There was a time when anyone could try programming, thanks to the ubiquity of Basic. But Basic's a nonstarter these days, so what will entice a new generation?

60 years ago, the inventors of the BASIC programming language actually achieved what they had hoped for: simple programming that is accessible to everyone.

Learning basic programming languages like Python or SQL has gone from being an advantage to an absolute necessity. This, however, is no news since companies heavily lean on technology these days.

A brochure for the GE 210 computer from 1964. BASIC's creators used a similar computer four years later to develop the programming language. Credit: GE / Wikipedia ...