BASIC computer language turns 40

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | April 30, 2004 | J.M. Hirsch The Associated Press

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

On May 1, 1964, the BASIC computer programing language was born and for the first time computers were taken out of the lab and brought into the community.
    Forty years later pure BASIC -- Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code -- has all but disappeared, but its legacy lives on.
    "This is the birth of personal computing," said Arthur Luehrmann, a former Dartmouth physics professor who is writing a book about BASIC's development at the university. "It was personal computing before people knew what personal computing was."
    Paul Vick, a senior developer at Microsoft, said his company owes much to BASIC, the software giant's first product. Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office suite still use a descendent called Visual Basic.
    BASIC was born in an age when computers were large, expensive and the exclusive province of scientists, many of whom were forced to buy research time on the nation's handful of machines.
    Dartmouth math professors Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny envisioned something better, an unprecedented system that would give their entire school -- from the faculty to the food service staff -- simultaneous access to a computer.
    Using existing technology called time sharing, the pair created a primitive network to allow multiple users to share a single computer through terminals scattered around campus.
    With the help of students, Kurtz and Kemeny developed a commonsense language to run the system, relying on basic equations and commands, such as PRINT, LIST and SAVE.

John McGeachie, then a student, was there at 4 a.m. on May 1, 1964, when BASIC came to life in the basement of Dartmouth's College Hall. Two terminals hooked up to a single computer ran two different programs.
    "I don't think anybody knew how it would end up catching on," said McGeachie, now 61 and a software designer. "It was just enormously exciting for us as students to be working on something so many people said couldn't be done."
    Within a short time nearly everyone at Dartmouth -- a humanities-based college -- had some BASIC experience. And it wasn't long before the business community took notice.
    Kurtz said that by 1970 nearly 100 companies used BASIC systems to share and sell time on computers. And when computers eventually entered the consumer market, most used BASIC.
    The popularity of BASIC waned as computers got more sophisticated, and newer languages were developed to take advantage of the power. Many of those languages, including the Internet's Java, have their roots in BASIC.

[July 4th]

No way I thought it was that old. I remember learning it on Apple II-somethings as a 3rd grader back in the mid-80's.

[John Will]

My first computer language, prepared me for C++ and java.

PRINT "Vote Bush".

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I can't answer those questions, but I never did anything with DEC.

I did use the Test Under Mask on the 360 Assembler language.

[pt17]

Thanks for the info. It seems so long ago.

[FreeManWhoCan]

10 ? "DUBYA IS GOING TO CAUSE A LANDSLIDE!;"
20 GOTO 10


I learned BASIC on my Atari 1200XL. I remember copying pages and pages of code out of these thick computer magazines in order to get a picture to come out. I remember one that took me a few hours between my brother and I that was called Farah. When we finally ran it, it turned out to be a picture of a faucet!

[kitkat]

***10 PRINT "JOHN F. KERRY IS NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT"
20 GOTO 10 ***

LOL!

Reminds me of my first computer over twenty years ago. KayPro...16K...came with instructions to write your own programs with BASIC.

So I did! Man, was I proud! I even wrote a program that called for a password. It worked! It worked so well that a week later when I tried to get into the program, I learned the most important lesson of all: DON'T FORGET YOUR PASSWORD. More than twenty years later, I STILL can't remember that password. LOL!

But, for its time, the KayPro was a great little machine with the best word processor ever written.

[KC_for_Freedom]

I was amazed at the expanded repertoir of BASIC commands over that of the college system that cost 100 times as much.

I introduced my class to programming in BASIC when our school system installed a teletype machine networked with 7 other schools. (early 70's) They put games on the system to attract students, then took them off when the students did not want to do anything else.

One of my students programmed the machine to try all system passwords and stop when it cracked the protection code so he could take over and put the games back on line.

He wound up with a "A". (I did not teach how to write that particular program, but did include looping and testing.)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another language that goes back a ways is APL:

____________________________________________________________

History

APL stands for "A Programming Language." It was created in the 1960's by Ken Iverson and his colleagues at IBM. Mathematically inspired, its main purpose was to serve as a powerful executable notation for mathematical algorithms. What APL is best known for is its use of non-ASCII symbols, including some Greek letters. It is a dynamically typed interactive, array oriented language with a dynamic scope. In APL, all expressions are evaluated from right to left.

