In Computing, What is Basic?

In Computing, What is Basic?
 

BASIC is an acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.  Basic is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming easy–to-use programming language. 

Developed in 1963, the original purpose of this high-level language was to make computers accessible to non-science students.

Back then, nearly all use of computers required writing custom software, which was something only scientists and mathematicians did. The language and its variants became widespread on microcomputers.  A variation, named Tiny BASIC, was one of the first to be used on microcomputers, like the MITS Altair 8800.  The Altair 8800 is said to be the beginning of the personal computer craze that began in the mid 70’s.

Altair BASIC was released in 1975 as Microsoft BASIC.  Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Monte Davidoff were credited with its development.  As other versions were developed, Microsoft Basic was being sold as the standard on most home computers.

On IBM's first home computer, the PCJr, a BASIC cartridge was a popular add-on. Because of its simplicity, BASIC is frequently being used in teaching introductory concepts of programming with a working language.

BASIC continues to be widely used today, due to the fact that it can be learned quickly, its language is e easy to read by other programmers, and support is available on most operating systems. Today Basic comes with sound and graphics support. A popular version of BASIC today is QBASIC.

BASIC is used in many business applications and is still considered a valid choice as a programming language for some purposes. Microsoft's Visual Basic adds object-oriented features and a graphical user interface to the standard BASIC.

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