Programming language interpreter software, first product developed by Microsoft

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altair BASIC</span>

Altair BASIC

<p><b>Altair BASIC</b> is a discontinued <a href="/en/Interpreter_(computing)" title="Interpreter (computing)" class="wl">interpreter</a> for the <a href="/en/BASIC_programming_language" title="BASIC programming language" class="mw-redirect wl">BASIC programming language</a> that ran on the <a href="/en/Micro_Instrumentation_and_Telemetry_Systems" title="Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems" class="wl">MITS</a> <a href="/en/Altair_8800" title="Altair 8800" class="wl">Altair 8800</a> and subsequent <a href="/en/S-100_bus" title="S-100 bus" class="wl">S-100 bus</a> computers. It was <a href="/en/Microsoft" title="Microsoft" class="wl">Microsoft</a>'s first product (as Micro-Soft), distributed by MITS under a contract. Altair BASIC was the start of the <a href="/en/Microsoft_BASIC" title="Microsoft BASIC" class="wl">Microsoft BASIC</a> product range.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Programming language interpreter software, first product developed by Microsoft</div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Original author(s), Developer(s), Initial rel...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vevent mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title summary">Altair BASIC</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image logo"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg"><img loading="lazy"alt="The title page of the assembly language code that produced Altair BASIC" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg/220px-Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="954" data-file-height="1275" data-file-type="bitmap" height="294" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg/330px-Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg/440px-Altair_Basic_Sign.jpg 2x"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">The title page of the <a href="/en/Assembly_language" title="Assembly language" class="wl">assembly language</a> code that produced Altair BASIC</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Programmer" title="Programmer" class="wl">Original author(s)</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Micro-Soft" title="Micro-Soft" class="mw-redirect wl">Micro-Soft</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Programmer" title="Programmer" class="wl">Developer(s)</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><a href="/en/Bill_Gates" title="Bill Gates" class="wl">Bill Gates</a></li><li><a href="/en/Paul_Allen" title="Paul Allen" class="wl">Paul Allen</a></li><li><a href="/en/Monte_Davidoff" title="Monte Davidoff" class="wl">Monte Davidoff</a><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;">Initial release</th><td class="infobox-data">2.0 (4K and 8K editions) July<span>&nbsp;</span>1, 1975<span class="noprint"><span>;</span><span> </span>47 years ago</span><span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1975-07-01</span>)</span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="#cite_note-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-6"><a href="#cite_note-6" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 6;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[6]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr style="display: none;"><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Software_release_life_cycle" title="Software release life cycle" class="wl">Stable release</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="margin:0px;">5.0
   / 14<span>&nbsp;</span>July 1978<span class="noprint"><span>;</span><span> </span>44 years ago</span><span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1978-07-14</span>)</span></div></td></tr><tr style="display:none"><td colspan="2">
</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Computing_platform" title="Computing platform" class="wl">Platform</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Altair_8800" title="Altair 8800" class="wl">Altair 8800</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Software_categories#Categorization_approaches" title="Software categories" class="wl">Type</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Microsoft_BASIC" title="Microsoft BASIC" class="wl">Microsoft BASIC</a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>


Altair BASIC is a discontinued interpreter for the BASIC programming language that ran on the MITS Altair 8800 and subsequent S-100 bus computers. It was Microsoft's first product , distributed by MITS under a contract. Altair BASIC was the start of the Microsoft BASIC product range. 