>I think the killer feature of QBasic and even more so QuickBasic was the help and reference
without any internet access in the 90s, I taught myself QBasic largely out of that help reference in order to write little games and simulations. it really was something fantastic.
100%. Heck I coded up a system that printed footage marks along the side of industrial coated material using qbasic interfacing to an industrial printer via the joystick port on a 386! No internet so I used the help system constantly. Eventually the company kept a pile of 386's stacked as spares because the system ran too fast on a 486.
without any internet access in the 90s, I taught myself QBasic largely out of that help reference in order to write little games and simulations. it really was something fantastic.