GW-BASIC
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 2019-02-14

GW-BASIC, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=13087 / CC BY SA 3.0

#BASIC_programming_language_family
#Discontinued_Microsoft_BASICs
#Programming_languages_created_in_1983
#BASIC_interpreters
GW-BASIC

GW-BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language developed by Microsoft from BASICA, originally for Compaq. It is otherwise identical to Microsoft/IBM BASICA, but is a fully self-contained executable and does not need the ROM BASIC. It was bundled with MS-DOS operating systems on IBM PC compatibles by Microsoft. Microsoft also sold a BASIC compiler, BASCOM, compatible with GW-BASIC, for programs needing more speed. The language is suitable for simple games, business programs and the like. Since it was included with most versions of MS-DOS, it was also a low-cost way for many aspiring programmers to learn the fundamentals of computer programming. With the release of MS-DOS 5.0, GW-BASIC's place was eventually taken by QBasic, the interpreter part of the separately available QuickBASIC compiler.

IBM BASICA and GW-BASIC were largely ports of MBASIC version 5.x, but with added features specifically for the IBM PC hardware. Common features of BASIC-80 5.x and BASICA/GW-BASIC include:


The ability to "crunch" program lines by omitting spaces, a common feature of earlier Microsoft BASIC implementations, was removed from BASIC-80 5.x and BASICA/GWBASIC.

BASIC-80 programs not using PEEK/POKE statements would run under GW-BASIC. BASICA added a large number of features for the IBM PC such as sound, graphics, and memory commands. A few other features not present in BASIC-80 included the ability to execute the RND function with no parameters and the ability to also save programs in a "protected" format which prevented them from being LISTed. BASICA also allowed double-precision numbers to be used with mathematical and trigonometric functions such as COS, SIN, and ATN, which wasn't allowed in 8-bit versions of BASIC. This feature was normally not enabled and...