Check this out: DIP ARM with BASIC

Did you know there was an ARM in DIP form factor? The LPC1114. Well, not only that but you can program it in BASIC. Coridium is selling a 50MHz LPC1114 in DIP form factor for a measly $10 for just the MCU or $42 for the eval kit shown below. My very slow BASIC Stamp II cost about $50 ten years ago.

The ARM BASIC was released awhile ago, but I don't think it got the press it deserves. I played with mine a little but still haven't had a chance to do a project and write-up.

Programming it reminds me of the Stamp's BASIC. One neat feature the Stamp didn't have: you can access any native MCU register so you have quite a lot of control over the device's peripherals.