60 years ago, the inventors of the BASIC programming language actually achieved what they had hoped for: simple programming that is accessible to everyone.

It's been 60 years since the first BASIC programme ran at Dartmouth College. János Kemény developed the language with a colleague, Thomas Kurtz, with the goal of bringing computing closer to students.

This is why I’ve long argued that BASIC is the most consequential language in the history of computing. It’s a language for noobs, sure, but back then most everyone was a noob.

While growing up, my dad was in the Marine Corps so we moved around a lot. When I was in middle school in Okinawa, Japan, I took a Q Basic programming course. I enjoyed learning about programming but ...