With BASIC, Kemeny and Kurtz wanted to create a programming language that even non-computer scientists could learn quickly. In contrast to languages commonly used at the time, such as FORTRAN or ...

A brochure for the GE 210 computer from 1964. BASIC's creators used a similar computer four years later to develop the programming language. Credit: GE / Wikipedia ...

The language that made that all possible. They called it the Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code— BASIC. Before BASIC, life in the computer programming world was complicated.

But I’d just done so, thanks to this strangely accessible computer language: BASIC. The next day I and my nerdy friends raided the library.

By providing a free online education program, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) aims to increase the participation of underrepresented and female students in computer programming.

BASIC began to be used in schools everywhere. Computers like the Research Machines 380Z and BBC Micro meant that students could start learning a few programming basics, without any need for access ...