---

Significant Language Features

• Non-Standard Character Set - APL makes use of a character set which contains some non-ASCII characters, including some Greek letters.
• Dynamic Array Universe - APL's environment consists of arrays, created dynamically.
• Interaction - APL is an interactive language.

---

<! Where is this language used? simulation, application programming, education, embedded systems, etc. >

Areas of Application

• Mathematical Algorithms
• Statistics

APL - Array Programming Language

You could do some neat stuff with the language.

[pt17]

I remember pulling an all-nighter at the computer center when some poor guy dropped a shoebox full of punch cards. They scattered everywhere. The guy was almost in tears and the rest of us truly felt his pain.

Ahh, yes, the good old days (NOT) when you were nearly finished sorting 20 or so trays of punch cards on an 082 and then dropped a tray.

I wonder if there's any old-timers out there who remember the "go find some color brushes for colored cards" joke that was always played on newbies.

[Professional Engineer]

ROFL.

Ah, memories.

[Professional Engineer]

Wow, the PET was the first computer I ever used.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Resource for Basic:

The Basic Programming Language

History

Basic is a very powerful language as a tool for the novice programmer. Basic allows for a wide range of applications, and it has many versions. However, as long as the emphasis is on the techniques of programming and problem solving, the specific syntax is easy to follow.

---

Significant Language Features

Basic is a multi-platform language because many basic compilers use the same types of routines. Basic allows:

• Loops
• Input from the keyboard
• Menu Driven Applications
• System Commands - These are words that make the system perform a specific task immediately.
• Structured Programming
• Subroutines
• Built-In Functions
• User-Defined Functions
• Arrays, sorting, and searches

---

Areas of Application

Basic has many strong points, such as:

• Easy to learn for beginners
• Adds powerful additional features for the advanced user
• Is designed for interactive use rather than batch work
• Lends itself to learning by hands-on practical use

and is therefore suitable for both the professional and non-professional.

---

[Jalapeno]

ping for the old guys

[Publius6961]

Am I the only one who misses BASIC?

I wrote very useful and much used programs in the 70s and early 80s to solve engineering, surveying and astronomic reduction programs that I could still use today if there was a modern version of the language.
The only thing I can find that comes close to the Cadillac of BASIC languages, HP BASIC, is Liberty Basic, which has been "fancied up" almost to uselessness for all but hard core programmers.

The beauty of BASIC was that literally anyone with a semi-competent mastery of math could write a program to do pretty much anything.
With the advance into 32-bit programming and with the gross advance in computer speeds, a modern BASIC would be a killer application.

Where is the modern Bill Gates?

[Jalapeno]

Ah, the Radio Shack TRS-80 (aka "Trash-80").

Here's an interesting site:

http://oldcomputers.net

[RagingBull]

Yes, starting with most Windows source code.

Oh really?!? Windows is written in BASIC?

No, but they are related....Microsoft started back in the late 70s selling a basic interpreter (written by Bill Gates). In 1977, they replaced it with AppleSoft Basic, which was written by... Microsoft. They paid $21,000 for an 8-year license.

When the Macintosh was being developed, Steve Jobs was scared there wouldn't be enough applications, so he gave Microsoft rights to use the GUI (used in Windows) in exchange for commitments to write macintosh software. When the macintosh release date was delayed, and Bill Gates threatened to suspend development unless they gave him a better deal. At the same time, the AppleSoft license was renewed (The Apple II was Apple's only profitable product at this point, and they needed AppleSoft) in exchange for canning Mac Basic.

In 1989, Apple sued MS for look and feel infringement, and identified 189 areas where the infringed. The judge declared 179 were covered by the previous licensing deal, and 10 were not copyrightable.

Of course, VB did let anyone write a windows application fairly easily, and has helped to keep windows in their dominant position.

[roadcat]

With the advance into 32-bit programming and with the gross advance in computer speeds, a modern BASIC would be a killer application.
Where is the modern Bill Gates?

Very good question! Are there no young teenage genius guys out there anymore?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

They are looking toward Law School!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the link!

No one has mentioned the Amiga?

Amiga Corporate Portal