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when and where was basic language developed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.176.233.36 (talk) 16:41, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
Was there some BCPL influence on BBC Basic? For example the unparenthesized DIM and ! operator mimic BCPL vector notation. And Acorn also implemented a version of BCPL meaning that Acorn employees were aware of, and probably used BCPL. (Note also that the OS calls OSWRCH and OSRDCH correspond to the BCPL function names WRCH and RDCH - exactly the same abbreviation.)
iirc there was a version of BBC basic supplied on disk with the master that ran from the 32K of main memory and used the 64K of sideways ram to store the basic program. I think it was called BAS128 but i've never actually seen it running.
Did the ENVELOPE command really do nothing? I certainly used it (although 14 parameters were a bit of a challenge). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.30.113.248 (talk • contribs).
The maximum line length in BBC BASIC was 255 characters (IIRC, give or take). This combined with the fact that multiple commands could be combined onto a single program line gave rise to a very popular programming challenge: the "one liner". Quite simply the challenge was to write a program which dumbfounds the observer who could not believe that something so useful or visually impressive could be achieved in such an impossibly small amount of code.--Ear1grey 02:33, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
IFA ANDB
" would succeed if (A & B). As soon as I and F were parsed, "IF" was assumed and 'A' was considered a variable. Ditto the AND. Variables cannot start with BASIC keywords (as per the User Guide), allowing for short-circuit parsing of "IF" in "IFA". "LET IFA=1
" will be treated not as creating IFA and setting it to 1, but as "LET IF A=1
", resulting in "Syntax error".IFA<shift-ƒ0>B
". BASIC will list this as "IFAANDB" which is normally invalid ("No such variable", referring to "AANDB") but owing to direct insertion of a token, will run in this instance. With judicious use of the red function keys, abbeviations and omitted spaces, you can create lines of code that are far too long, or simply too invalid to re-enter.Mark Plumbleys BASIC book has a nice understandable diagram of the operation of BBC BASIC (i.e. evaluation engine), would it be appropriate to include it on the page?
I've added the diagram but tell me if it meshes ok with the rest of the article.
I can't be certain enough to edit the article, but didn't the B+ use BASIC II? The article almost implies as much, since it says the only different in BASIC III was in the US version, so the UK B+ version would effectively have had basic II.--195.137.91.247 (talk) 22:37, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
Surely we can get a better image than the About box from an application running on Windows. BBC Basic was developed for the BBC originally, I would like to see some Basic code being displayed on a BBC micro. What do you think? Darrenaustralia (talk) 08:57, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
The section BBC BASIC#Acorn Archimedes (RISC OS) links to Acorn Archimedes by using((Main|Acorn Archimedes))
. Would it be more appropriate to use ((Main|RISC OS))
? --trevj (talk) 09:53, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
I've added a citation request on this, because I don't believe this to be correct. The Sinclair QL uses SuperBASIC, which I'm fairly certain was written in house from scratch. Perhaps this is being confused with the Sinclair Z88 which used a BBC BASIC dialect? — Preceding unsigned comment added by WikiPhu (talk • contribs) 13:10, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
Someone has added a "citation needed" in respect of the comment about the Archimedes Basic Compiler. I am not sure how to cite something's but there are a number of references out there, including a PDF Of the reference manual which can be downloaded
www.a4.com.de/discos_down/ABCMan_org.pdf
The compiler was written by myself, Paul Fellows, originally published by DABS Press, and later taken over by Oak Solutions Ltd, and then finally transferred to Castle technology, where some improvements were made by Alan Glover.
www.drobe.co.uk/article.php?id=1428
There is also an "original research" tag on the part that says, that the compiler was distributed as self-compiled code. This is correct, The Compiler was written in BBC basic. This could be run under the basic V interpreter, and other programs could then be compiled to object code. Eventually the compiler became competent enough that it could be used to read a copy of itself in, and put out object code which, when run, would also function as a compiler. This was a great day, because the speed improvement was very substantial. The first successful run took 28 hours under the interpreter. The object code version could do the job of compiling the compiler from source in 1 hour. I never had to go back.
This ability to self-compile was a testament to the degree of compatibility between the interpreter and compiler. There were a few differences, such and EVAL, and the behaviour of dynamic free variables, but if these were avoided, then all was good. An interesting point here was also that the code-generation was done using the in-line assembler [ ] notation, which meant that the compiler had to be able to deal with this in exactly the same way as the interpreter.
Perhaps someone can advise me as to what to do to add these footnotes to the BBC Basic story, following the citation and original research rules?
I have attempted to paste in URLs to refer to sources on this, but am using an iPad, and it wont accept it. Perhaps I am doing something wrong?
