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BASIC

BASIC definition - computer

(Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) A programming language developed by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz in the mid-1960s at Dartmouth College. Originally developed as an interactive language for mainframes (see timesharing), it became widely used on small computers. There are several versions of Basic that continue to evolve (see Business Basic), including Microsoft's Visual Basic, which is very popular (see Visual Basic).

Compiler and Interpreter
BASIC is available in both compiler and interpreter form. As an interpreter, the language is conversational and can be debugged a line at a time. It can also be used as a quick calculator.

BASIC is considered one of the easiest programming languages to learn, and simple programs can be quickly written on the fly. The following BASIC example converts Fahrenheit to Celsius:

    10 INPUT "Enter Fahrenheit "; FAHR
    20 PRINT "Celsius is ", (FAHR-32) * 5 / 9

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