Happy Birthday - BASIC

Remembering BASIC on its 50th birthday

Excerpt:

Fifty years ago on this very day, however, it was the name given to a new computer-programming language born in a Dartmouth College basement. Devised initially by a group of the school's undergraduates and professors, BASIC's initial academic purpose was simple: to enable time-sharing on Dartmouth computers with an easy-to-learn, English-based language

Comment: My BASIC accomplishments

• Began programming in BASIC on an Apple ][ at the Christian Day School of our church. Because I used it too much was basically (no pun intended) kicked off it. So I bought my own TRS-80 Model 3.  I enrolled in a night class to enhance my BASIC programming skills. After 1 class, it was obvious to me that I was already an advanced programmer
• After buying a 5 meg hard drive for the TRS-80, I had a database of our membership. All written in BASIC. A true hierarchical database with family records and children records. 
• I had an assembler subroutine that I found in a magazine. It was my sort subroutine. I really didn't understand the code but it worked like a champ.
• I also developed a expense program that I used to keep track of all of my ministry expenses: mileage, books, meals, et cetera. I advertised this program in a magazine and sold ... ready for this ... 1 copy!
• I also had an accounting program that I developed to keep track of our state Baptist association income and expenses. At any time I could simply print out: income and expenses, a check registry, and a balance sheet. (I was the treasurer of our state association). I also used this same application for our home owners' association (I was the treasurer there as well.)