The Microsoft programming language designed for beginners and released in 2008 was Small Basic.
Microsoft announced Small Basic on October 23, 2008, as a simplified BASIC dialect and programming environment for students. It was intended to help learners move from visual programming tools such as Scratch toward text-based languages, including Visual Basic. Its editor included features such as syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and built-in documentation.
Small Basic deliberately kept its language compact: the original language had only 14 keywords. Despite its beginner-friendly design, it could create games, graphics, mathematical programs, and turtle drawings. The first stable 1.0 release arrived in July 2011, after several Community Technology Preview versions.
The name is sometimes confused with Logo because both support turtle-style drawing, or with Scratch because both target beginners. However, Logo and Scratch are separate languages; Small Basic was Microsoft's own educational BASIC project. Later versions added Kinect support, and Small Basic Online was announced in 2019.