John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz: The Innovators Who Built the BASIC Programming Language

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz: The Innovators Who Built the BASIC Programming Language

The world of computing has been changed dramatically in the past few decades due to the advancements in programming languages. Among the most influential of these programming languages is BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), which was created by two Dartmouth College professors, John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz.

Kemeny and Kurtz first began work on the language in 1963 and it took them two and a half years to develop BASIC. The goal they had was to create a language that would enable non-computer experts to use computers easily. BASIC made computers much more accessible to the general public, allowing them to get their hands on a computer and start writing their own programs. It quickly became one of the most popular programming languages of the time and it is still widely used today.

So what were the remarkable innovations of John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz in BASIC programming language? What made their language so revolutionary that it has remained popular for over fifty years?

To begin, Kemeny and Kurtz strived to make their language as user friendly as possible, even developing a text-based user interface before interfaces such as the mouse had become popular. By allowing users to directly type in commands, they opened the world of computing to more people.

Another innovation was the decision to make the syntax of BASIC more understandable and accessible to people who had never programmed computers before. Where other languages of the era were too complicated for the average person, BASIC was designed to be much less complex. Despite this, the language was very flexible, allowing people to write effective programs in a fraction of the time.

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz also developed the concept of immediate execution. Unlike other languages of the time, BASIC programs ran immediately as they were being typed, allowing the user to test out their code and receive prompts for corrections. This was a much more intuitive way to learn programming than having to re-run the program after it has been fully written out.

Overall, Kemeny and Kurtz’s ingenious innovations in BASIC programming language have had a huge influence on computing. By allowing non-experts to use computers easily and enabling powerful functionality, their language has aided many people throughout the years. Thanks to their work, the world of computing is still revolutionized until this day.

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