Exploring BASIC and Its Modern Descendants: A Guide for the Curious Beginner

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The BASIC programming language, an acronym for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, has played a pivotal role in the world of computing since its inception in 1964. Designed by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College, BASIC aimed to provide students a straightforward way to write programs. Over the years, BASIC has evolved significantly and inspired a variety of modern programming languages. This article will journey through the history of BASIC and its influence on contemporary programming languages, in a way that’s accessible to everyone.

The Rise of BASIC

BASIC was originally developed to help students from non-scientific disciplines interact with computers. At the time, computing was dominated by complex languages like FORTRAN and ALGOL, which were out of reach for many due to their steep learning curves. BASIC changed that by offering a simpler syntax. The language’s simplicity and its deployment on the first personal computers, such as the Altair 8800, made it one of the first programming languages many people encountered.

Features of BASIC

BASIC’s early versions were quite simple. They provided straightforward commands for tasks like input, output, looping, and branching. Here’s a quick look at a typical BASIC command structure that adds two numbers and prints the result:

10 INPUT "Enter first number: ", A
20 INPUT "Enter second number: ", B
30 SUM = A + B
40 PRINT "The sum is "; SUM
50 END

This simplicity was key to its widespread adoption by schools, hobbyists, and later, by a burgeoning community of home computer users.

Modern Heirs of BASIC

As technology evolved, so did BASIC. Here are some of the modern programming languages and environments that trace their roots back to BASIC:

  1. Visual Basic (VB): Developed by Microsoft, Visual Basic brought BASIC into the world of graphical user interfaces and event-driven programming. VB made it easy to design applications by allowing developers to drag and drop elements into programs.
  2. VB.NET: VB.NET is an evolution of Visual Basic that is fully integrated into Microsoft’s .NET framework. It combines the easy-to-learn approach of BASIC with the advanced features of .NET, making it powerful yet accessible for beginners.
  3. Small Basic: Designed to be a beginner’s first language, Small Basic simplifies programming by offering just about 14 keywords. Yet, it serves as a stepping stone to more complex languages like VB.NET.
  4. Gambas: Often thought of as the Linux answer to Visual Basic, Gambas brings BASIC-like programming to the Linux environment, complete with integrated development environment (IDE) support for creating applications with graphical user interfaces.
  5. BlitzBasic/BlitzMax: BlitzBasic was designed to provide a simple platform for game development, primarily on Windows. It expanded into BlitzMax, which offers more functionality while retaining BASIC’s easy-to-learn traits.
  6. FreeBASIC: As an open-source option, FreeBASIC aims to be syntactically similar to Microsoft’s QuickBASIC. It’s known for its speed and the ability to create graphics and UIs, bridging the gap between old and new.

Conclusion

From its creation as an educational tool to its role in the personal computing revolution, BASIC has left a lasting legacy in the programming world. Its descendants continue to make programming more accessible and serve as gateways to more complex languages and concepts. Whether for creating simple scripts, developing complex applications, or even building games, BASIC and its modern heirs offer a blend of simplicity and power that keeps them relevant in today’s programming landscape.

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