Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison?

From	Ivan Shmakov <oneingray@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.basic.misc, comp.sys.sinclair
Subject	Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison?
Date	2012-12-06 12:53 +0700
Organization	Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID	<86lidbwwtk.fsf@gray.siamics.net> (permalink)
References	<86zk253p5x.fsf@gray.siamics.net> <k968n3$4m1$1@speranza.aioe.org>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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>>>>> Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> 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

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Thread

MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Ivan Shmakov <oneingray@gmail.com> - 2012-11-26 12:32 +0700
  Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? SamTek <rogerjowett@gmail.com> - 2012-11-26 10:05 -0800
    Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? "Auric__" <not.my.real@email.address> - 2012-11-26 18:47 +0000
  Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Andrew Owen <aowen10@mail.bbk.ac.uk> - 2012-11-29 00:02 +0000
    Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Ivan Shmakov <oneingray@gmail.com> - 2012-12-06 12:53 +0700
      Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? "news@rtrussell.co.uk" <news@rtrussell.co.uk> - 2012-12-06 09:00 -0800
        Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Paul Bartlett <bartlett@panix.com> - 2012-12-06 14:40 -0500
          Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Todd Vargo <tlvargo@sbcglobal.netz> - 2012-12-06 16:17 -0500
            Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? "news@rtrussell.co.uk" <news@rtrussell.co.uk> - 2012-12-06 14:27 -0800
              Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? ralph <nt_consulting64@yahoo.com> - 2012-12-06 17:19 -0600
                Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? "news@rtrussell.co.uk" <news@rtrussell.co.uk> - 2012-12-07 02:01 -0800
                Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Todd Vargo <tlvargo@sbcglobal.netz> - 2012-12-07 14:09 -0500
                Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? ralph <nt_consulting64@yahoo.com> - 2012-12-07 22:03 -0600
                Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? "news@rtrussell.co.uk" <news@rtrussell.co.uk> - 2012-12-08 14:52 -0800
                Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? ppnerkDELETETHIS@yahoo.com (Phred) - 2012-12-12 13:55 +0000
              Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Todd Vargo <tlvargo@sbcglobal.netz> - 2012-12-06 23:55 -0500
            Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Paul Bartlett <bartlett@panix.com> - 2012-12-06 20:30 -0500
              Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Todd Vargo <tlvargo@sbcglobal.netz> - 2012-12-06 23:40 -0500
        Re: MS BASIC, Sinclair BASIC, STOS BASIC: derivatives comparison? Ivan Shmakov <oneingray@gmail.com> - 2012-12-07 21:05 +0700

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