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The Basic language was invented at Dartmouth College in the early 1960s. The
purpose was to provide a means for students of mathematics to solve algebraic
problems without having to first spend many hours learning how to do computer
programming. The end result has become a language so simple that a person can
write programs with little more than a minute or two of training!
A BIT OF HISTORY: The original
version of Basic, still available, is called
True Basic. It is available via
www.truebasic.com. It grew from an earlier
programming language called Fortran,
invented in the late 1950s. Prior to Fortran,
programming used binary numbers. Fortran
converted these to letter symbols and True
Basic further simplified the language.
In the late 1960s, versions were made
available on Mini Computers (which filled
up a rack of apparatus). Some software was
available via an ordinary telephone line, one
being from Hewlett Packard about 1970. An
old fashioned Teletypewriter was used for
input and output. In the 1970s, 8-bit
personal computers appeared, some with the
Basic language installed. A pioneer was the
Altair 8800. Then came the VIC 20 followed
by the popular Commodore 64. This was
followed by the Apple 8-bit and others.
In the early 1980s, Microsoft was formed
and the first version of their GW-BASIC was
offered for 16 bit computers using the disk
operating system. This language was perhaps
the easiest to use. It is no longer available
other than via the internet. Microsoft now
offers more elaborate and powerful versions..
Versions of Basic that compete with
Visual Basic include Liberty Basic, Just
Basic, True Basic, and others. GW-BASIC
differs from other versions of Basic in that
the language must be present in order to run
a program. This means that an application
program cannot be created for use on a
machine not equipped with GW-BASIC.
GW-BASIC may be available as a download
from the internet and it will function on the
current Windows operating system.
Most forms of Basic permit calling an
assembly language program in order to
CALCULATING
PI:
With
the
information provided here, you should be
able to understand the computer program
described in a later discussion that finds the
value of Pi to one part out of 30 million.
(The version of Basic uses more digits in
calculations than the simple calculator.)
GRAPHS WITH BASIC: Suppose we
have a function such as y=100*x/(x^2+10)
and we want to plot a graph of this function
for x>zero. We will rotate the display by 90
degrees so that values of y are horizontal and
values for x along with marks for y values
are vertical and downward. We will use the
TAB function in GW-BASIC. A calculated
mark is moved to the right with the number
of steps equal to the value of the function.
This example does not include axes lines
or numbers other than values of x up to 5.
10 FOR X=0 TO 10
20 Y=100*X/(X^2+5)
30 PRINT TAB(X+10)*
40 NEXT X
50 END
An ordinary typewriter (or computer
keyboard) can create graphs. Again have the
y-axis horizontal and the x-axis vertical and
downward. Step the space bar to the right to
represent the computed number, starting at
perhaps 10 to represent zero. Type a zero of
other symbol to define the value. Could this
be helpful in teaching mathematics in
schools?
OTHER COMMANDS: We have only
scratched the surface in describing the things
that can be done with Basic. Some graphical
techniques also are available. All we want to
do here is to show how to calculate and print
certain algebraic functions.
The simple function above can be
expanded to represent complex functions
having many factors in the numerator and
many in the denominator. Exponents need
not be simple numbers. Furthermore, factors
can depend on y and z values to describe
functions above surfaces or space.
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