BASIC programming language

BASIC is a family of high-level programming languages. Originally devised as an easy-to-use programming language, it became widespread on home microcomputers in the 1980s, and remains popular to this day in a handful of heavily evolved dialects. It was devised in 1963 by Profs. John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz of Dartmouth College.

Related Topics:
Programming languages - Home microcomputers - 1980s - 1963 - John G. Kemeny - Thomas E. Kurtz - Dartmouth College

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BASIC's name, coined in classic, computer science tradition to produce a nice acronym, stands for

Related Topics:
Computer science - Acronym

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Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, tied to the name of an unpublished paper by the language's co-inventor, Thomas Kurtz (the name thus having no relation to C.K. Ogden's series "Basic English"). Several versions of the popular Jargon File once claimed that BASIC is a backronym created in the 1970s (recent versions have corrected this). Evidence from the original Dartmouth BASIC manual (1964) show this to be untrue, but numerous online dictionaries and reference works on the Internet have now proliferated the earlier Jargon File's error.

Related Topics:
Basic English - Jargon File - Backronym - 1970s - 1964

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