The Birth of BASIC: Democratizing Programming

We partnered with Red Hat to promote Season 3 of Command Line Heroes — an original podcast from Red Hat, hosted by Saron Yitbarek, about the people who transform technology from the command line up. It’s an awesome show and we’re huge fans of Saron and the team behind the podcast, so we wanted to share it with you.

Learn more and subscribe at redhat.com/commandlineheroes.

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Sponsors:

• Command Line Heroes – A podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up. Head to redhat.com/commandlineheroes to learn more and subscribe.

Featuring:

• Tom Cormen – Website, X
• Denise Dumas – LinkedIn
• Avi Flombaum – GitHub, LinkedIn, X
• Femi Owolade-Coombes – Website, X
• Saron Yitbarek – Website, GitHub, X

Show Notes:

Check the show notes and transcript for more details.

Becoming a programmer used to require a PhD and having access to some serious hardware. Then, in 1965, a couple of engineers had a radical idea: make it easier for people to get started.

Beginner languages, like BASIC, burst the doors to coding wide open. Tom Cormen and Denise Dumas recall how BASIC changed everything. Avi Flombaum and Saron share tips on picking a first language in this new era of software development. And we hear from Femi Owolade-Coombes and Robyn Bergeron about how the next generation of coders are getting their start with video games.

Beginner languages give everyone an opportunity to get their foot in the door. And that helps the industry as a whole.

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!