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Chronological
1956
- John Kemeny creates DARSIMCO (Dartmouth Simplified Code) for the IBM 704; found little traction due to the arrival of FORTRAN at MIT the next year. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1959
- Dartmouth College purchase a Librascope General Precision (LGP-30) desk-size computer where one student wrote a FORTRAN-inspired language called DART for the LPG-30. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1961
- Stephen Garland, Robert Hargraves, Jorge Llacer, Anthony Knapp and Thomas Kurtz create Dartmouth ALGOL 30; based originally on ALGOL 58 and then ALGOL 60. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
- Stephen Garland and Anthony Knapp developed a “load-and-go” system known as SCALP (Self Contained Algol Processor). (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
- ASCII standard begins in May.
1962
- John Kemeny and Sidney Marshall (a high school student) create DOPE (Dartmouth Oversimplified Programming Experiment). (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1963
- ASCII standard, first edition published.
- The Teletype Model 33 is introduced.
- Work begins on what will be eventually called the DTSS (Dartmouth Time-Sharing System). John Kemeny begins working on the BASIC compiler during the Summer; borrowing time on an existing GE-225 (access provided by General Electric). Michael Busch and John McGeachie begin working on the OS (during the Fall). Project officially begins September; draft specifications published in November. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1964
- GE-225 hardware arrives on Dartmouth campus in February, operational by mid-March with official hand-over April 1.
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The First’ on GE-225 running on the time-sharing project (not yet officially called DTSS) on “May 1st at 4AM” with three Teletype Model 33’s connected.
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Second’ in September.
1965
1966
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Third’ on GE-235?
1967
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Fourth’ on GE-635
1968
- HP Time-Shared BASIC on 2000A
1969
- DEC BASIC-8 (David Ahl) on PDP-8 “Edusystem”
1970
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Fifth’
- DEC BASIC-PLUS on PDP-11
1971
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Sixth’
- Work begins on what would eventually become The Oregon Trail (using an HP 2100).
1972
1973
- David Ahl publishes 101 BASIC Games.
1974
1975
- David Ahl purchases 101 BASIC Games from DEC, re-launched as BASIC Computer Games; this book goes on to become the first million-selling computer book.
1976
Stephen Garland creates SBASIC (a BASIC pre-processor for Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Sixth’ providing structured-language support).
1977
- December, ECMA “Minimal BASIC”
1978
- ANSI X3.60-1978 “Minimal BASIC”
1979
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Seventh’ (primarily by Stephen Garland).
1980
1981
- Computer Science Advanced Placement Committee develops the original Advanced Placement Course in Computer Science… opting for PASCAL (not BASIC).
1982
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Eighth’ (primarily by Stephen Garland).
1983
- Kemeny and Kurtz co-founded True BASIC Inc.; based initially on Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Seventh’.
1984
1985
- Kemeny and Kurtz published Back To BASIC.
- Commodore Amiga 1000 initially ships with ABasiC (developed by MetaComCo, as part of AmigaOS v1.0).
- Microsoft AmigaBASIC available on the Commodore Amiga 1000 (AmigaOS v1.1 through v1.3).
1986
1987
- ANSI X3.113-1987 “Standard BASIC” ratified.