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MacBASIC

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MacBASIC
Original author(s)Donn Denman,
Marianne Hsiung,
Larry Kenyon,
Bryan Stearns
Developer(s)Apple Computer
Initial release1985; 39 years ago (1985)
PlatformClassic Mac OS
TypeProgramming tools
LicenseProprietary

Macintosh BASIC, or MacBASIC, was both a comprehensive programming language and a fully interactive development environment designed by Apple Computer for the original Macintosh computer. It was developed by original Macintosh team member Donn Denman,[1][2] with help from fellow Apple programmers Marianne Hsiung, Larry Kenyon, and Bryan Stearns,[3] as part of the original Macintosh development effort starting in late 1981.[4][5] Andy Hertzfeld said, "A BASIC interpreter would be important, to allow users to write their own programs. We decided we should write it ourselves, instead of relying on a third party, because it was important for the BASIC programs to be able to take advantage of the Macintosh UI, and we didn't trust a third party to 'get it' enough to do it right."[6]

MacBASIC was released as beta software in 1985, and was adopted for use in places such as the Dartmouth College computer science department, for use in an introductory programming course.[citation needed] In November 1985, Apple abruptly ended the project as part of a deal with Microsoft to extend the license for BASIC on the Apple II.[7][8] Although Apple retracted MacBASIC, unlicensed copies of the software and manual still circulated, but because MacBASIC was no longer supported by Apple and was not designed to be 32-bit clean, interest eventually died out.[citation needed]

Benchmarks published in the April 1984 issue of BYTE magazine suggested that MacBASIC had better performance as compared to Microsoft's MS BASIC for Macintosh.[9][dubious – discuss] The language included modern looping control structures, user-defined functions, graphics, and access to the Macintosh Toolbox. The development environment supported multiple programs running simultaneously with symbolic debugging including breakpoints and single-step execution.[2]

References

  1. ^ Williams, Gregg (February 1984). "The Apple Macintosh Computer". BYTE. pp. 30–54.
  2. ^ a b Kamins, Scot (April 1984). "Macintosh BASIC". BYTE. Vol. 9, no. 4. pp. 318–330.
  3. ^ "Mac GUI :: Re: Re: MAC Basic vs MS Basic?". macgui.com. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Folklore.org: MacBasic". folklore.org. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  5. ^ Hertzfeld, Andy; Capps, Steve (2005). Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made. O'Reilly Media, Incorporated. p. 254. ISBN 9780596007195. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  6. ^ Lorenzo, Mark (2017). Endless Loop: The History of the BASIC Programming Language. Philadelphia: SE Books. p. 98. ISBN 978-1974-27707-0.
  7. ^ Manes, Stephen; Andrews, Paul (1994). Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. Touchstone. ISBN 9780671880743.
  8. ^ Bill Atkinson interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network
  9. ^ "Mac GUI :: Benchmarking Microsoft vs Macintosh BASIC". macgui.com. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
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