The BASIC interpreter parses numerical values from text each time a token gets executed. It converts that into a float and, in the case of POKE, then into an in

The BASIC interpreter parses numerical values from text each time a token gets executed. It converts that into a float and, in the case of POKE, then into an integer. Using the dot without the implicit leading zero, there's no need to convert a "0” (48 in decimal) into a zero and, possibly, a multiplication by 10 of previously parsed digits, in this case the starting zero value.