The Howdy Glossary

BASIC, an acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, is a high-level programming language developed in the 1960s to help beginners learn coding. Created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1964, BASIC was designed to be user-friendly and accessible, featuring straightforward commands and clear syntax while utilizing line numbers for program organization. The goal was to make computer programming approachable for students from various disciplines, enabling them to integrate coding into their work, thereby broadening the appeal of computer science education.

One of BASIC's most distinctive features is its use of line numbers as markers within the code, which provided a structured way for users to organize programs intuitively. This design facilitated easier navigation, editing, and execution of programs for beginners—making learning programming concepts more straightforward compared to dealing with complex addressing systems common in other languages at that time. BASIC's simplicity made it significantly appealing compared to languages like Fortran (focused on numerical calculations), COBOL (for business data processing), and Pascal (popular among academics). Each competitor had specific strengths but lacked the beginner-friendly approach that characterized BASIC.

The competitive advantage of BASIC lay in its focus on accessibility through simple commands and intuitive syntax geared towards novices and non-expert programmers. This emphasis allowed users from varied backgrounds to quickly grasp basic programming principles without facing steep learning curves associated with more complex languages like Fortran or COBOL. By democratizing computer programming and making it accessible beyond traditional software developers or scientists, BASIC revolutionized how people interacted with computers and learned to code—all contributing factors that maintain its relevance today in educational settings for teaching foundational coding skills efficiently.