Exploring Curious Bugs in Early BASICs and the Birth of a New Keyword in Commodore BASIC
By
masswerk
Pulled from the oven just right. Trustworthy, fact-dense, deeply satisfying.
Summary
The article explores a curious bug/feature in early BASICs related to white space handling in BASIC text interpreters, leading to the addition of a keyword in Commodore BASIC for the PET. It delves into the tokenizer routine in early MS 9-digit BASIC for the 65.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledNo, this is not about a one-hit-wonder from the charts of 1977, rather, it’s about something that could have happened on a Commodore PET around this time.
Both are related to BASIC syntax and how white space in BASIC text is handled by the interpreter.
Which sets up the topic of today’s installment, namely, the tokenizer routine in early MS 9-digit BASIC for the 65
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