
BASIC, Second Edition (1964) [pdf] - networked
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dartmouth/BASIC_Oct64.pdf
======
snori74
Notice the MAT (matrix) commands on page 51.

When I first came across BASIC in the 70's it was known for three things in
particular: (i) being interpreted rather than compiled, (ii) having these MAT
commands, and (iii) being simpler and beginner friendly than FORTRAN or Algol.

The MAT commands seem to have been dropped from most later versions.

(It was at first a compiled language, but it really took off once interpreters
become available on time-share systems. It was probably that aspect, rather
than the syntax, which made it more suited to beginners).

------
invaliduser
It's interesting to note the usage of the slashed O (letter o) as opposed to
the modern slashed zero (see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashed_zero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashed_zero)
).

~~~
once-in-a-while
Some old mechanical typewriters didn't have the Zero '0', one had to use the
'O' character. That's the historical reason.

~~~
jeffwass
My dad's old typewriter also didn't have a number 1 key, so you had to use
lower-case L (ie, l).

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blater
length of program: ...in general no more than two feet of teletype printout.
Teletype feet as a unit of cyclomatic complexity is retro-cool.

~~~
ams6110
As slow as teletype printing is, you probably wouldn't want to wait for more
than about 2 feet of output anyway.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
You generally had no choice about it. For example, Dartmouth Time Sharing
supported the Teletype ASR-33[1], which ran at 10 characters per second. So if
you were printing a moderately long program you would need to wait 5 minutes
or more.

Also the density of the tape wasn't very high (I'm guessing less than 10
characters per inch). Which means that 5 minutes of printing amounted to 300
inches, or 25 feet. It wasn't really a problem, because the paper tape
naturally curled up.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletype_Model_33)

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jonjacky
Here are some photos of students and others using the system at Dartmouth ca
1964. Many show the rolls of teletype paper.

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/dartmouthflickr/sets/721576432...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/dartmouthflickr/sets/72157643275728555/)

This paper from Science in 1968 explains how the time-sharing operating system
(one of the first ever, including two CPUs communicating through a shared
disk) was "designed and constructed by a team consisting of the authors
(Kemeny and Kurtz) and a dozen undergraduate students."

[http://dtss.dartmouth.edu/sciencearticle](http://dtss.dartmouth.edu/sciencearticle)

They write, "This experience revealed that bright undergraduate college
students were extremely adept at computer programming, and that with little
training they could produce major programs and software systems better than
those professionally produced and commercially available."

------
DrTung
I like that motto "Typing is no substitute for thinking." in the PDF. Applies
equally well today :-)