Paul Fellows, ( Acornsoft Languages Group Leader, and author of ABC ), Cambridge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.21.98.46 (talk) 00:11, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Not sure if it's worth adding a few words on Phil Kent's Helix Basic variant, as it attempted to add a GUI / GUI builder that sort of aped Visual Basic? 83.104.51.74 (talk) 01:25, 23 September 2015 (UTC)
OSBYTE and INKEY tell you nothing about what BASIC is running, they tell you what the host /operating system/ is. You could be running Z80 BBC BASIC 3.00 and INKEY-256 return 'BBC B+'. You could be running 6502 BBC BASIC IV and INKEY-256 return 'RISC OS'. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.234.250.60 (talk) 18:31, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
COLOUR OF x ON y
for RISC OS 5.? to give two examples that come immediately to mind), it will be necessary to guess based upon the operating system version and the module build date. BASIC on RISC OS does not provide an API level indication, and the copyright string - even today - says "(C) Acorn 1989".There should be an addition to the section on ports to other platforms to include the version what Wilson wrote to run on RM Nimbus PC (186 machines) which was later also ported to run on the PC compatable 286/386 M and X series machines using the RM Nimbus PC Sub bios emulator for the 286/286 machines BBCload BBCBasic and BBCLoadR being the programes to call on a Nimbus PC to imitate BBC basic.
I was employed writing operating system components for many years and I have a personal interest in much of the detail on this page.
However I am concerned that the balance is too much towards niche system details. There is almost more on 6502 Assembler than on BBC BASIC.
While putting the full set of Keywords would turn the article into just a long list, aspects like parameter passing and local variable scope were not in other offerings of BASIC available at the time (1980s). There was a contrast between many other BASIC implementations that had only the rudimentary DEF FN and relied on GOTOs.
BBC BASIC allowed the programmer the opportunity to use meaningful variable names when some others only permitted A..Z and A1..A9 etc.
(I know that many of the monthly magazines had an interest in one line programs, but really that says nothing about BBC BASIC).
Acorn produced an implementation of BASIC that enabled structured program design. The memory limitations of the BBC Model B created problems but that was a hardware constraint, not the language itself.
(I once broke a compiler on a mainframe because it could not deal with my meaningful variable names).
The page could be improved if it started by describing the BBC BASIC language first and possibly putting topics like the the differences between individual versions (and which machine they were on) on linked pages? BlueWren0123 (talk) 20:04, 7 October 2023 (UTC)
The 1st External links entry is identified as "Official website". This links to the useful website created by R. T. Russell. It is not an "Official website".
Reference No 3 "Video processor for Acorn/BBC computer" is about an integrated circuit that was unsuccessful because it overheated. This has no connection with this Article.
References No 1 and No 4 are the same "BBC Micro ignites memories of revolution"
Reference No 11 "LICENSE master RiscOS / Sources / Programmer / BASIC" is a Formal Commercial License that does not contain either "BBC" or "BASIC".
Reference No 12 "Have I got old news for you" fails on Firefox & Chrome. "The Icon Bar" is not about BBC BASIC.
Reference No 16 "BBC BASIC V ..." fails on Firefox & Chrome.
Reference No 17 "Brandy Basic" links to the Raspberry Pi and MYOB. If there is any mention of BBC BASIC then it is well hidden.
Reference No 21 "Fast BASIC by Computer Concepts" is a magazine advert for an unrelated product.
I have not checked all the links / references but the list(s) seem to have been padded out with items that do not relate to this Article. BlueWren0123 (talk) 02:51, 19 October 2023 (UTC)
The article goes significantly off topic with this unnecessary diversion. This is all covered in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_programming_languages, the content of which doesn't need repeating here. This section should be deleted altogether, not shortened or anything - it just obstructs the subject of the article. ToaneeM (talk) 00:02, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
It's flatly off-topic. The article neither needs nor benefits from it. It reads like a classic case of an author enjoying writing it and not that readers need it. Renaming it does not stop it being an obstruction. It needs deleting altogether.ToaneeM (talk) 00:13, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
The BASIC that Acorn had available was crucial to the BBC choosing Acorn. Where will you put that is you just delete the section entirely? Where did Microsoft BASIC come from and why was that so important to the BBC. Without that Acorn would not have become established as it did. Without Acorn becoming prominent there would have been no BBC BASIC. This is crucial to the notability of BBC BASIC. how do you intend to fill the gap in information if the section disappears. What is your improvement?BlueWren0123 (talk) 02:55, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
Everything that's now been renamed 'Precursor languages' can vanish without trace. There is no loss of information without it. It's just a lengthy obstruction to getting on with the title subject. It's a very recent addition and a bad one, it brings no improvement or clarity to the article entitled 'BBC BASIC'. If readers wish to understand what went before in computing in general, they can read other articles. Again, it seems to be there because because an editor wanted to write it, not because readers would have any difficulty without it. It needs deleting altogether.ToaneeM (talk) 09:22, 1 February 2024 (UTC)