Programming Language For Beginners, Mainly Using Familiar English Words Or Abbreviations Of Them Facts For Kids

A beginner programming language like BASIC uses familiar English words to tell a computer what to do, making learning step by step feel natural.

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Computers do not speak like people, so we use simple sets of instructions called languages. BASIC is one family of those languages made to be easy for beginners. It uses familiar English words or short abbreviations so students and teachers can tell a computer what to do without hard rules.

BASIC was built so lots of people could try programming, not just experts. Its commands read a bit like plain words, which helps a learner think about steps and results—like saying “give me three apples” to a friend. That friendly style is why BASIC became popular in classrooms.

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Quick Facts

🧭Dartmouth College in New Hampshire created BASIC in 1964 to help students outside science and math use computers.

🖥️DTSS, the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System, let many people edit and run BASIC at the same time on remote terminals.

💾Early BASIC ran on minicomputers like the PDP-11 and Data General Nova in the 1960s and 1970s.

🧰Many early home computers came with a BASIC interpreter built in, often in firmware or on ROM cartridges.

🧑‍💻Microsoft BASIC began in 1975 as a dialect of BASIC for microcomputers.

🧩Tiny BASIC dialects were created because microcomputers had very small memories, often 4 KB.

Key Points

A long time ago, two teachers at Dartmouth wanted every student to use a computer in class, even if they were not science students.

When we tell a computer something, we store values in a variable—a name that holds a value, like a labeled jar.

Programs use a few basic actions to work with data.

IF ...

PRINT shows a message on the screen, for example PRINT "Hello" to say hi.

Programs have built-in math helpers.

REM means a remark or comment; the computer ignores REM lines and people use them to write notes inside the program.

BASIC is a simple programming language that uses words you already know.

Photos of Programming Language For Beginners, Mainly Using Familiar English Words Or Abbreviations Of Them

BASIC came to some video game systems, such as the Famicom.

Image by The original uploader was Dojarca at English Wikipedia ., licensed under GNU General Public License

Three modern Basic variants: Mono Basic, OpenOffice.org Basic and Gambas

Image by Фотокорреспондент В. С. Спиридонов, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

"Train Basic every day!"—reads a poster (bottom center) in a Russian school (c. 1985–86)

Commodore BASIC v2.0 on the Commodore 64

MSX BASIC version 3.0

Image by ESO, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

The HP 2000 system was designed to run time-shared BASIC as its primary task.

IBM Cassette BASIC 1.10

Image by Niels Heidenreich from Hannover, Germany, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

A simple game implemented in BASIC

Image by DepthsDoes, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

A sample BASIC programme running under YABASIC for the Sony PS2

📘 Where Basic Came From

A long time ago, two teachers at Dartmouth wanted every student to use a computer in class, even if they were not science students. They made a simple language that students could learn quickly and run on a shared system so many people could work at once.

They also learned from earlier attempts and from older languages that were harder to read. With extra money and new machines, they released the first easy-to-read version in 1964 so learning to give instructions to a computer became possible for many more people.

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🔎 Types Of Things And Their Names

When we tell a computer something, we store values in a variable—a name that holds a value, like a labeled jar. Early versions let names be very short and handled only whole numbers. Later ones allowed longer names and numbers with decimals, called floating point.

Text is a different kind of value called a string; it is usually wrapped in double quotation marks, for example "hi". Some BASICs add a dollar sign after a name to show it holds text, so name$ would mean the jar holds words instead of numbers.

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🧭 Changing Data And Simple Lists

Programs use a few basic actions to work with data. LET gives a value to a name (like putting apples in a jar), though many BASICs let you leave LET out and just write the name and value. DATA lists several values that a program can read one by one with READ, and a pointer moves forward each time you READ, so values are used in order.

An array is like a row of small boxes all labeled together; DIM sets up those boxes so you can store many items under one name. If you need to start reading DATA again, RESTORE brings the pointer back to the first value so the program can read the list from the start.

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💡 How A Program Decides And Repeats

IF ... THEN ... ELSE is how a program makes a choice. For example, a program can check a number of points (we will call that number score) and do one thing if the score is big and another if it is small. IF checks, THEN does the first action, and ELSE gives the other action if needed.

