How BASIC Opened Up Computers to All of Us 50 years ago, a new programming language for the everyman helped unlock the potential of modern computing.

INSKEEP: What he's saying is they found a way to talk to a computer, more or less, in English. It's English that's being used. PALCA: Right.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, BASIC continued its prominent role as a programming interface and quasi-operating system for popular home computers such as the Atari 800, TRS-80, Commodore VIC ...

DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory. "Quantum computer programming basics." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 June 2022. <www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2022 / 06 / 220614184103.htm>.

Thomas E. Kurtz with an early computer at Dartmouth in the early 1960s. He worked to make computers more accessible to all students, not just those in technical fields — a novel idea at the time.

Under the new law, Act 211, which took effect Aug. 1, public schools with students in grades 6-8 must start teaching the basics of computer science in the 2026-27 school year.