[geeks] [rescue] BASIC

[Lionel Peterson]

On Aug 4, 2009, at 3:32 PM, "Sheldon T. Hall" <shel at artell.net> wrote:

> Dave Fischer writes ...
>> nate at portents.com writes:
>>
>>> No experience with that in particular, but this reminds me
>>> of something
>>> I've been wondering lately... is there any measure of the
>>> impact of BASIC
>>> on computing?  The reason I ask is that it wasn't until
>>> recently that I
>>> realized that Wang 2200 series ran a microcoded interpreted BASIC
>>> (dialects such as Wang BASIC and BASIC-2), which other companies  
>>> have
>>> since developed compilers for... I was rather shocked at the idea of
>>> microcoding an interpreted language into a computer.
>>
>> I believe MAI BASIC-4 minicomputers did something similar.
>
> Didn't the IBM 51xx predecessors to the 5150 "IBM PC" have either  
> BASIC or
> APL as a sort of combination OS/language?
>
> FWIW, Microsoft has had BASIC compilers since forever; I used one  
> under
> TRSDOS on a Radio Shack TRS-80 mod II in 1979.

There were BASIC compilers for models 1, 2, 3, and 4 trs-80s, the  
Model 2 also CBASIC, a "commercial" basic, from the CP/M world, IIRC.

Lionel