TrueBASIC

A legitimate, direct descendent of the original Dartmouth BASIC, also created by Kemeny and Kurtz in 1984, should become a cultuated reference. But reality was quite opposite. TrueBASIC has never been so popular as it was criticized. Anyways, as of 2023 it remains active as a commercial product in three differently priced bundles for Windows, something that shows it acquired a loyal users community.

Where it is/was used

• Windows(XP and newer), 32- and 64-bit
• Windows 95 to 8, 32- and 64-bit (up to version 5.5)
• Macintosh MacOS 9 (up to version 5.5)
• MS-DOS (version 3.05)
• Atari ST
• IBM OS/2

Noteworthy characteristics

• The original REM keyword was supported, but its abbreviation was quite uncommon: ! instead of the more used apostrophe.

Environment and usage

Extensions

TrueBASIC has a significant number of extension modules sold at its website, each bringing a new set of statements and functions.

• FORMS, an interface builder
• Pre-Calculus
• Calculus
• Algebra
• Sorting and Searching Toolkit
• Advanced String Handling
• BTree Tookit
• Communications Toolkit, for serial port usage
• Complete Mathematics Suite, which comprehends:
  • Huge Arithmetic Toolkit
  • Complex Arithmetic
• Complete Graphics Toolkit, a bundle of other extensions:
  • 3D Graphics Toolkit
  • Business Graphics
  • Scientific Graphics
  • Statistics Graphics

Curiosities

Somehow strangely, TrueBASIC was harshly received. BYTE's "Computing at Chaos Manor" columnist Jerry Pournelle was acid in the September 1985 edition ¹⁾. He tried to run a simple 4-line program with numbered lines and could not get past an "Illegal line number" error. He also criticized TrueBASIC's environment unusual interface. "I got tired of fighting with TrueBASIC's 'features' after a ouple of hours", he said. "It's funny that so few of us microcomputer users understand how badly we need help or how ugly our BASIC has become. Now we have the Word. Kemeny and Kurtz have called for a 'rebirth known as TrueBASIC' ".

John C. Dvorak said in his "Inside Track" column at InfoWorld in November 1984²⁾ that Kemeny and Kurz "reinvented Pascal, and they've given it the awkward moniker True BASIC" with the intention of making money on the ANSI BASIC standards from an "ivory tower".

Related to...

Influenced by

• ANSI BASIC had a back-and-forth influence relationship with TrueBASIC

Influence for

Versions and successors

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_BASIC