The BASIC programming language turns 60 | Ars Technica

Like so many others, I got my start typing in program listings for games, utilities, art projects, and all kinds of other things I found in magazines. Inevitably there’d be some small thing I wished a program would do differently, so I’d tweak and alter it — usually breaking things horrendously along the way — until I made it do what I wanted. That was an addictive rush of magical power.

While BASIC wasn’t a great language, I’ve never seen a programming environment more approachable an alluring than turning on a Commodore 64 and instantly seeing the word “READY.” and a blinking cursor waiting for me to give it instructions.