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Chronological
1956
- John Kemeny creates DARSIMCO (Dartmouth Simplified Code) for the IBM 704; found little traction due to the arrival of FORTRAN at MIT the next year. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1959
- Dartmouth College purchase a Librascope General Precision (LGP-30) desk-size computer where one student wrote a FORTRAN-inspired language called DART for the LPG-30. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1961
- Stephen Garland, Robert Hargraves, Jorge Llacer, Anthony Knapp and Thomas Kurtz create Dartmouth ALGOL 30; based originally on ALGOL 58 and then ALGOL 60. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
- Stephen Garland and Anthony Knapp developed a "load-and-go" system known as SCALP (Self Contained Algol Processor). (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
- ASCII standard begins in May.
1962
- John Kemeny and Sidney Marshall (a high school student) create DOPE (Dartmouth Oversimplified Programming Experiment). (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
1963
- ASCII standard, first edition published.
- The Teletype Model 33 is introduced.
- Work begins on what will be eventually called the DTSS (Dartmouth Time-Sharing System). John Kemeny begins working on the BASIC compiler during the Summer; borrowing time on an existing GE-225 (access provided by General Electric). Michael Busch and John McGeachie begin working on the OS (during the Fall). Project officially begins September; draft specifications published in November. (See Dartmouth BASIC.)
- In the Aug’63 issue of Datamation, there is an ad:
A general description, operation, hardware requirements and functional transition of the 225/LGP-30 interpretive simulator are presented in this four-page brochure. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., COMPUTER DEPT., Phoenix, Ariz.
1964
- GE-225 hardware arrives on Dartmouth campus in February, operational by mid-March with official hand-over April 1.
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The First’ on GE-225 running on the time-sharing project (not yet officially called DTSS) on "May 1st at 4AM" with three Teletype Model 33’s connected.
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Second’ in September.
- Poor Man’s Time-Sharing Pleases Dartmouth (Nov’64) - Where none of the articles on the issue topic of Time-Sharing actually include anything about Dartmouth. The section this link is drawing attention to is in the Business and Science section making the statement "Our informal survey of time-sharing recently overlooked Dartmouth"...
- THE SDC TIME-SHARING SYSTEM - Part Two: Service Routines & Applications - Although nothing about Dartmouth in the article, there is a mention that...
In a surprise move, Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., had a booth to demonstrate the time-sharing of its GE-235. Some 22 remote consoles reportedly are in operation back home, tied-in by a Datanet-30.
... at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco.
1965
- BUREAU OF TIME STANDARDS TRIES TIME-SHARING - Mentions Dartmouth and BASIC.
-
Why G.E. is the leader in time-sharing computers - a full page ad making several claims of "what they’ve done" with no mention of Dartmouth. But not content with one large advertisement patting themselves on the back, they have two.
- THE RAND SYMPOSIUM - Datamation (Aug’65) - contains a mention of Dartmouth as an example of a university that is able to afford storage in response to a comment stating that it is too expensive for universities. Also in this issue (under rumors)...
While CDC was shipping out the 3600 from its LA service bureau and phasing out its 1604 there, the 1604 University Computing bought from CEIR was back home in LA, having given way to a 3400 at its old home, SMU... Rumors are strong that IBM has bypassed the RFP route to get an order for six 360/75’s to upgrade the 94’s & 490’s at NASA’s Houston Mission Cqntrol Center... Look for EAI, No.1 in analogs to announce another hybrid system in Sept., smaller than their first entry, the 84/a800... Munitype, NYC outfit, is offering a time-sharing advice for calculation of municipal bonds for’300ドル/month plus terminals, etc. on a GE 2l5/Datanet 30"hopes to land 100 clients. Look for a passel of others to leap in T-S bureau business. Dartmouth’s Bill Zani will open one in Boston. Others are looking at Seattle, SF, LA... IBM is said to have a 360/95 in the works with a 4~500 nsec. cycle time; it’ll be bigger than the 6800.
... under News ...
CEIR Inc. will be offering time-sharing service for scientific and engineering applications. The CEIR service, in the Washington, D.C. area, will go on the air in September with a 32K GE 225-and 16K -Datanet 30 system which will accommodate up to 125 subscribers. Only 30 can use it simultaneously, however. Dartmouth-developed BASIC will be the language used.
