Design Of A [Computer] Language

From our experiments and from observing a generation of students, we had very definite ideas of what features our language should have:

1. It should be easy to learn for the beginner.
   
   
2. It should be a general-purpose language, allowing the writing of any program.
   
   
3. Advanced features had to be added so that, if there was a price, it was paid by the expert, not the novice.
   
   
4. It should take full advantage of the fact that the user could interact with the computer.
   
   
5. It should give error messages that were clear and friendly to the user.
   
   
6. It should give fast response for small programs.
   
   
7. No understanding of the hardware should be necessary.
   
   
8. It should shield the user from the operating system.

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz
“Back To Basic: The History, Corruption,
And Future Of The Language”


John Kemeny Wiki Page

Thomas Kurtz Wiki Page


True Basic Corporate Page