BASIC toolkits (aka BASIC extensions) were a common type of program for 1980s 8-bit

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

s. Generally third-party extensions, they added additional features to a computer's built-in

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

Technical concept

Toolkits ran as extensions to the BASIC interpreter supplied with the machine. At the time, such interpreters almost always came programmed into the

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

of the computer, making it impossible to modify or patch the

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

. It was also extremely rare for manufacturers to offer upgrades or bugfixes except as part of new models of machine. As the original language was held in immutable

, it generally was difficult for a toolkit to directly extend the language, except by adding new keywords to perform functions not implemented by the original interpreter.

Functionality

Typical toolkit functionality included editing extensions, such as commands to renumber a program, perform block line deletions and so on, facilities to make

structured programming Structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed at improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making specific disciplined use of the structured control flow constructs of selection ( if/then/else) and repet ...

possible, and additional keywords to perform new functions. In the case of the latter, these new functions often allowed the programmer to easily access the computer's

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

and other hardware which was often partially or completely unsupported in the early BASICs. This would have otherwise been achieved by arcane usage of ''

PEEK and POKE In computing, PEEK and POKE are commands used in some high-level programming languages for accessing the contents of a specific Memory cell (computing), memory cell referenced by its memory address. PEEK gets the byte located at the specified m ...

'' commands and

machine language In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers, machine code is the binaryOn nonb ...

routines.

Examples

Beta BASIC Beta BASIC is a BASIC interpreter for the Sinclair Research ZX Spectrum microcomputer, written by Dr Andrew Wright in 1983 and sold by his one-man software house BetaSoft. BetaSoft also produced a regular newsletter/magazine, BetaNews. Originally ...

(

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

) – Extension to

Sinclair BASIC Sinclair BASIC is a dialect of the programming language BASIC used in the 8-bit home computers from Sinclair Research, Timex Sinclair and Amstrad. The Sinclair BASIC interpreter was written by Nine Tiles Networks Ltd. Designed to run in on ...

; started out as a simple toolkit but grew into a full interpreter *Lightning BASIC (

Amstrad PCW The Amstrad PCW series is a range of personal computers produced by United Kingdom, British company Amstrad from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the "Joyce" by the German electronics company Schneider Computer Division, Schn ...

) – Extension to Mallard BASIC with many new facilities (see the Mallard BASIC article for details) *

Simons' BASIC Simons' BASIC is an BASIC extension, extension to Commodore BASIC, BASIC 2.0 for the Commodore 64 home computer. Written by British people, British programmer David Simons in 1983, who was 16 years old at the time, it was distributed by Commodore I ...

(

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

) – Extension to BASIC 2.0 with 114 extra commands; programmed by a 16-year-old boy and marketed by CBM *

Super Expander The VIC-1211 Super Expander is a cartridge for the VIC-20 home computer. It was designed to provide several extensions to the BASIC interpreter on the computer, mostly to help with programming graphics and sound. It also provided of extra RAM ...

(

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit entry level home computer that was sold by Commodore International, Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commod ...

) – A combined

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-expansion (3

kibibyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

s) and BASIC extension cartridge

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basic Extension BASIC programming language

Technical concept

Functionality

Examples

See also

References