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Article #623588Re: The birth of BASIC
From: Gene Wirchenko
Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2018 00:04
Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2018 00:04
37 lines
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3115 bytes
On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 17:20:59 -0400, J. Clarke
<jclarke...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 16:07:09 -0400, Andreas Kohlbach
><a...@spamfence.net> wrote:
[snip]
>>I guess I am missing a link here. Why did none of the BASICs coming with
>>the 8bit micros need a compiler and rather interpret the code instead?
>
>I think the real issue is the nature of a compiler and cost and
>availability of hardware.
>
>A compiler takes a source program, generates an object program, and
>then to actually do anything you need to load and execute the object
>program.
>
>To make this work you need to have enough storage of some kind (paper
>tape, mag tape, disk, drum, RAM, doesn't matter, you need to have
>enough) to store all the pieces. Early micros did not have much RAM
>and typically if they had a storage device other than the operator's
>paper notebook it was paper tape or an audio cassette recorder, so
>turnaround time for compiled code would be slow.
>
>An interpreter only needs storage for the source code, a scratchpad,
>and the output, so it can run reasonably well on a machine with
>limited RAM and a slow storage device, hence the popularity on early
>hobbyist micros (and yes, to the nits who think that hobbyists are
>only allowed to own toys, I mean the ALTAIR and its clones).
To get specific, a tiny BASIC (interpreted) could be implemented
in 2K. A compiler needs a lot more.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
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