Co-creator of basic programming language, RIP.

[Basil]

Basic was the first language or at least the first personal computer related language that I learned. This was followed by Fortran when I was in college. Actually, the first basic that I learned was called TI basic and was a water down version created by T.I.

BASIC co-creator Thomas Kurtz hits END at 96

Pioneering Dartmouth College mathematician died last week

www.theregister.com

 

[NutmegCT]

10 cls
15 print "Tom Kurtz"
20 print "Bye - and Thanks!"
30 bye

 

[mikephillips]

I remember using basic and a TI to teach concepts to a group of Boy Scouts for their computer merit badges back in the mid 80s. Troop I grew up in so helped out when I had time. Told them a squirrel could learn to write code, the tricky part was figuring out what code to write.

 

[John Turney]

I started with ALGOL. When the course finished, they told us it would no longer be used. I had to learn FORTRAN on my own.

 

[Bayless]

ALGOL was a great language that unfortunately never really caught on. Many, if not most, modern languages are all based on the structure of ALGOL. While working at a national time-sharing company, I got so tired of developing in and supporting Fortran programs that I wrote an Algol compiler. My compiler was used by time-sharing by the NASA engineering department in the development of the space shuttle. Actually the shuttle itself was mostly done by that time but they were working still on the environment and life support systems as well as some other tweaks. I had no part in that except for my compiler.

 

[Gliderman8]

Basic was the first language or at least the first personal computer related language that I learned. This was followed by Fortran when I was in college. Actually, the first basic that I learned was called TI basic and was a water down version created by T.I.

BASIC co-creator Thomas Kurtz hits END at 96

Pioneering Dartmouth College mathematician died last week

www.theregister.com

I bet most of us grew up in basic. I used it in my Sinclair!
I still have my TI99 in the attic.

 

[Basil]

I bet most of us grew up in basic. I used it in my Sinclair!
I still have my TI99 in the attic.

The TI99 is what I started on (as far as personal computers). Bill Cosby sold me! LOL

 

[mikephillips]

Being a country raised kid way back, I didn't get introduced to real computers until college, starting with assembler, FORTRAN and PL/I. Before that I've told people my association with computers was like this, lots of flashing lights and tape drives...

 

[Basil]

Being a country raised kid way back, I didn't get introduced to real computers until college, starting with assembler, FORTRAN and PL/I. Before that I've told people my association with computers was like this, lots of flashing lights and tape drives...

View attachment 100670

Well, this is funny. When NORAD shut down some of their SAGE Air Defense computer systems (all were shut down by the mid-80s), Hollywood bought some of the consoles and wired the lights to flash randomly so they could be used as props. The larger console on the right appears to be the Long Range Radar Input console. Each vertical bank of lights on the real system was an input channel for a radar site. The two smaller panels on either side of what looks like a TV monitor appear to be parts of one of the maintenance consoles. I was a maintenance man on this system for 7 years before getting selected to go to school and get a commission. I've seen bits and pieces of the NORAD SAGE system (IBM-Q7 computer) in many movies and TV shows.

 

[Gliderman8]

The TI99 is what I started on (as far as personal computers). Bill Cosby sold me! LOL

I even have some voice modules that I bought for my then 3 year son. The modules would read the instructions to him.
Didn’t know Cosby was advising TI’s.

 

[Basil]

I even have some voice modules that I bought for my then 3 year son. The modules would read the instructions to him.
Didn’t know Cosby was advising TI’s.

Oh yes, I remember his commercials well. Here he touts the TI's whooping 16k (not Meg, K) memory!

 

[Gliderman8]

Oh yes, I remember his commercials well. Here he touts the TI's whooping 16k (not Meg, K) memory!

Don’t remember seeing those commercials.
My son learned to read when he was 3 years old thanks to TI.

 

[ckeithjordan]

Well, this is funny. When NORAD shut down some of their SAGE Air Defense computer systems (all were shut down by the mid-80s), Hollywood bought some of the consoles and wired the lights to flash randomly so they could be used as props. The larger console on the right appears to be the Long Range Radar Input console. Each vertical bank of lights on the real system was an input channel for a radar site. The two smaller panels on either side of what looks like a TV monitor appear to be parts of one of the maintenance consoles. I was a maintenance man on this system for 7 years before getting selected to go to school and get a commission. I've seen bits and pieces of the NORAD SAGE system (IBM-Q7 computer) in many movies and TV shows.View attachment 100673

View attachment 100674

A bit of a tangent, but at the Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland, NE, they have the consoles and equipment from the former command center at Offutt AFB. The consoles were cheap particle board with vinyl "wood" covering and many of the phones, including the infamous "red" phone, were of the Princess-type, evidently for desk-top space saving. I was less than reassured that I spent my formative years cowering under the threat of nuclear weapons which, in turn, were dependent on cheap furniture and Princess phones as part of the deterrent. These SAGE consoles look way more robust and sophisticated!