The first version of BASIC had 14 commands, all with straightforward names and syntax that made sense:
PRINT output text and numbers to the Teletype (and, later on, displayed it on the screens of time-sharing terminals and PCs);
LET told the computer to perform calculations and assign the result to a variable, in statements such as LET C = (A*2.5)+B;
IF and THEN let the program determine if a statement was true, vital for anything involving decision-making;
FOR and NEXT let a program run in loops;
GOTO let a program branch to another numbered line within itself;
END, which was required in Dartmouth BASIC, told the computer that it had reached the program’s conclusion.
Then there was INPUT, a command that let a BASIC program accept alphanumeric characters typed in by a user.
I remember learning BASIC when I was in the hospital for six weeks, undergoing heart surgery (twice) in 1983. I read the three computer books in my school library inside out.
This is an incredible article from TIME magazine, for anyone who can relate to my experience, or who was a nerd in school waaay back then.
http://time.com/69316/basic/
