First Computers

BASIC: The Force That Democratized Computing

First Computers

The first computers were invented in the 1940’s, but were nothing like a typical computer today. They were programmed using assembly language, a rudimentary code with instructions hard-wired into the computer’s electronics. These computers took up entire buildings and were only practical for governments due to their immense cost—the average person would never come across such a machine.

Konrad Zuse’s Z3, the first programmable digital computer. The original was destroyed during WWII but was rebuilt and is displayed in the Duetches Museum in Munich. Like all other early computers, the Z3 could only be programmed using a complex machine code that required lots of training to use. [Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Collections and authors]

An excerpt of the assembly source code for Mr. Do, a popular arcade game. In modern computers, assembly language is much more complex, sometimes featuring hundreds of unique instructions. [Source: “Various Atari 2600 Source Code”, Internet Archive]

Over time, computer scientists came up with other programming languages, instead of assembly. Like spoken languages, they had different rules, features, and benefits. By the late 1950’s, the standard features of a “programming language” were defined, such as variables, functions, and datatypes.

Multiple languages emerged during this time, including ALGOL, FORTRAN, and COBOL. However, they still required extensive training to use, and therefore were only accessible to engineers and students in businesses and institutions.