| BASIC |
[May. 1st, 2008|01:39 pm] |
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| |  amused | ] |
On this day in 1964, at about 4 AM EST, at Dartmouth College, two math professors, Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny, ran a few programs on their newly created programming language. Their goal was to create a language that could use the powerful computers of the day but was simple enough that new users could learn it quickly.
They called it: Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. (BASIC)
Depending on who was asked, the first program was either this:PRINT 2 + 2 Or an implementation of the Sieve of Eratosthenes.
While this day might be celebrated for it's success at an accessible language, it's also the first major release of a programming language with the GOTO statement. (GOTO is one of a long line of proof that for every tool made, there's someone out there to mis-use it to death.)
Excluding arguments about LOGO as a programming language, the first program I ever authored was in BASIC. Looking at the lessons provided to us, I decided to write and try:10 BEEP
20 GOTO 10 My test was a success. And as a bonus, I learned shortly thereafter the appropriate key combination to break out of a running basic program. I did get some dirty looks from the professor, though. |
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2008-05-02 12:01 am (UTC)
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There's something universal about that.
When I was in school, before they had actual computers, they got a truck which was basically an implementation of LOGO except cooler than a turtle because it had caterpillar tracks and stuff. It had a keypad on the back where you gave it instructions. So the first "program" I ever wrote looked like:
FORWARD 99
BEEP 99
I also got dirty looks from the teacher... | |
