BASIC's creators used a similar computer four years later to develop the programming language. Credit: GE / Wikipedia A brochure for the GE 210 computer from 1964.

Today, most computer users don’t see raw BASIC code when they turn on their machines. Probably nobody waits by the mailbox for a magazine or book full of code to arrive.

When Dartmouth College launched the Basic language 50 years ago, it enabled ordinary users to write code. Millions did. But we've gone backwards since then, and most users now seem unable or ...