To amplify that point: A lot of what were then often called home computers bootstrapped into a BASIC interpreter. To pick just a few: the Oric, the BBC Micro A/B, the Master, the Electron, the Commodore PET, the VIC-20, the TI 99/4A, and the QL
The Jupiter Ace bootstrapped into Forth.
None of these were akin to learning to program with the first step being the giant leap from zero to compiling one's own kernel. That is not because they didn't have kernels. Several did, coming with actual operating system kernels that underlaid the interpreter. QL SuperBASIC, for one example, was an applications program running on a multi-process multi-tasking single-user handle-based I/O operating system named QDOS.
The learning to program had as its first steps the rather lower bar of the 2 or 3 line program that printed a string, or asked the user for input, or drew a coloured triangle on the screen ...
The Jupiter Ace bootstrapped into Forth.
None of these were akin to learning to program with the first step being the giant leap from zero to compiling one's own kernel. That is not because they didn't have kernels. Several did, coming with actual operating system kernels that underlaid the interpreter. QL SuperBASIC, for one example, was an applications program running on a multi-process multi-tasking single-user handle-based I/O operating system named QDOS.
The learning to program had as its first steps the rather lower bar of the 2 or 3 line program that printed a string, or asked the user for input, or drew a coloured triangle on the screen ...