Happy Birthday BASIC

**NickFitz** · 1 May 2014, 11:41

Good, long piece in Time about the history of the language and those involved with it: Fifty Years of BASIC, the Language That Made Computers Personal - TIME

**speling bee** · 1 May 2014, 13:02

**speling bee** · 1 May 2014, 13:05

Originally posted by DaveB View Post

50 years old today.

10 PRINT "Happy 50th Birthday, BASIC" : GOTO 10

I'm sorry. I don't understand that.

**Scrag Meister** · 1 May 2014, 13:32

Well I never, it has kept me employed for more than half of its life.

Good going.

**doodab** · 1 May 2014, 13:38

First language I programmed in, second one as well as vic20 and speccy basic were a bit different. Even some years later I was writing programs to draw fractals in basic on the school pcs, which was back when msdos came with a basic interpreter.

50 years is a good innings for a programming language. People used to slag basic off but it tought me all the basic procedural programming concepts and much else fairly painlessly. I'd say it did it's job pretty well

**doodab** · 1 May 2014, 15:00

Originally posted by zeitghost

60 years since the earliest beginnings of FORTRAN, though the first compiler (optimising, mark you) didn't appear until 1957.

5th language I programmed in, and the only one someone ever tried to teach me. One of the joys of a maths degree....

**Churchill** · 1 May 2014, 18:52

Originally posted by zeitghost

60 years since the earliest beginnings of fortran, though the first compiler (optimising, mark you) didn't appear until 1957.

Code:

GO TO (who, gives, a, tulip), wherever

Happy Birthday BASIC