Basic programming language and its history

The history of programming languages knows a lot of examples when there were very real revolutions in programming. The history of the BASIC programming language is just that. From a small, little-used language for training, it has become a true standard for almost all programming languages.

The BASIC programming language was developed by Thomas Kurtz and John Kenomes, in 1964 with the goal of teaching students the basics of programming. The language turned out to be simple, understandable, with a fairly easy interface. The goal of the developers was clear: they needed a simple programming language that was both accessible at the same time. Here are the main provisions that took into account the "Fathers" of BASIC:

1) Ease of use;

2) Massiveness;

3) Informative;

4) The language should support the ability to track and fix errors;

5) Language should not require serious hardware knowledge;

6) The programming language should become a link between the user and the operating system.

As a consequence, it was used in many other educational institutions. 11 years later, when the world was flooded with millions of new microcomputers, the BASIC programming language interested Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the people who created Microsoft. It they, having united efforts, have improved the BASIC version for the first computers which could work even with 4кб operative memory (!).

After a while, it was their version that became one of the most used and popular programming languages. During the development of the programming language BASIC often tried to close, many wanted to find flaws and to achieve the abolition of the use of this language. However, with the advent of IBM computers, it was BASIC that became the main programming language that was used by others. It is worth noting that it was already called GW-basic. Then came the turbo basic from Borland and Quick Basic. All versions that were developed later, necessarily written in such a way that would maintain compatibility with the previous ones. Even the latest version of this programming language works with the very first, with minor adjustments.

And then came the era of Microsoft. The beginning of the 90's: the windows operating system captured almost the entire software market, everyone was happy to see it, all - except programmers. Their life has become hell. To create the most ordinary, simple windows, you had to write a sea of code pages, change the fonts of writing, and finally "draw" new buttons. But we must admit that it had much more advantages than disadvantages, and in the end, the third version of the operating system has become the world standard for the PC.

There was a need to modify BASIC. Thus, the BASIC programming language became known as Microsoft Visual Basic. The extensive plans of the company had not yet been known, and the developers focused on a new programming language primarily for non-professionals. The programming system implemented in Visual Basic made it possible to move away from the heavy structure of windows and create programs of good level, possessing not the largest stock of knowledge. The last nail in the coffin, which almost buried others, such quite good types of programming languages as Fortran and Pascal, was the development of a variety of BASIC for applications.

At present the BASIC programming language is so popular that almost every self-respecting programmer knows and uses it. I want to note that it is used in such applications as microsoft office and internet explorer. But, perhaps, one of the most significant areas of application, the BASIC programming language, was obtained when developing and configuring applications in the. NET environment. In addition, the latest development of the company Bill Gates, Microsoft C ++ opens up a huge range of opportunities for users, all thanks to two professors from Dartmouth College.