and perhaps to native machine code although I have not yet found any compelling reason to do so. It can be used to write procedural code or OO code. (Sorry - no "GOTO" statements.) "Hello World" is about as simple as you can get:

say "Hello World"

But you can write a functional web browser in a single line not much more complex than that.

There is even a simple IDE available that allows you to write some code in a window and click a start button to interpret the program and see the output in a window.

I personally use this language to write Android applications for the Dalvik VM.

I say "little known" because no one has mentioned it here. The language is called NetRexx and IBM is currently in the process of releasing it as open source code so the language community can maintain and enhance it as needed. I don't think there is a simpler way to learn programming with a language that can produce practical applications at this time. Info: http://kermitkiser.com/NetRexx

Sorry, missed your question earlier. I program in a language called NetRexx which is then translated into Java and compiled into Dalvik byte code via an "IDE" that I wrote (in NetRexx of course :-)

Seems to be some confusion around here. There is a difference between the developers of Android (the OS) and the developers of Android applications.

Even if there are proven to be patent problems with the Dalvik VM, an application developer is not distributing any part of the OS, only byte code which may or may not have been generated by a Java compiler and just happens to run in a Dalvik VM.

Speaking as an Android app developer, I don't even program in Java. (And no, not the App Inventor or NDK either.)

Ditto. I also live in Washington. We already have one of the highest sales taxes in the country - almost 10% in some areas already.

While Washingtonians may deserve the politicians they elect, we are not totally stupid. I could care less about how this affected Ballmer and a few other people. It was very clear that this was a tricky way to slip an income tax on top of the sales tax and that it would hit everyone before long. The politicians have tried this several times as they desperately want to control more of the citizens money. For our own good of course. ;-)

The problem with "progressive" taxes is that the government only has to inflate our currency to increase our tax rates. No nasty unpopular voting needed...

I call BS on this post. I know from personal experience that no one gets even a private pilots license without demonstrating multiple times that he can perform the proper response to a stall. I have done it successfully and unsuccessfully (with an instructor along to catch mistakes) and the issue is whether or not you can override the natural instinct in a panic situation where everything inside you is screaming "pull up" or similar completely wrong messages.

On the other hand, I have also had an air traffic controller clear me for solo takeoff on a runway that he had seconds before cleared another pilot to land on from the other direction. This is an obvious error to any pilot when your runway number plus (or minus) 18 equals the other pilots runway number but as an inexperienced pilot I assumed that I had heard something wrong. Fortunately, the other pilot was an experienced CFI and corrected ATC on the problem before it could become life threatening.

Some things are experience. Some things are guts.

When you have a strong monopoly, you can squeeze the cash cow even in tough times.