Python is one of the most approachable languages to learn, thanks to its object-oriented-first approach and its minimal ...

Nowadays, "basic" has a very different and derogatory Urban Dictionary-style meaning. Fifty years ago on this very day, however, it was the name given to a new computer-programming language born ...

If Basic had a domain, it was as a starter language, and there are many candidates to replace it, Fisher says. “The best ‘first language’ is a hot topic of debate,” she says.

Since the 1960s, BASIC has introduced countless beginners to computer programming. Here's how the language got started, the paths it cleared for Windows and Apple, and where you can still find it ...

Why it matters: There's a good chance you cut your coding teeth on BASIC if you took a computer class back in the 20th century. The Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code celebrated its ...