BASIC was the language in all the magazines that responded to people who wanted to try ideas in their new microcomputers. Tens of thousands of us, at least (some so glad they took those high-school typing courses) simultaneously keying in those pages. And then, we'd think 'hey, I want to try this' and either succeeding or looking for more powerful BASICs ... leading to peeks, pokes, even assembler. A blast, and that feeling of empowerment!

Thank you, Thomas Kurtz!