But BASIC also flourished in the West, thanks in part to the fact that super-successful microcomputers, which had proved to be a hit in schools, already came equipped with the programming language.

On May 1st, the BASIC programming language, first developed by Dartmouth College Professors Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny, celebrates 50 years. At the time, computers were highly serial.

As a co-creator of the Basic programming language and a driving force behind the Dartmouth Time Sharing System (DTSS), Kurtz believed that computing should be a tool for everyone, not just a ...