VOA慢速英語:BASIC語言五十周年：改變世界的計算機編程語言

50 Years of BASIC, the Computer Programming Language That Changed the World

BASIC語言五十周年：改變世界的計算機編程語言

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

May 1st marked the 50th anniversary of a special computer language. The new code was designed to permit college students not trained in mathematics to use computers.

5月1日標志著一門特殊計算機語言的50周年。這種新代碼的目的是讓未受過數(shù)學培訓的大學生使用計算機。

50 years ago, computer owners were mainly governments, businesses and universities. Programmers wrote pages of commands in mathematical expressions to operate these early computers.

50年前，計算機所有者主要是政府、企業(yè)和大學。程序員用數(shù)學公式撰寫成頁的命令來操作這些早期的計算機。

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz were two professors in the mathematics department at Dartmouth College. They wanted students in other departments to be able to use their school's computer. So they developed a simpler set of computer commands called Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, or BASIC.

約翰·凱梅尼(John Kemeny)和托馬斯·庫爾茲(Thomas Kurtz)是達特茅斯學院數(shù)學系的兩位教授。他們希望其它系的學生也能夠使用學校的計算機。因此他們開發(fā)了一套更簡單的計算機命令，它被稱為初學者通用符號指令碼，簡稱BASIC語言。

"We deliberately invented a language that was almost devoid of many of the technical details that were present in other languages," said Kurtz.

庫爾茲說，“我們特意發(fā)明了一門不包括任何在其它語言有的技術(shù)細節(jié)的語言。”

BASIC puts English commands, such as IF…THEN, or GO...TO, into a numerical language computers can understand. Mr Kurtz says almost everyone at Dartmouth College began using computers.

BASIC語言將IF…THEN或GO...TO之類的英語命令轉(zhuǎn)換成計算機可以理解的數(shù)字化語言。庫爾茲說，達特茅斯學院幾乎所有人都開始使用電腦。

"Not only our students loved getting onto the computer any time they wanted to, for whatever purpose they wanted to, but even the faculty got interested. Of course not everybody, but many of them," Kurtz said.

庫爾茲說，“不僅是我們的學生喜歡隨時使用電腦做任何事情，甚至我們的教員也產(chǎn)生了濃厚興趣。當然不是所有人，但也是很多人。”

BASIC was a major step toward the development of personal computers. Peggy Kidwell is the Curator of Mathematics at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. She says BASIC was created just as computers became fast enough to perform many commands at the same time.

BASIC語言是個人計算機發(fā)展的重要一步。佩吉·基德韋爾(Peggy Kidwell)是美國史密森國立歷史博物館數(shù)學館館長。她說，BASIC語言產(chǎn)生于計算機快到可以同時執(zhí)行多條命令之際。

"Now, that whole notion that anybody could run a computer permeates the whole world. And I would say that is not the immediate legacy of BASIC but it is a part of what was involved in building up on BASIC," said Kidwell.

基德韋爾說，“現(xiàn)在，任何人都可以使用計算機的這種理念擴散到全球。而我要說的是，這不是BASIC語言的直接產(chǎn)物，而是基于BASIC語言所進行的開發(fā)的一部分。”

Mr Kurtz and Mr Kemeny released BASIC to the public for free, the computer language quickly became very popular. Mr Kurtz says they hoped the language would solve what they saw as a major upcoming problem.

庫爾茲和凱梅尼向公眾免費發(fā)布了BASIC語言。這種計算機語言很快就大受歡迎。庫爾茲先生說，他們希望這種語言可以解決他們認為即將發(fā)生的一個重大問題。

Mr Kurtz says he and Mr Kemeny believed that the computer would become very important in the world. He says most people didn't know anything about computers because they were only used by experts.

庫爾茲先生表示，他和凱梅尼先生認為計算機在世界上會變得非常重要。他說，大多數(shù)人對計算機毫無所知，是因為只有專家才使用計算機。

The speedy development of computers was followed by many improved versions of BASIC. Over the years, code writers created other easy to use computer languages.

隨著計算機的迅猛發(fā)展，出現(xiàn)了多種改進版的BASIC語言。這些年來，代碼編寫者還創(chuàng)建了其它易用的計算機語言。

Today, few people use BASIC, but personal computers owe their existence to the first programming language that anyone could speak.

今天很少有人使用BASIC語言，但個人電腦的存在要歸功于這種任何人都能使用的首門編程語言。

And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. For more technology stories, go to our website chinavoa.com. I'm Jonathan Evans.

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