Developer(s) Atari Size 27 KB | Platform Atari 400/800/XL/XE Type BASIC | |
Last release 2.0 / 1982; 35 years ago (1982) License Copyright © 1981, 1982 Microsoft Corp. Proprietary | ||
The Atari Microsoft BASIC and Atari Microsoft BASIC II variants of the BASIC programming language were ROM cartridge or floppy disk packaged versions of the Microsoft BASIC dialect ported to the Atari 8-bit machines.
Atari originally licensed Microsoft BASIC for use in their 8-bit computers, but were unable to fit it in an 8 KB ROM cartridge, the largest cartridge size available at the time. They outsourced to another company, Shepardson Microsystems Inc. (SMI), who had similar problems fitting the language onto a 8k cart. SMI proposed creating an entirely new version of BASIC for the new platforms, and built Atari BASIC instead.
Atari Microsoft BASIC, unlike Atari BASIC, didn't allow abbreviations for keywords; keywords had to be fully spelled out. Syntax checking occurred after running a program, not immediately after entering the line. Also, arithmetic operations with integers resulted in an integer result.
Atari Microsoft BASIC came in two packages:
Although more feature filled than Atari BASIC, Microsoft BASIC never had the popularity that Atari BASIC had. The biggest problems were:
The cartridge version eliminated the first two requirements, but a disk drive was needed for all of its features.