This is why I’ve long argued that BASIC is the most consequential language in the history of computing. It’s a language for noobs, sure, but back then most everyone was a noob.

On May 1st, the BASIC programming language, first developed by Dartmouth College Professors Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny, celebrates 50 years. At the time, computers were highly serial.

Since the 1960s, BASIC has introduced countless beginners to computer programming. Here's how the language got started, the paths it cleared for Windows and Apple, and where you can still find it ...

The history of basic computer programming languages dates back far. Learn more about the BASIC & C coding languages that got everything started.

It's been 60 years since the first BASIC programme ran at Dartmouth College. János Kemény developed the language with a colleague, Thomas Kurtz, with the goal of bringing computing closer to ...

BASIC Beginnings Sooner or later, it was inevitable that someone would come up with a programming language aimed at beginners.

Ah yes, my first programming language on trash-80. I wouldn't go back tho. However, I would take Basic any day over Cobol. I'm getting really tired of migrating old code from the 70s.

Nowadays, "basic" has a very different and derogatory Urban Dictionary-style meaning. Fifty years ago on this very day, however, it was the name given to a new computer-programming language born ...