Seeking to find an easier method of GUI development, Microsoft contracted the company Tripod to develop a drag and drop system under the code name Ruby.
Writing Windows applications was difficult – often taking months to develop with C. Not only did BASIC have a part in the history of microcomputers and the hobbyist’s interest in personal PCs, it shared a part in simplifying Microsoft’s GUI development. During a 1984 interview for BYTE magazine, Steve Wozniak stated that demonstrating Breakout was the “most satisfying day of my life … I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world.” Beloved Apple games, such as Breakout, was developed with this BASIC derivative. Steve Wozniak, as an attempt to create a language intended primarily for games and educational uses, created Integer BASIC also known as the BASIC interpreter for Apple I and Apple II computers. And for some time, Microsoft’s Quick Basic was the only programming language available for PCs.īASIC also played a role in video game development with Steve Wozniak’s influence. This set the stage for the microcomputer revolution. While MITS expected to only sell a few hundred machines, they had a few thousand orders within weeks and thus the Altair BASIC and Altair 8800 are often attributed to the rapid rise of personal computers years later. Published in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, the Altair 8800 first programming language was Microsoft’s founding product, Altair BASIC. Young Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs all used the BASIC language when they started building their digital empires. Pushing accessible computing lead to the technical revolution of personal computing. To further elaborate the simplicity of the language, Ben Shneiderman, a distinguished CS Professor of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematics, and Natural Science, wrote a children’s introduction to BASIC titled “Let’s Learn BASIC” after being inspired by his 8-year-old daughter. They also made it available to regional high further spreading computer literacy.
Kurtz made the compiler available free of charge which was not common for the time. With accessibility in mind and a desire for the language to become widespread, Professors John G.
BASIC language helped revolutionize access with HP Time-Shared BASIC, an interpreter software system that allowed many ordinary folks, so to speak, to simultaneously access the computer power on external terminals as if it was dedicated. As a result, all access to the mainframe was controlled by assemblers. The infamous punch card had a 24-hour-turnaround interface that limited the access to these powerful machines. Previously, expensive computers could only dedicate batch processing for one program at a time. Thus, the language became relevant to people in other fields.īASIC language was designed to allow for time-sharing. Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) had syntax that anyone can learn quickly. At the time, nearly all use of computers required writing custom software, which was something only scientists and mathematicians tended to learn. The era of the early 1960s ushered in a major shift in computing, and the creation of the BASIC programming language was an essential part of that shift. How the intended plaque site is protected/secured Plaque location, east side of south façade, under window of computer lab where BASIC was developed. Coordinates: 43.702668,-72.289845ĭetails of the physical location of the plaque Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the Milestone Plaque Sites Īddress: Collis Center, 2 N Main St, Hanover, NH 03755, U.S.A. Its simplicity and wide acceptance made it useful in fields beyond science and mathematics, and enabled more people to harness the power of computation. During the mid-1970s and 1980s, BASIC was the principal programming language used on early microcomputers. 7 Features that set this work apart from similar achievementsīeginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) was created in this building.5 How the intended plaque site is protected/secured.4 Details of the physical location of the plaque.3 Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the Milestone Plaque Sites.