What Is CBASIC?

If you're a programmer, you've assumably heard of BASIC. And suppose you've listened to BASIC. In that case, you probably also know about CBASIC: a programming language that's been about since the 1970s and has taken on a life of its own as one of the most iconic programming languages ever created. CBASIC is based on the original Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) general-purpose language designed in the 1960s by John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz at Dartmouth College but, what makes CBASIC so unique? Aside from being one of the first compiled programming languages ever developed. which means that it's faster than many other languages because it doesn't have to be processed at runtime—it also has a quirky history. Some people say that it was designed specifically for kids! It's not easy to get a language named after you. But when you're the original BASIC developer, it can happen. Dr. John G. Kemeny and Dr. Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College 1964 developed BASIC. The name is an acronym for Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, which is pretty much exactly what the language did: it was designed so that users could use it to write computer programs with simple commands like "print" or "if" or "for". It seems like BASIC might have been a one-hit wonder—but then along came CBASIC! CBASIC was a version of BASIC that allowed programmers to create graphics on their computers by using color and ASCII characters. Still, it also supported sound capabilities and could run on different operating systems like CP/M or MS-DOS. CBASIC wasn't just about fun and games—it had actual uses in the business world too! It was used for corporate programming jobs because it was inexpensive and easy to learn, especially for people who didn't have any prior programming experience (like yours truly).