Check Out Microsoft's Original Source Code From 50 Years Ago That Bill Gates Calls 'the Coolest Code' He's Ever Written

Microsoft is turning 50 this year, and Bill Gates is looking backmost astatine really nan institution sewage its start.

The Microsoft cofounder published a blog post connected Wednesday astir nan codification that would go nan company's first product, which was nan Altair Basic, an expert that translated codification into instructions that nan Altair 8800 microcomputer could read.

"That codification remains nan coolest codification I've ever written to this day," Gates wrote. "It's astonishing to deliberation astir really this 1 portion of codification led to a half-century of invention from Microsoft. Before location was Office aliases Windows 95 aliases Xbox aliases AI, location was nan original root codification — and I still get a footwear retired of seeing it, moreover each these years later."

At nan extremity of his post, he included a PDF of nan original root codification for nan Altair Basic — each 157 pages of it. You tin cheque it retired here.

In his blog post, Gates noted that late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen vanished portion of nan codification connected a formation to Albuquerque, New Mexico, wherever Microsoft was primitively based. Gates shared different specifications connected nan root code, fittingly, successful his memoir "Source Code," which came retired successful February.

Gates reflected connected his puerility done his profession into coming successful nan book. He wrote that he was disinterested successful school increasing up, noting that his preschool teachers called him "rebellious" and said he showed a "complete deficiency of interest for immoderate shape of schoolhouse life."

Gates besides wrote astir his approach, decades later, to recruiting Steve Ballmer to Microsoft, saying he and Allen had agreed to a divided of 64% and 36%, respectively, but Gates ended up giving a 4% liking to Ballmer to person him to discontinue business schoolhouse for Microsoft.

Gates' ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, has her ain memoir, "The Next Day," retired later this month.