The Impossible Birth of BASIC

in blurtsciences •  4 years ago 

"We didn't know it was supposed to be impossible."

Amusingly, the first computer bought by Dartmouth College was budgeted as furniture, as there was no budget for a computer.

The need was to streamline computing - to turn a single-thread machine into a time-sharing device. This required some rules. This became what is now known as an operating system, then called DTSS (Dartmouth Time-Sharing System).

BASIC = Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code

BASIC thus ran on top of DTSS.

The drive to create the impossible comes from a personal dissatisfaction with the possible.

It really doesn't matter what other people want; you don't need any market research or surveys.

If you need something, then chances are someone else will appreciate that too.

If you see a gap, and you see people avoid that gap without even noticing they are doing so, then that's a gap worth exploring.


Please vote for my witness account @busbecq.
Can be done directly here.
Thanks!


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