🚀 go-pugleaf

> > I've heard of a product, (from Apple, I assume) called MAC Basic.
> > Yesterday in the MIT Coop I ran across a nice thick book about it,
> > better than the average DEC language manual (ok, folks, that's a high
> > standard), from SYBEX publishing. It didn't say one word about
> > MicroSoft. I checked some syntax and keywords against an MS Basic
> > manual. Clearly different.
> 
> The story I've heard is that MS Basic, version 1, was based on the typical
> MS Basic for typical PC's, which is why it was so lousy on the Mac.
> According to the story, MS Basic, version 2, *is* Mac Basic, after Microsoft
> bought it from the original developers.  I'm not sure this is entirely true,
> but there is a striking resemblance.  I haven't checked in much detail.
> I bought MS Basic a few weeks ago, but I've been tied up with other things
> and haven't done a lot with it.
> 

NOT TRUE.  MacBasic is a product which Apple has been developing for a long
time.  It is by Donn Dennsmore, the author of Business Basic for the Apple ///.
It is a great deal more sophisticated than MS-Basic (even version 2).  The most
recent versions I have seen (with version numbers in the .8's and .9's) have had
auto-refreshing windows, extensive debugging aids (similar to those in Macintosh
Pascal), considerable toolbox support (for an interpreter), and a number of
other goodies.  If you are interested in BASIC, I am sure it will be a worth-
while product, however I am not sure when Apple will make it available (or even
if it will ever be).

Darin Adler
ihnp4!tmq!darin