[1] The language was created to introduce the essentials of programming to non-computer science students.
While designing Pico, the Software Languages Lab was inspired by the Abelson and Sussman's book "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs".
Pico should be interpreted as 'small', the idea was to create a small language for educational purposes.
De Meuter, Gonzalez, and D'Hondt describe the Pico syntax as being "two-tiered.
[1] For example, a function, func, with two parameters, param1 and param2, can be defined as: Functions can be called with the following syntax: Operators can be used as prefix or infix in Pico: Pico has the following types: string, integer, real and tables.