Typography and BASIC

One of the most easily overlooked elements of the 10 Print program is the semicolon. The semi-colon tells BASIC to display the / and \ characters serially, across the screen, column by column. When the 40th column is reached, the characters continue at the beginning of the next line, as with a typewriter carriage return. Were the semicolon to be removed (as happens with one example in the [[10_Print_Variorum|variorum]]), the program will display each / or \ on a separate line, thereby rendering a vertical semi-continuous zigzag. In other words, there's exactly one character textually that means the difference visually between a column and a maze. The semicolon resists enjambment.

One of the most easily overlooked elements of the 10 Print program is the semicolon. The semi-colon tells BASIC to display the / and \ characters serially, across the screen, column by column. When the 40th column is reached, the characters continue at the beginning of the next line, as with a typewriter carriage return. Were the semicolon to be removed (as happens with one example in the [[10_Print_Variorum|variorum]]), the program will display each / or \ on a separate line, thereby rendering a vertical semi-continuous zigzag. In other words, there's exactly one character textually that means the difference visually between a column and a maze. The semicolon resists enjambment.