To do something many times, BASIC used FOR ... TO ... STEP ... NEXT. You set a small counter like count to go from 1 to 3, and the program repeats the steps inside the loop. GOTO jumps to another line, and GOSUB ... RETURN jumps to a short subroutine (like a little helper) and then comes back when you say RETURN. ON ... GOTO/GOSUB picks a jump spot based on a number, like choosing which path to follow.

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🌟 Talking To The Player: Input And Output

PRINT shows a message on the screen, for example PRINT "Hello" to say hi. INPUT asks the player to type something, like a name or a number; the program waits until someone types and presses Enter.

You can use LIST to show all the program lines so you can read them. Some BASICs used TAB and SPC to move text across the screen: TAB moves to a column, and SPC adds a few spaces. This helps line things up, for example listing snack counts in neat columns so they are easy to read.

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🧩 Math Tools The Program Can Use

Programs have built-in math helpers. ABS gives the absolute value, which means it drops a minus sign: for example, many BASICs would show that ABS(-3) becomes 3. Another helper, INT, keeps only the whole part of a number so INT(3.7) becomes 3.

SQR finds a square root so SQR(9) is 3. RND gives a random number like 0.2 or 0.9; you can use it to pick things at random. Some versions also had more advanced helpers (like trig or logs) for special math, but ABS, INT, SQR, and RND are the basic tools you meet first.

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🗺️ Old-style Basic Notes And Short Examples

REM means a remark or comment; the computer ignores REM lines and people use them to write notes inside the program. Early BASIC programs often began lines with numbers (like 10, 20, 30) and commands on those lines, for example 10 PRINT "HI". Use LIST to show those lines.

There were also commands like USR or CALL to hand work to a fast machine routine, and TRON/TROFF to turn simple tracing (a way to watch lines run) on and off. Some dialects added one-line functions with DEF FN or special matrix words like MAT, but these details change between versions.

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🔬 Easy Basic Examples

BASIC is a simple programming language that uses words you already know. The PRINT command shows text on the screen. For example, type: 10 PRINT "Hello, World!" 20 END. END tells the program to stop, but many BASICs do fine without it. If you want the message to repeat forever, use GOTO: 10 PRINT "Hello!" 20 GOTO 10. GOTO 10 tells the computer to jump back to line 10 and do the same thing again.

A clearer way to repeat a set number of times is FOR...NEXT. Use LET to pick how many times: 10 LET N = 3 (this means $N = 3$, or say hello three times). Then 20 FOR I = 1 TO N 30 PRINT "Hello!" 40 NEXT I. Here $I$ is the counter that goes from $1$ to $N$. You can also use INPUT to ask a friend for a name or how many stars they want, then use a loop to print that many on the screen.

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🧠 Take the Quiz about Programming Language For Beginners, Mainly Using Familiar English Words Or Abbreviations Of Them

Question 1 of 5

According to the article, BASIC is a family of languages that uses familiar English words to tell a computer what to do.

Question 2 of 5

Why did two Dartmouth teachers want every student to use a computer in class?

Question 3 of 5

What is a string in BASIC?

Question 4 of 5

What does DIM do in BASIC?

Question 5 of 5

Which BASIC command helps to repeat steps many times?

Your results

Answer all 5 questions to see how you did.

Frequently asked questions

What is BASIC and why is it easy for beginners?

BASIC is a family of programming languages made to be easy for beginners. It uses familiar English words or short abbreviations so you can tell a computer what to do without hard rules.

Where did BASIC come from?

Two teachers at Dartmouth wanted every student to use a computer in class, so they made a simple language. The first easy-to-read version was released in 1964, making learning to instruct a computer possible for many more people.

What is a variable and what is a string in BASIC?

A variable is a name that holds a value, like a labeled jar. Text is a string and is usually wrapped in double quotation marks; some BASICs add a dollar sign after a name to show it holds text.

What are DATA, READ, and arrays in BASIC?

DATA lists several values that a program can read in order, and READ moves the pointer forward each time you read. RESTORE moves the pointer back to the first value. An array is a row of small boxes under one name, and DIM sets up those boxes so you can store many items.

How does BASIC make choices and repeat actions?

IF ... THEN ... ELSE lets a program choose between actions. FOR ... TO ... STEP ... NEXT repeats a set of steps, and GOTO or GOSUB can jump to different parts or call a tiny subroutine.

How do you talk to the player in BASIC?

PRINT shows a message on the screen and INPUT asks the player to type something. You can LIST to show the program lines, and TAB and SPC help move text across the screen.