PRINT “The BASIC language is 60 years old”

The BASIC language celebrates its 60th anniversary. Created in the 1960s with the goal of democratizing access to computer programming, it became a mainstay of education and an important tool for early personal computing enthusiasts. Let’s return to his story.

What if we took a little BASIC again to celebrate the occasion?

10 PRINT "Bonne anniversaire BASIC !"
20 PRINT "Le langage BASIC a maintenant 60 ans."
30 END

Where did BASIC come from?

The BASIC programming language, an acronym for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, was designed to make it easier for beginners to learn programming.

Invented in 1964. By John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz of Dartmouth University, BASIC was originally developed to enable students in the humanities and social sciences to use computers, which at the time were available primarily to science students.

Because of its simple syntax and intuitive approach, BASIC became extremely popular in the 1970s and 1980s, especially with the advent of personal microcomputers.

Are we still using BASIC?

Although its use declined with the advent of new, more modern languages ​​in the 1990s, BASIC is still used today. However, its use is not as widespread as in previous decades. It mainly finds its place in certain niches and in education, especially for introducing beginners to programming, thanks to its simple and understandable syntax.

Modern variants of BASIC, such as Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), were designed with modern programming environments in mind. VB.NET, integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment, allows you to develop Windows and Web applications using an object-oriented approach, making it a popular choice for developers in professional environments.

Additionally, versions of BASIC tailored to specific hardware and hobbies, such as the Arduino microcontroller (with Ardubasic) or some retro gaming platforms, demonstrate the language’s robustness across a variety of specialized areas.

Moreover, we also find Open source BASIC compilation tools. Such is the case with FreeBASIC, a free and open source (GPL) BASIC compiler for Microsoft Windows, DOS and Linux.

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