Google has released a simple, BASIC-like programming language called, well, Simple. However, while the original BASIC language implementation was created as an educational tool to teach programming, Simple is intended for developing Android applications.

"Bringing an easy to learn and use language to the mobile world and the Android platform is the goal of the Simple project," said Google's Herbert Czymontek. "Simple is a BASIC dialect for developing Android applications. Simple allows programmers to quickly write Android applications by using the components supplied by its runtime system."

According to Google, Simple programs are form definitions (which contain components) and code (which contains the program logic). The interaction between the components and the program logic happens through events triggered by the components. The program logic consists of event handlers which contain code reacting to the events.

Simple is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. The source code for the implementation is freely available, along with sample applications. A tutorial on how to build Simple and write applications is available here.

It is worth noting that Simple is still a work in progress.