The `if` keyword is so prevalent in programming that it seems to just be part of it. However, with an integer value and a `goto` statement, one can easily simulate the functionality of an `if`. Which means it's not _necessary_ for a language to have dedicated conditional keywords in order to achieve that functionality. Which in turn makes me think that there must have been a time before somebody created the first `if` to be used in a language. So, my question is: What was the first time a language offered a dedicated keyword for conditional execution? The word itself doesn't really matter here, it could be `AS_IT_OCCURS_THAT` instead of `if` for all I care. What _does_ matter is that we have **a keyword with the one and only purpose of choosing the code to execute next, based on a boolean condition.** Also, to clear up an ambiguity about "_a language offered a dedicated keyword_", I'm talking about a working implementation of a language; so that it was an actually usable tool for a programmer.