Sorry they started even lower actually! GW-BASIC!
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/microsoft-open-so...
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/microsoft-open-so...
billg's very first BASIC, which he wrote on a night flight from Albuguerque to NY, or some such, for the Altair. 'Sbin a few decades, so ah disremember.
See Ichbiah's Le Nouveaux Magiciens.
Google ichbiah nouveax magiciens
And, get off my lawn! Grrr.
;-)