- In the Sep’65 issue of Datamation (under rumors):
Latest Dartmouth time-sharing system is Tymshare Associates’. The S.F. outfit, formed by two ex-GE ers, will include Datanet 30, 235; offer Algol, Fortran and CPM on up to 30 terminals beginning Dec. 1.
1966
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Third’ on GE-235?
- In the Jan’66 issue of Datamation:
People thinking about installing the Dartmouth time-sharing system on GE hardware (265) have had to take another look. GE says time-sharers have to buy the gear or lease it over a four-year period. Why? Probably because they realize the lease ‘life of their 200 series is short... and perhaps because they plan to enter the T-S service bureau biz themselves. A possible tip-off: GE is adapting the 200 T-S software for its 600 line. One former GE prospect, Tymshare, has switched to the SDS 940 and the Berkeley software.
- TIME-SHARING: A STATUS REPORT - Datamation (Feb’66) - Interesting, though, no mention of Dartmouth / BASIC.
- The Meanings of Computer Time-Sharing - A Panel Discussion (Apr’66) - including Dr. Thomas E. Kurtz
- IMMEDIATE ACCESS AND THE USER - Datamation (Aug’66)
- Mention of Dartmouth related to the Tymshare low-cost acoustic coupler.
- THE AMTRAN SYSTEM - Datamation (Oct’66) - Comparison mention Dartmouth BASIC which references a Jan’65 document.
1967
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Fourth’ on GE-635/Datanet-30
- HP produced the first BASIC interpreter (called it "conversational interpretive compiler") for the HP2114A.
- THE TIME SHARING BUSINESS - Datamation (Feb’67)
- Datamation mentions at least 2x BASIC, but no advertising in June.
- SDS BASIC (though wasn’t even mentioned on the roadmap for 1967 in a mid-1966 announcement.)
- TERMINAL NETWORKS FOR TIME-SHARING - Datamation (Jul’67)
1968
- HP Time-Shared BASIC on 2000A
- Tymeshare SUPER BASIC
1969
- CompuServe version of BASIC on DEC-10
- DEC BASIC-8 (David Ahl) on PDP-8 "Edusystem"
1970
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Fifth’
- DEC BASIC-PLUS on PDP-11, RSTS/E
1971
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Sixth’
- Work begins on what would eventually become The Oregon Trail (using an HP 2100).
- David Ahl ports two early mainframe games from DEC’s FOCAL language to BASIC: Hamurabi and Lunar Lander.
1972
1973
- David Ahl publishes 101 BASIC Games.
- IBM VS-BASIC
1974
- Getting Started in Classroom Computing by David Ahl
- First issue of Creative Computing (November/December)
1975
- David Ahl purchases 101 BASIC Games from DEC, re-launched as BASIC Computer Games; this book goes on to become the first million-selling computer book.
1976
- Stephen Garland creates SBASIC (a BASIC pre-processor for Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Sixth’ providing structured-language support).
- The Best of Creative Computing Volume 1 Alt
- The Best of Creative Computing Volume 3
1977
- The Best of Byte Volume 1
- The Best of Creative Computing Volume 2
- December, ECMA "Minimal BASIC"
1978
- ANSI X3.60-1978 "Minimal BASIC"
- BASIC Computer Games: Microcomputing Edition by David Ahl
- BASIC Computer Games: TRS-80 Edition by David Ahl
1979
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Seventh’ (primarily by Stephen Garland).
- More BASIC Computer Games by David Ahl
- Creative Computing switches to a monthly publication.
1980
1981
- Computer Science Advanced Placement Committee develops the original Advanced Placement Course in Computer Science... opting for PASCAL (not BASIC).
1982
- Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Eighth’ (primarily by Stephen Garland).
1983
- Kemeny and Kurtz co-founded True BASIC Inc.; based initially on Dartmouth BASIC ‘The Seventh’.
1984
1985
- Kemeny and Kurtz published Back To BASIC.
- Commodore Amiga 1000 initially ships with ABasiC (developed by MetaComCo, as part of AmigaOS v1.0).
- Microsoft AmigaBASIC available on the Commodore Amiga 1000 (AmigaOS v1.1 through v1.3).
- Final issue of Creative Computing (December).
1986
1987
- ANSI X3.113-1987 "Standard BASIC" ratified.