[RetroTechie]

"Interpreters were conceived of only one year later, in 1958, but the mainstream was catching up in 1995."

Minor nitpick: BASIC in early homecomputers (~1980) was usually interpreted. I'd certainly call those machines mainstream at the time (and as article notes, interpreters go back way further).

[chotchkies]

That’s a valid nitpick. I definitely started on some Basic variant in the 1980s.

My thought on the use of the word “mainstream” there was a population larger than computer enthusiasts.

(I can definitely see the ambiguity in how it’s written)