Programming language · 1964
BASIC
Programming language for beginners, mainly using familiar English words or abbreviations of them.
1964First released
Dartmouth CollegeDeveloper
weakTyping
Replacedassembly for beginners on early microcomputers
Being replaced byPython as the common first language; Visual Basic for Windows apps
What is BASIC written in?
The Language Lineage dataset does not currently include compiler or runtime implementation relationships for BASIC. It may appear in influence relationships with other languages.
Quick Facts
- Designed by
- John George Kemeny
- Developer
- Thomas E. Kurtz and Mary Kenneth Keller
- First released
- 1964
- Typing
- weak
- Filename extension
- .bas
About BASIC
BASIC is a programming language for beginners, mainly using familiar English words or abbreviations of them. BASIC is executed directly by an interpreter. It supports imperative and procedural programming.
BASIC first appeared in 1964 and was designed by John George Kemeny at Dartmouth College. Its popularity peaked around 1985. BASIC keeps a steady, moderate following today.
How BASIC is implemented
BASIC is primarily implemented in FORTRAN / Assembly.
BASIC in the language family tree
BASIC drew on ideas from Fortran and ALGOL and went on to influence Visual Basic .NET.
Frequently Asked Questions
What languages influenced BASIC?
BASIC was influenced by Fortran, ALGOL among others. See the influence section above for the full list.
Which languages did BASIC influence?
BASIC influenced Visual Basic .NET among others.
When was BASIC first released?
BASIC was first released in 1964. It was designed by John George Kemeny.
Evidence Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Basic_.NET
- BASIC on Wikidata (Q42979)