What Did Bill Gates Actually Code? Inside the 1978 Microsoft BASIC for 6502
The article explores Bill Gates’s early programming passion, detailing his work on the 1978 Microsoft BASIC for the 6502 processor, the recent public release of that source code, and notes that other tech leaders like Ma Huateng and Lei Jun also began as programmers.
Bill Gates became the world’s richest person at age 31, but many wonder about his actual programming skill as the founder of the dominant PC operating system.
Gates was obsessed with coding; in high school he even rummaged through trash cans to obtain source code.
In the 1978 Microsoft BASIC for the 6502 processor, Gates implemented all BASIC statements, functions, operators, expression evaluation, stack management, memory manager, array and string libraries.
According to w3cschool, an individual released the original 1978 Microsoft BASIC source code, comments, documentation, and Easter eggs without Microsoft’s or Gates’s permission, representing the oldest publicly available program written by Gates.
(partial code)
Besides Gates, many internet moguls such as Ma Huateng and Lei Jun also started as programmers.
Source: Kuai Technology
Signed-in readers can open the original source through BestHub's protected redirect.
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