This is a gentle introduction to programming using the computer programming language QBasic (sometimes called QuickBasic). This introduction is used for a course in computer literacy for students of all majors. Its goal is to show what programming is about using the fundamental features of QBasic.

These are interactive lessons. Each chapter consists of about 20 web pages, and is about the equivalent of one classroom lecture. At the bottom of each page is a question on the material on that page. Answer the question before moving on to the next page.

Nobody learns programming just by reading. Copy the example programs into QBasic, run them, modify them, and play with them. Details on how to do this are in the lessons. With the guidance of these notes, you can use QBasic itself as an interactive "teaching machine". This is very effective.