Note: this component focuses on first and second-generation BASICs (such as MSX BASIC, GW-BASIC, SuperBASIC, QuickBASIC, PowerBASIC...).

Comments

! This is a comment
REM This is a remark

Strings

"This a string."
"This is a string with ""quotes"" in it."

Numbers

42
3.14159
-42
-3.14159
.5
10.
2E10
4.2E-14
-3E+2

Dartmouth Basic example

5 LET S = 0
10 MAT INPUT V
20 LET N = NUM
30 IF N = 0 THEN 99
40 FOR I = 1 TO N
45 LET S = S + V(I)
50 NEXT I
60 PRINT S/N
70 GO TO 5
99 END

GW-BASIC example

10 INPUT "What is your name: ", U$
20 PRINT "Hello "; U$
30 INPUT "How many stars do you want: ", N
40 S$ = ""
50 FOR I = 1 TO N
60 S$ = S$ + "*"
70 NEXT I
80 PRINT S$
90 INPUT "Do you want more stars? ", A$
100 IF LEN(A$) = 0 THEN GOTO 90
110 A$ = LEFT$(A$, 1)
120 IF A$ = "Y" OR A$ = "y" THEN GOTO 30
130 PRINT "Goodbye "; U$
140 END

QuickBASIC example

DECLARE SUB PrintSomeStars (StarCount!)
REM QuickBASIC example
INPUT "What is your name: ", UserName$
PRINT "Hello "; UserName$
DO
   INPUT "How many stars do you want: ", NumStars
   CALL PrintSomeStars(NumStars)
   DO
      INPUT "Do you want more stars? ", Answer$
   LOOP UNTIL Answer$ <> ""
   Answer$ = LEFT$(Answer$, 1)
LOOP WHILE UCASE$(Answer$) = "Y"
PRINT "Goodbye "; UserName$

SUB PrintSomeStars (StarCount)
   REM This procedure uses a local variable called Stars$
   Stars$ = STRING$(StarCount, "*")
   PRINT Stars$
END SUB