Article View: alt.folklore.computers
Article #623590Re: The birth of BASIC
From: Sarr Blumson
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2018 19:42
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2018 19:42
35 lines
2754 bytes
2754 bytes
John Levine <jo...@taugh.com> Wrote in message: > In article <r1c6hd9alvtcdvjo0...@4ax.com>, > Gene Wirchenko <ge...@telus.net> wrote: >> To get specific, a tiny BASIC (interpreted) could be implemented >>in 2K. A compiler needs a lot more. > > I don't think the Dartmouth compiler was much bigger than that since mainframe memory > in the 1960s was very expensive, but they did have fast disks. The 225/235 had 16k 20 bit words. By convention the upper 8k was read only system code, roughly 2k for the OS and 6k for the "system program" eg the compiler and runtime library. The lower 8k was similarly divided into 2k of data for the OS and 6k for the program. The user program was compiled into the 6k data space. BASIC was small enough to fit the compiler and runtime into one 6k load but ALGOL, for example was not. The scheduler was smart enough to put user jobs that used the same "high segment" together to save having to reload it, because the disks weren't actually all that fast by modern standards. 100 msec seeks. And you could see the data transfer in the lights. Far more than you wanted to know. Sarr -- ----Android NewsGroup Reader---- http://usenet.sinaapp.com/
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X-Received: by 2002:a1c:ca17:: with SMTP id a23-v6mr52995wmg.21.1528227762406; Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:42:42 -0700 (PDT) X-BeenThere: alt.folklore.computers@googlegroups.com Received: by 2002:a1c:9ecf:: with SMTP id h198-v6ls833898wme.6.gmail; Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:42:41 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 2002:a1c:d7c1:: with SMTP id o184-v6mr61049wmg.22.1528227761660; Tue, 05 Jun 2018 12:42:41 -0700 (PDT) Path: mbox-mo1.pugleaf.net!n13-v6ni7301wmc.0!nntp.google.com!goblin1!goblin.stu.neva.ru!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Sarr Blumson <sarr.blumson@alum.dartmouth.orgq> Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: The birth of BASIC Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2018 15:42:37 -0400 (EDT) Organization: news.eternal-september.org Lines: 35 Message-ID: <pf6p3h$g5u$1@dont-email.me> References: <874lisvjda.fsf@usenet.ankman.de> <87muwdx89e.fsf@usenet.ankman.de> <0326hdp8u360hs3hggsddc762ga79onagv@4ax.com> <r1c6hd9alvtcdvjo0sea4qc8ldp1tvd0em@4ax.com> <pf5pgl$872$1@gal.iecc.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Injection-Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2018 19:42:41 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: reader02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="70784bc0bcd8d8fc63491791f24b4046"; logging-data="16574"; mail-complaints-to="ab...@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19/ACjAiduNtUpmb3v/+fhk" Cancel-Lock: sha1:l+C+wgWtIXmfJXEHx8LXoajnTyU= X-Newsreader: PiaoHong.Usenet.Client.Free:1.65 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit