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An interesting aspect of this is why there wasn't a BASIC on the Mac early on (save for an text-based version offering from Microsoft which barely allowed writi
by WillAdams 3y ago
An interesting aspect of this is why there wasn't a BASIC on the Mac early on (save for an text-based version offering from Microsoft which barely allowed writing to the screen):
https://www.folklore.org/MacBasic.html https://www.folklore.org/MacBasic.html
- Gormo 3y agoI recall using TrueBASIC on the Mac in the early '90s, and IIRC, it had already been around for a while. It was a nice, structured dialect that didn't rely on line numbers.
- timbit42 3y agoMicrosoft didn't understand GUIs yet. Amiga BASIC was also written by Microsoft and the GUI support is also limited. Apple didn't create a BASIC for the Mac because was into Pascal and had used it for the Lisa OS and apps. Much of the Lisa code was reused in the Mac OS.
- WillAdams 3y agoI guess you didn't read the link? >Donn was making good progress and looked to be on track to ship in early 1985; we were excited to show the world what Basic should really look like on the Macintosh. >He knew that Donn's Basic was way ahead of Microsoft's, so, as a condition for agreeing to renew Applesoft, he demanded that Apple abandon MacBasic, buying it from Apple for the price of $1, and then burying it. I bought Microsoft's BASIC for the Mac, and it was a waste of money, and I'd've much rather had Apple's based on my reading of the books which were published about it despite it not having been released save as a beta: https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/MacBASIC#Books https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/MacBASIC#Books
- timbit42 3y agoI read every article on that website a number of years ago but I forgot that story since.