BASIC and the Architecture We Lost

You have probably walked past a brutalist building without knowing the style’s name. They are those raw concrete constructions, unplastered, where you can see the marks of the molds used in casting. Structure exposed. Piping sticking out. For a long time, computers were like this.

In the 80s, when you turned on a microcomputer (MSX, Apple II, or my personal favorite, the TK90x/ZX Spectrum), there was no desktop. There were no folder icons simulating an office. There was no metaphor at all. What appeared was a blinking cursor, waiting. The machine looked at you and asked: “What’s the plan for today, boss?”