Editing Computer program (section)

====Basic====
[[BASIC]] (1964) stands for "Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code". It was developed at [[Dartmouth College]] for all of their students to learn.<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-30"/> If a student did not go on to a more powerful language, the student would still remember Basic.<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-30"/> A Basic interpreter was installed in the [[microcomputers]] manufactured in the late 1970s. As the microcomputer industry grew, so did the language.<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-30"/>

Basic pioneered the [[Read–eval–print loop|interactive session]].<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-30"/> It offered [[operating system]] commands within its environment:
* The 'new' command created an empty slate.
* Statements evaluated immediately.
* Statements could be programmed by preceding them with line numbers.{{efn|The line numbers were typically incremented by 10 to leave room if additional statements were added later.}}
* The 'list' command displayed the program.
* The 'run' command executed the program.

However, the Basic syntax was too simple for large programs.<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-30"/> Recent dialects added structure and object-oriented extensions. [[Microsoft]]'s [[Visual Basic]] is still widely used and produces a [[graphical user interface]].<ref name="cpl_3rd-ch2-31"/>