21 Nov
2005
21 Nov
'05
5:28 p.m.
In BASIC, where did the short cut of '?' for PRINT originate?
After following a discussion on the CoCo list I thought I'd ask here.
--
tim lindner
tlindner at ix.netcom.com Bright
21 Nov
21 Nov
7:03 p.m.
tim lindner wrote:
In BASIC, where did the short cut of '?' for
PRINT originate?
After following a discussion on the CoCo list I thought I'd ask here.
Here are some bounds and data points.
The Dartmouth BASIC specification does not have ? as an abbrevation (circa 1964).
I think all versions of Microsoft BASIC have this shortcut (circa 1975).
Palo Alto Tiny BASIC (li chen wang) didn't use this convention -- instead it
used "P.".
Wang BASIC (circa 1972) didn't use this convention.
From what I can tell, DEC BASIC didn't use this abbreviation.
7:53 p.m.
Here are some bounds and data points.
The Dartmouth BASIC specification does not have ? as an abbrevation (circa 1964).
I think all versions of Microsoft BASIC have this shortcut (circa 1975).
Palo Alto Tiny BASIC (li chen wang) didn't use this convention -- instead it
used "P.".
Wang BASIC (circa 1972) didn't use this convention.
From what I can tell, DEC BASIC didn't use this abbreviation.
HP BASIC (at least the version on the 9830) doesn't either. Of course HP
BASIC was odd anyway, in that PRINT was what other BASICs called LPRINT
(it sent stuff to the printer), while DISP was what everone else called
PRINT (to send stuff to the display).
-tony
9:22 p.m.
Another data point: Data General BASIC in 1969 used '?' as equivalent to the
PRINT command.
Another data point: this was before Microsoft BASIC.
Bruce Ray
...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Battle" <frustum at pacbell.net>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 12:03 PM
Subject: Re: BASIC's question mark and PRINT
tim lindner wrote:
In BASIC, where did the short cut of '?'
for PRINT originate?
After following a discussion on the CoCo list I thought I'd ask here.
Here are some bounds and data points.
The Dartmouth BASIC specification does not have ? as an abbrevation (circa
1964).
I think all versions of Microsoft BASIC have this shortcut (circa 1975).
Palo Alto Tiny BASIC (li chen wang) didn't use this convention -- instead
it used "P.".
Wang BASIC (circa 1972) didn't use this convention.
From what I can tell, DEC BASIC didn't use this abbreviation.
10:27 p.m.
Jim Battle wrote:
Palo Alto Tiny BASIC (li chen wang) didn't use
this convention --
instead it used "P.".
BBC BASIC used P. too, although the manual in front of me suggests that it
wasn't until version 4 (circa 1985 probably) - I don't think prior versions
supported token abbreviations (version 3 may have; this was produced purely
for the US market).
The '?' token was used by BBC BASIC for peek and poke as I recall.
Print is listed in the manual as token #241.
(BBC BASIC was probably somewhat unconventional though in that it had
functions and procedures, local variables, built-in assembler etc. and so was
rather more advanced than most other BASICs around at the time)
cheers
Jules
6981
days inactive
6981
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participants (6)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
bkr＠WildHareComputers.com -
bob_lafleur＠technologist.com -
frustum＠pacbell.net -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
tlindner＠ix.netcom.com