Table of Contents

decbasic

DEC BASIC-PLUS

One of the oldest and most influential BASIC implementations, developed by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and released in 1970.

It is said to be highly influenced by JOSS, a Rand Corporation time-sharing programming language which also influenced other languages such as FOCAL and MUMPS1).

Where it is/was used

  • DEC PDP-11, under the RSTS/E operating system

Noteworthy characteristics

  • The to-be-famous string manipulation functions LEFT$, MID$, RIGHT$ were born with BASIC-PLUS.

Environment and usage

Extensions

Curiosities

Influenced by

Influence for

  • Altair BASIC by Micro-Soft - Bill Gates used BASIC-PLUS on the PDP-11 during high school and his experience influenced the first BASIC for microcomputers
  • Microsoft BASIC-80 - took even more from DEC BASIC and spread through all of its descendents

Versions and successors

References