BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages introduced by IBM in the 1960s, tailored for simplicity and ease of use. It featured line-numbered code and GOTO statements for sequential execution, making it accessible to beginners. Over time, BASIC evolved to incorporate structured programming elements like procedures, loops, and conditional statements. This gradual development helped maintain its popularity among novice programmers during the 1980s as personal computing began to rise.
John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College created BASIC in the mid-1960s to introduce students with no prior programming experience to computer science. Their design aimed at making programming accessible through straightforward commands and easy-to-understand syntax. The language's user-friendly nature led to widespread use not only in academic settings but also in commercial applications, significantly influencing early personal computing experiences.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, BASIC faced competition from other languages like Pascal, known for its strong typing system and structured principles; C, which offered better performance control over hardware; Fortran for scientific computing; and COBOL for business applications. Despite these rivals targeting more specialized domains or offering higher performance capabilities, BASIC's simple syntax and gradual learning curve made it an ideal tool for educational purposes and personal projects. Its ease of use allowed novices to grasp fundamental coding concepts quickly while evolving features kept it relevant even as other more complex languages emerged.
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