BASIC co-creator Thomas Kurtz hits END at 96

The Register ^ | 20 November 2024 | Liam Proven

[powerset]

When I started programming, BASIC hadn’t yet been released, so I couldn’t write the traditional “Hello World” program.

Instead, the first full program I wrote was in assembly language for the IBM 704, a vacuum tube monster that put out as much heat as a small pizza oven. (And I wouldn’t be surprised if a modern pizza oven has more computing power than the 704.)

The program I wrote was one which used Chebyshev Polynomials (which I had recently learned about) to compute cosines. Harder to get working than “Hello World”, but much more like serious programming, since all I had to start with was the recurrence equations. I had to use an actual book, of course, since https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chebyshev_polynomials was far in the future.

P.S. Since the 704 was at the Argonne National Laboratory, and I was at the University of Chicago, each use involved a driving with a box of punch-cards. At least it much shorter than Kurtz’s trip.

[Dr. Sivana]

I took a computer programming course (Math 105H) at U of Chicago in fall of ‘82 from Stuart Kurtz (he was younger). He is still there. The funny thing was that he taught PASCAL and had nothing good to say about BASIC. Worse, it was standard PASCAL, no built-in string handling.

I wonder if they are related?

[Myrddin]

My first useful code was on an HP25 calculator. June 1976. The program replaced a fairly coarse table of genetic probabilities with a fine grained calculation. The following year I sold the first 5 TRS80 computers in San Diego county. At $599 it was too expensive for my minimum wage job at Radio Shack. Another year later, I sold my ASR15 teletype machine and put the money into a Heathkit H-8. That machine opened doors to BASIC, C and Pascal. I built code in all 3 languages in 1979. The C compiler destroyed my 8 inch floppy drive with a 20 minute compile of the word count (wc.c) source. Hard disks on the SASI interface were too expensive.

I'm spoiled today with a laptop running a quad core i7, 64 GB RAM, 2 TB NVme disk and 34 inch display. Languages and tools are very good today. A gigabit fiber network completes the setup. That said, we owe thanks to Kurtz and Kemeny for enabling the discipline of software engineering to get underway.

[Myrddin]

I had a class where we were given a made-up computer language--had to write the assembler, compiler, linker-loader, and VM within a 10-week quarter. The final was him giving us a program, and running it through all of our projects to produce the desired results. Best CS class I ever took.

An excellent project for a quarter. By the time I was interested in doing that, I had already read through the "Dragon book" and produced code using lex and yacc in UNIX to improve accuracy of inputs to systems used at PacBell. The code delivered by Bellcore was fussy and prone to errant behavior with sloppy input.

[ConservativeMind]

I first coded in BASIC, and it was in 1981.

I thought it was great.

Thank you, sir!

[Myrddin]

As an undergrad bio major at UCSD, I didn't feel drawn to the computer oriented major designated APIS (Applied Physics and Informational Sciences). The piles of cards were off putting (1974-1976). I taught a class in 6800 and 8080 microprocessors. We had "trainers" with 128 bytes of program memory. Programs were expressed on graph paper using op code pneumonics and manually assembled including the hex op code, memory addresses and relative "jumps". The student was expected to deliver working code for 23 assignments for a C grade. 3 extra credits for B. 5 extra credits for an A. Self-paced with classroom instruction. Primitive, but effective. 92% of my students were hired by DEC or IBM over the 1980 to 1983 timeframe tracked by the Regional Occupational Program. Today I would expect to deliver that kind of class with real editors, assemblers and compilers. It just wasn't an option at the time.

[rellic]

I preferred PASCAL.
But learned about 20 or so languages.
I made my living as a systems engineer
so software design, hardware design, and repairs
of systems were my expertise.
I also build large sailboats from scratch.
I apprenticed as a shipwright when I was a kid.
I retired at age 55 in rural Hawaii.

[sauropod]

Time for a DO Loop.

[mairdie]

I ran a little programming languages group in that ‘74-76 timeframe in Cambridge MA and brought in Captain Grace Hopper to talk about the archeology of computers. My hero. She discussed the importance of remembering how things were done in the “old days” with small memory so that the techniques would not be lost as new applications came out needing those very same techniques. I can still remember her saluting at the end of her talk in her navy uniform. I was awestruck to have her there and get to drive her back to the airport.

I still try to keep alive the memories of those old days. I switched from language design at IBM Research to interactive video development and made videos of projects and people that I keep up on my YouTube channel as computer history.

My favorite is probably a musical memory of what it was like to be in an all day computer meeting as the day progressed. I was Secretary of the X3J13 Common Lisp group and this was a meeting in San Jose. These are all the big names in the field of Lisp.

X3J13 Lisp - Joseph Blanchard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjoZXYoDZoY

For those who know of John Backus - Backus-Naur Form and FORTRAN - this was when I was crawling around on the floor of his office during a group meeting to get B-roll for a video I was doing of the San Jose IBM Research group.

John Backus Group Meeting - IBM Research - 5 July 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzBkb-bvNK4

This was a series of interviews with the IBM biggest names telling their memories of an eccentric genius, John Cocke. They were worried about his health and wanted him to know, before it was too late, how very much he was loved. Anyone who followed John around the halls to write down his ideas became famous. My husband was asked to take on that task and refused as he had his own research interests. Sigh.

Computer History - John Cocke: A Retrospective by Friends - 1990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYwd30iWVvw

Before the video was first shown, there was a party for John and I did B-roll for that, too. One clip shows Isaac Asimov who gave the main talk.

My Old Friend - Tim McGraw - John Cocke and Computer Pioneers - 1990
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80x4wR2UDk0

[Pollard]

LET

[SunkenCiv]

That was probably Fortran (Formula Translator). Doing programs on punch cards led to the notion of subroutines — a slightly worn set of cards in a rubber band with the top one labeled in felt tip, “Pi” or “Square root”, was part of pro programmers’ tool kits. :^)

[Retrofitted]

Shoot, I've still got mine (and it still works!), complete with Programma graphics board (I had to have my dad solder that one in for me), VoxBox, Voice Input, stringy-floppy and, yes, a light pen! lol

Because of BASIC, I got my first job programming when I was 15 (been writing for Softside, Compute!, and 80-Micro prior) and kept going until I took active retirement. Funny thing... I still feel more comfortable writing in BASIC than anything else after all this time. REMemeber Thomas Kurtz, who truly changed the world.

[GaltAdonis]

“…TRS-80 back around 1979…”

.

It was a model 1 then. Model 3 was released in 1980.
Might have been a model 2, but they were pretty rare.

[ConservativeMind]

I later learned PASCAL, and really enjoyed it.

[Paal Gulli]

"... Kurtz is ...." No, he isn't.

[Still Thinking]

GOTO....

[TChad]

My father had trouble using the BASIC test formatting program on his new TRS-80 Model 100 laptop. I read the program — the first program I had ever seen — and thought I might be able to fix the problem. I succeeded. Talk about a gateway drug!

[martin_fierro]

RIP

[Paul R.]

I started off with Fortran and Basic, then my engineering school decided to dive off into PL-1. That didn’t work out so well...

[GOPJ]

You’re right. Fortran. I was listed as a ‘research assistant’ on a project that used punch cards... so long ago. Thanks.