BASIC extension: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:13, 29 September 2005

Revision as of 15:14, 29 September 2005

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'''BASIC toolkits''' - not to be confused with [[toolkit|widget toolkits]] - were a common type of program for 1980s 8-bit home micros. Generally third-party extensions, they added additional features to the built-in [[BASIC]] [[interpreter]].

Toolkits ran as [[terminate and stay resident]] extensions to the BASIC interpreter supplied with the machine. At the time, such interpreters almost always came programmed into the [[ROM]] of the computer, making it impossible to modify or patch the code. It was also extremely rare for manufacturers to offer upgrades or bugfixes except as part of new models of machine. Typical toolkit functionality wereincluded editing extensions, such as commands to renumber a program, perform block line deletions and so on, and additional keywords to perform new functions.

As the original language was held in immutable ROM, it generally was difficult for a toolkit to directly extend the language, except by adding new keywords to perform functions not implemented by the original interpreter. For example, the [[Lightning BASIC]] toolkit extended the Amstrad PCW's [[Mallard BASIC]] language with many new facilities - see the Mallard BASIC article for details.