BASIC

From Maze

Unquestionably, an important aspect of 10 PRINT is that it is written in a particular programming language, BASIC, which itself has an interesting cultural and technical history. The first version of BASIC was developed by two professors for use in teaching in a liberal arts college; it became operational in 1964 and was freely shared by its creators, leading to its use in high schools among other contexts. By that time, general-purpose computers had been programmed for about two decades and high-level languages (of which BASIC is one example) had been in widespread use for a decade. While BASIC has distinguishing features, it also continues the history of high-level languages, particularly Fortran and Algol.

BASIC's invention in an educational context signals one important aspects of its use. The language was developed for use in time-sharing environments - specifically, for use in the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System. This sort of setup was revolutionary in allowing many programmers to use a single system interactively at the same time. The configuration of such a system, with many terminals connected to a mainframe or minicomputer, was very different from that of the personally owned, inexpensive, single-user computers of the microcomputer era. It was also very different from the batch processing of jobs punched out on card, though. Time sharing allowed people to engage with and explore computation in significant new ways, and BASIC was an important part of this computing revolution.

The story of BASIC becomes even more interesting as microcomputers come to market and into people's homes. In 1975, the MITS Altair 8800 computer became available, provided in a kit which the purchaser had to assemble. This computer was widely acclaimed as the first home computer. Perhaps the most significant piece of software for this system was Altair BASIC, an interpreter for the BASIC programming language that was the first product of a new startup company, known at the time as "Micro-Soft." The company didn't stop at this version. Thanks in large part to Microsoft, BASIC became the lingua franca of home computing. Microsoft's versions were standard on many popular microcomputers, provided in ROM so that the computer could be turned on and immediately programmed. BASIC reigned in the late 1970s and through the early 1980s, when 10 PRINT circulated in print and was being keyed in by numerous users. It was so obvious that this language was the language of choice that some books of BASIC programs do not even find it necessary to mention "BASIC" on their cover or in introducing the book.

While the heyday of the language did not last, interesting new versions of BASIC, sometimes radically reformulated, continued to appear. The creators of the original language introduced True BASIC in 1983. In 1985, Microsoft's QuickBASIC offered several innovations and, for instance, made line numbers options. And Microsoft's even more radically different Visual Basic saw widespread use in creating business applications.

BASIC (along with COBOL) seems to be one of the major whipping boys among programming languages. Inextricably associated with Microsoft and that bane of structured programmers, GOTO, it is said to encourage the writing of spaghetti code, to be unbearably slow, and to be suitable only for children and amateurs. Yet many programmers in the early 21st century remember BASIC fondly - as they should. The language was a popular success, worked well for small programs that tested the possibilities of computing, and fostered creativity and innovation by new categories of computer users.

Outline

• History of BASIC
  • Place within the history of high-level programming languages
  • Dartmouth BASIC
  • Microsoft, BASIC for the Altair (their first product), and Microsoft BASICs
  • C64 BASIC
  • Variation in BASIC dialects on contemporaneous machines
  • The role of BASIC today

• BASIC technical topics introduced through their inclusion in the program of study
  • Line numbers
    • Flow control
      • BASIC not a structured programming language (no blocks, etc.)
      • Many of BASIC's control flow concepts are taken directly from machine language
      • GOTO
        • Dijkstra's arguments against GOTO.
      • FOR NEXT
        • Demonstrate GOTOless version of program
      • GOSUB
      • IF THEN
  • PRINT
    • Originally used for output to print terminals
    • text fields
    • semicolon
  • CHR$
    • Strings and numbers
    • The representation of strings in BASIC
  • RND
    • Brief description of the RND function
  • Background on the functions in BASIC. Why are the particular functions in BASIC present?
  • Peek and poke - BASIC's "back door". Provides access to a level of machine control usually reserved for assembly language programs.

• Locating BASIC in contemporaneous computer culture
  • The circulation of code in print (magazines and books)
  • BASIC in memory and culture (memorization of one liners)
  • Teaching of BASIC in schools
  • Uses of BASIC in commercial programs
  • BASIC's legacy

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NOTES: [taken 2/15/2011, mostly for context for myself (patsy), but some of these details may help in other sections; numbers in parens = page numbers]

The following information was gleaned "Early Developments of the Personal Computer Software Industry, 1975-1983” (Chapter 7 of Martin Campbell-Kelley From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog. A History of the Software Industry (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 2003)

Since the micro-processor developed in the electronics industry, the computer industry didn’t see it as a threat (201)

The 1st microprocessor-based computer = Altair 8800 (made by MITS = Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems) – “sold in kit for assembly by computer hobbyists” (202).

The Altair 8800 appeared on the cover of Popular Electronics (January 1975). “The cover reads ‘Exclusive! Altair 8800. The most powerful minicomputer project ever presented can be built for under $400.’” (202) – an event in computer lore history.

Apple II hits the market in April 1977 (202), and followed by “many imitators from entrepreneurial start-ups” and by “machines from two major electronics manufacturers: the Commodore PET and the TRS-80” (202-203)

PET was a product of Commodore Business Machines (known better for its calculators) (203)

The Apple II was “initially targeted” at the “hobbyist, domestic, and education markets, the Commodore PET at the engineering, calculator, and education markets, the TRS-80 at the home and videogame users.” (203)

Another huge event in the history in the PC world: the appearance of VisiCalc in the fall of 1979, which “transformed the perception of the personal computer as a business machine” (203)

Bill Gates was an “accomplished programmer” in BASIC (204)

Payment in royalties was “endemic to the videogame and personal computer industry” (204).

“By the end of 1983 there were estimated to be 35,000 different personal computer software products from about 3,000 vendors, an increase of 50 percent from the previous year.” (208)

“By1977 there were 24 ComputerLands in operation. The number nearly doubled each year, and by 1983 there were about 500.” (209)

The Program Store opened its first outlet in 1979. By 1983, it as a 20-store chain. (209)

Mail order: “One industry source estimated that up to 25 percent of software sales were being made by mail order in the early 1980s” -- e.g. 800-SOFTWARE. (209)

The “biggest” distributor (SotfSel)”published a catalog of about 3,000 packages from 200 suppliers, and the SoftSel ‘hot-list’ became the industry’s ‘hit parade’.” (209)

Systems like Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore machines were “quite primitive”: came with screens that were 40 characters wide (217). By 1979 80-character screens were available, which changed the world of word-processing especially. (217)

‘The home software market was divided into three sectors: entertainment, home management, and education. The total market was estimated to be worth $200 million by retail value in 1982. This was less than half the value of the market for business software, but then the unit price of home software were much lower (typically $30-$50); the number of units was much greater—at least 5 million in 1982.” (225)

[END of software industry context notes]