Need a BASIC expert

[Brent Hilpert]

On 2021-Apr-21, at 1:49 AM, Christian Corti via cctalk wrote:
> I'm trying to find out if the BASIC dialect that was available for the MINCAL computers (aboutn 1971) was something derived from another "system" or whether it was an own dialect.
> 
> Some characteristic instructions that I can't find somewhere else are:
> - Formatted output with PRINT FOR(<FORTRAN like description>)
>  Example: PRINT FOR(F5.0)500.1
> - Computed GOTO with GOTO <expression> OF n1,n2,...
>  Example: GOTO A+B+1 OF 100,20,50
> - Presence of "DEF FN", lack of RESTORE for DATA/READ constructs.
> 
> This BASIC must have been around 1970-1972.

It's not clear what you're looking for:
  1. A possible predecessor/origin for the source code or design of the MINCAL interpreter,
  2. or, earlier BASIC implementations that had the language features you mention.

If 2:
  - HPBASIC for the late-60s HP2100 machines (2115,2115,2114) has DEF FN. (Date of source reference: 4/70).
  - the HP9830 (released 1972) has both DEF FN and computed goto (as well as computed gosub).
  - The 9830 has very Fortran-ish WRITE and FORMAT statements.

DEF FN was nothing new, it was apparently in the original Dartmouth.