MICROSOFT BASIC

Domain	Definition
Computing	Microsoft Basic (MS-BASIC) A dialect of BASIC from Microsoft, originally developed by Bill Gates in a garage back in the CP/M days. It was originally known as GWBasic, then QBASIC and finally MS-BASIC. When the MS-DOS operating system came out, it incorporated the GWBASIC.EXE or BASICA.EXE interpreters. GWBASIC ("Gee Whiz") incorporated graphics and a screen editor and was compatible with earlier BASICs. QBASIC was more sophisticated. Version 4.5 had a full screen editor, debugger and compiler. The compiler could also produce executable files but to run these a utility program (BRUN44.EXE) had to be present. Thus source code could be kept private. From DOS 5.0 or 6.0 onwards, MS-BASIC was standard. Current version: 1.1, also produces stand-alone executables and can display graphics. Usenet newsgroup: news:comp.lang.basic.misc. [Relationship to BASIC in ROM on first IBM PC?] (1995-05-12). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Microsoft BASIC

Microsoft BASIC is the foundation product of the Microsoft company. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, the first programming language available for the MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer. The Altair BASIC interpreter was developed by Microsoft founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates using an Intel 8080 software simulator running on a minicomputer.

After the initial success of Altair BASIC, Microsoft BASIC became the basis for a lucrative software licencing business, being ported to the majority of the numerous home and personal computers of the 1970s and especially the 1980s. Most home computer BASICs were resident in ROM, thus always available on the machines and constituting part of their simple operating systems.

See Also: BASIC programming language

BASIC variants based on Microsoft BASIC

Altair BASIC
BASICA
Commodore BASIC
GW-BASIC
QuickBASIC

Commercial Usage: MICROSOFT BASIC

Domain	Title
Books	Database manager in microsoft basic (reference) Dr. C. Wacko Presents Microsoft Basic and the Whiz-Bang Miracle Machine (reference) (more book examples)

High Tech	Microsoft Basic Mouse (PS/2) (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: MICROSOFT BASIC

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Anagrams: MICROSOFT BASIC

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-c-c-f-i-i-m-o-o-r-s-s-t"
	-3 letters: macrobiotic.
	-4 letters: fortissimo, mobocratic, strabismic.
	-5 letters: acrostics, acrotisms, amoristic, cofactors, fascistic, iotacisms, isosmotic, mobocrats, mosaicist, ostracism, robotisms, scimitars, trisomics.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.