GWBASIC Source Code

[Murray McCullough]

  GWBASIC- (Gee-Whiz BASIC) is a Microsoft product, designed much along the
line of IBM’s BASICA, that did not need a ROM BASIC and was interpreted.
Not necessarily basic in design or purpose as defined by Oxford English
Dictionary & Wikipedia and Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, some(purists) say
the latter two shouldn’t be used with the former, GWBASIC nevertheless was
an important development in the early years of our hobby. Little has been
mentioned about the source code:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/microsoft-open-sources-gw-basic/

It’s available on GitHub for download and use in WIN 7 to 10 as far as I
know!



  At that time(1983) in micro-computing history it did what was intended,
help microcomputer owners/users with limited processor and memory
capabilities. Serving this purpose, was there a better BASIC? No doubt. I
used ADAM-BASIC, much like APPLE BASIC, to write silly-little programs or
more-sophisticated ones. Hobbyists, experimenters and early microcomputer
lovers had another tool to master. It’s success may be attributed more to
marketing than anything else but early microcomputer users were happy to
get their hands on something new. And, Microsoft knew marketing, not as
well as APPLE, but the game was capitalism and getting software out the
door! Being first or second was not necessarily the primary reason for
rising to the top. And today: Is LOGO or Python any better teaching tools
than GWBASIC for beginners? I hardly doubt that.



Happy computing.


Murray  🙂