BASIC was the first programming language I learnt back in 1994, so it’s been 30 years since I have been programming (Wow… I guess I am old 🙂 ). I went from BASICA to GWBASIC to Q-BASIC. More than anything I loved the simplicity of BASIC as it was an easy language to learn and then build stuff with. Once I got the foundations of Programming I moved schools and there at Air Force Bal Bharati we switched over to C & C++. At first I disliked C/C++ because I was used to BASIC but then got to love it. Personally, I still feel that all programmers should start with C/C++ before moving to other languages because they really give you a solid foundation in Programming. But that being said, without BASIC we wouldn’t have C.
in the predawn darkness of May 1, 1964, a modest but pivotal moment in computing history unfolded at Dartmouth College. Mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz, operating a General Electric GE-225 mainframe, executed the first program in a language of their own devising: Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC).
It wasn’t the first popular language. That honor went to COBOL if you were in business or FORTRAN if you made your living in engineering. But, for many beginners from the mid-60s to the early 80s, BASIC was their introduction to computer programming.
BASIC’s allure came from its simplicity. Designed as an interpreted language, it allowed programs to be written and executed line-by-line, an approach that resonated deeply with beginners.
Interestingly, BASIC is still not dead and is being actively developed by folks. In Fact, in honor of the 60th Anniversary 3 different FOSS BASIC-related projects have released new versions of the language:
I don’t think I have copies of any of the BASIC programs I developed on my system but I might have a floppy somewhere with a few of them at home in Delhi. I should probably look for them when I next visit home.
– Suramya