Thomas E. Kurtz has died

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Legacy of BASIC and Kurtz’s Contribution

  • Widely credited with democratizing computing and removing it from an expert “priesthood.”
  • BASIC seen as the first language for an entire generation, especially in the 70s–90s and early microcomputer era.
  • Emphasis on its role as an easy on-ramp: immediate feedback at a REPL, simple syntax, no toolchain setup.
  • Many note BASIC’s presence everywhere: ROMs on home micros, manuals, school systems, calculators, business minis, and magazines.
  • Several argue the true innovation wasn’t the language design itself but the vision of broad, open access to computing.

Personal Impact and Nostalgia

  • Numerous stories of first programs: 10 PRINT ... 20 GOTO 10, games, graphics demos, simple business tools.
  • Many describe BASIC as life-changing: led to CS study, first jobs, or long software careers.
  • Time/place variety: Apple II, TRS-80, Commodore 64, ZX-81, Atari, TI machines, HP/DEC systems, DTSS, QBasic, GW-BASIC, Rocky Mountain BASIC, etc.
  • Some recount BASIC-powered systems still used in serious domains (finance, nuclear plants).

Language Design, Pedagogy, and Critique

  • Dijkstra’s criticisms surface: opposition to GOTO, insistence on mathematically rigorous, proof-first CS education.
  • Contrasted with “constructionist” or experiment-first learning where students tinker, debug, and learn by doing.
  • Several note that few programmers actually learned in the highly formal way Dijkstra advocated.
  • Discussion that classic BASIC does not scale well: unstructured control flow, global state, line numbers; large programs can become unreadable “spaghetti.”
  • Counterpoint: with discipline and standards, sizable and maintainable BASIC systems were built.

Comparisons with Other Languages and Evolutions

  • Comparisons to Pascal: stricter, more “serious,” but also fragmented in practice; expectations differed.
  • Mentions of successors and relatives: VB, VB for Excel, TI-BASIC, Pick BASIC, LibertyBASIC, and modern languages like Python, Racket, Smalltalk as better-scalable teaching tools.
  • Some modern language designers say BASIC’s ease, especially for strings and interactive use, influenced later design decisions.

Community and Meta Discussion

  • Multiple calls for, and observations about, the HN black bar memorial.
  • Suggestions for an HN “hall of fame” page listing pioneers commemorated this way.