Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Ivan Shmakov Newsgroups: comp.lang.basic.misc,comp.sys.sinclair Subject: Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:53:27 +0700 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 65 Message-ID: <86lidbwwtk.fsf@gray.siamics.net> References: <86zk253p5x.fsf@gray.siamics.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: FtDGZaUx6k7Bzdiv4MgYAg.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.2 (gnu/linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Cancel-Lock: sha1:+rWKTRam1Gz5Z/haKgxSM+qVbKs= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.basic.misc:341 comp.sys.sinclair:1642 >>>>> Andrew Owen writes: >>>>> On 26/11/2012 05:32, Ivan Shmakov wrote: [Bringing news:comp.sys.sinclair back, as I'm particularly interested in Sinclair BASIC derivatives.] >> I see that there're a number of derivatives of MS BASIC, Sinclair >> BASIC, and STOS BASIC still in active development (e. g.: QB64, >> MMBasic; BASin; sdlBasic.) And, as it seems, there's a renewed >> interest in smaller, "BASIC-as-an-OS" computers (check, e. g., >> Maximite [1] and its derivatives.) >> I wonder if there's a good comparison of their respective features? [...] >> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximite > Not aware of any comparison of the features of these specific > dialects, but broadly speaking: > * Sinclair BASIC has advanced string slicing functions Which is v$(n TO m)? > and garbage collection. I don't quite understand how garbage collection is applicable to Sinclair BASIC? > * Beta/SAM/MasterBASIC added advanced functions and procedures to > Sinclair BASIC. Is there a publicly-available reference anywhere, BTW? [...] > * MS BASIC is essentially derived from the original Dartford BASIC (I guess Dartmouth BASIC is meant here.) > but includes support for DOS file handling Huh? How this was applicable to Altair 8800? (The first computer to run MS BASIC, AKA Altair BASIC, as per [2].) [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_BASIC > * QBASIC got rid of the need for line numbers and added support for > more advanced features I believe it was Quick BASIC (of which QBasic is a later, stripped down version) that made line numbers optional. > Just as an asdie, one of the best dialects of BASIC was Mallard BASIC > for CP/M. It had really advanced file handling support to the point > you could have written a pretty advanced database in it. ACK, thanks. As it seems, it's documented in the Spectrum +3 CP/M Plus manual, as available from WoS [3]. [3] http://www.worldofspectrum.org/Plus3CPMManual/index.html -- FSF associate member #7257