On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:33:48 +0900, Timothy Sipples <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Shmuel Metz writes: >>Weren't there other early BASIC compiler/interpreter systems with >>small footprints? > >There were, although Micro-soft [sic] was quite early to the party because >they produced the BASIC implementation for the Altair, arguably the world's >first personal computer. (There's some debate about that, of course.) > Sure, Micro-Soft (that's what it was called at the time) basic was early to the party, and their early success came when they started to sell it before they had a product. Tiny Basic came out at about the same time, in a smaller footprint, and it's source was published in the first issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal, at that time called Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics and Orthodontia. The Mark-8 was certainly before Altair, but it was a difficult task to build one. You could buy plans and bare circuit boards, but you would have been on your own for components. The Altair was a kit, and IIRC, you could order it assembled. Tom Marchant ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
