Microsoft Basic
<language> (MS-BASIC) A dialect of BASIC from Microsoft, originally
developed by Bill Gates in a garage back in the CP/M days. It was originally
known as GWBasic, then QBASIC and finally MS-BASIC.
When the MS-DOS operating system came out, it incorporated the GWBASIC.EXE or
BASICA.EXE interpreters. GWBASIC ("Gee Whiz") incorporated graphics and a screen
editor and was compatible with earlier BASICs.
QBASIC was more sophisticated. Version 4.5 had a full screen editor, debugger
and compiler. The compiler could also produce executable files but to run these
a utility program (BRUN44.EXE) had to be present. Thus source code could be kept
private.
From DOS 5.0 or 6.0 onward, MS-BASIC was standard.
Current version: 1.1, also produces stand-alone executables and can display
graphics.
Usenet newsgroup: comp.lang.basic.misc.
[Relationship to BASIC in ROM on first IBM PC?]
(1995-05-12)
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