Altair BASIC: The First Personal Computer Programming Language

If you ever wonder how we went from giant mainframes to the laptops on your desk, the story starts with a tiny machine called the Altair 8800 and a piece of software named Altair BASIC. In 1975 a couple of Harvard kids, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, wrote a version of BASIC that could run on this little kit. That simple act turned the hobbyist world upside‑down and gave everyday people a way to write their own programs.

Before Altair BASIC, programming meant you needed expensive hardware and a lot of training. BASIC (Beginner’s All‑purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was already popular in schools, but it only ran on big computers. Gates and Allen saw a gap – the Altair needed a language that anyone could understand. They called Microsoft’s first product “Altair BASIC” and sold it on a floppy disk for $150. It was a gamble, but it paid off. The Altair’s owners could finally type in code and see it work on their own machine.

How Altair BASIC Came to Life

Gates and Allen didn’t have the Altair in front of them when they wrote the code. They used a simulation on a PDP‑10 and had to guess how the Altair’s hardware behaved. After a few phone calls with MITS, the maker of the Altair, they got the first version running. The whole process was a mix of trial, error, and a lot of patience. When the software finally worked, it let users write simple programs like "PRINT 'HELLO'" and see the result right away.

What made this so exciting was the ease of use. BASIC’s syntax was straightforward: you typed commands in plain English, and the computer did the math. No need to learn complex machine code. This opened the door for hobbyists, students, and even small businesses to start automating tasks, making games, or just learning how computers work.

What Made Altair BASIC Special

Altair BASIC wasn’t just another language – it was a bridge between the world of professional programmers and the everyday user. Its biggest strength was accessibility. You could type a line of code, hit ENTER, and see a result on the tiny front‑panel LEDs or a later attached monitor. That instant feedback turned learning into a game.

Another key point was that Altair BASIC was the first product Microsoft ever sold. It set the tone for the company’s future: create tools that let people do more with less hardware. The success of Altair BASIC gave Microsoft the cash and reputation to grow into the tech giant we know today.

Even though the Altair 8800 is long gone, the ideas behind Altair BASIC live on. Modern microcontrollers, single‑board computers like the Raspberry Pi, and many educational programming tools still use a version of BASIC or its easy‑to‑learn philosophy. If you pick up a beginner’s coding class today, chances are the curriculum is still echoing the same principles that made Altair BASIC a hit.

So next time you fire up a simple script on your phone or tinker with a DIY electronics kit, remember that you’re standing on the shoulders of a 1975 floppy disk. Altair BASIC showed the world that programming could be for anyone – and that simple idea still powers the tech revolution.