| Developer(s) | Sinclair Research, Jan Jones |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1984 |
| Operating system | QDOS |
| Platform | Sinclair QL microcomputer |
| Type | second-generation BASIC |
| License | Proprietary |
SuperBASIC is an advanced variant of the BASIC programming language with many structured programming additions. It was developed at Sinclair Research by Jan Jones during the early 1980s.
Originally SuperBASIC was intended as the BASIC interpreter for a home computer code-named SuperSpectrum, then under development. This project was later cancelled; however, SuperBASIC was subsequently included in the ROM firmware of the Sinclair QL microcomputer (announced in January 1984), also serving as the command line interpreter for the QL's QDOS operating system. [1] [2]
It was one of the first second-generation BASICs to be integrated into a microcomputer's operating system (unlike BBC BASIC which preceded it in 1981), making the OS user-extendable—as done by Linus Torvalds in his formative years.
BYTE in September 1984 approved of SuperBASIC's improvements over Sinclair BASIC but criticized its "very, very slow" performance on the Byte Sieve, writing that "With a 7.5-MHz 68008, you'd think it would take some effort to get a language to run that slowly". The magazine also noted that SuperBASIC's seven-digit precision made it unsuitable for business use ("you can represent numbers far larger than the number of quarks in the universe, but not the pennies on your balance sheet if your turnover exceeds £99,000"). [3]
IF - THEN - ELSE - END IFFOR - NEXT - EXIT - END FORREPeat - NEXT - EXIT - END REPeatSELect ON - ON - REMAINDER - END SELectRETurn from within procedures & functionsLOCal arrays & (string) variablesAUTOmatic line numberingRESTORE & DATAThe function below illustrates the last eight of these features. After having RUN it, entering
PRINT weekdays$(Iso("19631122",1))will print FRI to the screen. Until cleared (e.g. by entering NEW), the function Iso [4] will act like an extension to the operating system. Similarly, according to the QL User Guide, "many of the operating system commands are themselves defined as procedures." [5]
AUTO 11,2 DEFine FN Iso(S,O) LOCal y%,m%,d%,i$,n%,w% REM Step 0 - to isolate components of date-stamp S="YEARMoDa" LET y%=S(1TO 4) : m%=S(5TO 6) : d%=S(7TO 8) REM Step 1 - to initiate Lachman's Congruence [6] LET i$=m%*2.56+ 193 : S=S(1TO 6)- 3 REM Step 2 - to compute the day-number within the week LET w%=(S(1TO 2)&"32"DIV 16+ S(1TO 4)DIV 4+ y%+ i$(2TO 3)+ d%)MOD 7 REM Step 3 - to return result SELect ON O ON O= 5 : n%=i$(2TO 3) ON O= 4 : n%=y% ON O= 3 : n%=m% ON O= 2 : n%=d% ON O= 1 : n%=w% ON O= REMAINDER : n%=-1 END SELect RETurn n% REM data statements DIM weekdays$(6,3) RESTORE 190 FOR count=0 TO 6 : READ weekdays$(count)ctrl+space
100DIMmonth$(12,9)110RESTORE120REMQLUserGuide's "Data Read Restore" example ii130REMappropriatelyamendedrelativetoexamplei140FORcount=1TO12:READmonth$(count)150DATA"January","February","March"160DATA"April","May","June"170DATA"July","August","September"180DATA"October","November","December"190DATA"SUN","MON","TUE","WED","THU","FRI","SAT"199ENDDEFineIso