Code:
10 let i = 1
20 if i = 50 then print "Happy 50th Anniversary BASIC" else goto 40
30 goto 60
40 i = i + 1
50 goto 20
60 exit
run
During the times when programming was mainly for engineers and scientists with languages such as FORTRAN and Algol around, BASIC is the first language designed for laymen and for the average user as well as the language that actually made the early PCs and Apple computers popular for the general everyday consumers and encouraged them to utilize computers for their personal purposes as opposed as a device meant for scientists. BASIC has now completed 50 years and marks a milestone in personal computing.
I don't know how many of you know about BASIC, but BASIC is the language that actually got me into programming. I learned BASIC in class 5th and continued to code in it till class 10th. It was part of our school syllabus since class 6th. Learning that BASIC has completed 50 years brings back so many memories of school.
From the Darthmouth college website :
At 4 a.m. on May 1, 1964, in the basement of College Hall, Professor John Kemeny and a student programmer simultaneously typed RUN on neighboring terminals. When they both got back correct answers to their simple programs, time-sharing and BASIC were born.
Kemeny, who later became Dartmouth's 13th president, Professor Tom Kurtz, and a number of undergraduate students worked together to revolutionize computing with the introduction of time-sharing and the BASIC programming language. Their innovations made computing accessible to all Dartmouth students and faculty, and soon after, to people across the nation and the world.
This year, Dartmouth marked 50 years of BASIC with a day of events on Wednesday, April 30. The celebration recognized the enduring impact of BASIC, showcased innovation in computing at Dartmouth today, and imagined what the next 50 years might hold.
References :
BASIC, the 50-Year-Old Computer Programming Language for Regular People
How Steve Wozniak Wrote BASIC for the Original Apple From Scratch
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC
*www.dartmouth.edu/basicfifty/
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