By letting non-computer scientists use BASIC running on the DTSS, Kemeny, Kurtz and their collaborators had invented something that was arguably the first real form of personal computing.

The BASIC programming language turns 60 Easy-to-use language that drove Apple, TRS-80, IBM, and Commodore PCs debuted in 1964.

Thomas E. Kurtz, a Dartmouth College professor who co-created the novice-friendly computer code known as Basic during the 1960s and helped make it the industry standard for programmers during the ...