Re: Computing Editorial (please read)

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <s0rX9.9850$im4.5550@nwrddc01.gnilink.net>,
Sam Gillett <samgillett@msn.com> wrote:
 
> Paul Schlyter wrote ...
> 
>>In article <3E2C7D44.84B41CF2@ev1.net>,
>>Charles Richmond  <richmond@ev1.net> wrote:
>>> That is assuming that some other person would *not* have come
>>> up with a microcomputer BASIC. Personally, I think that someone
>>> else would have developed a BASIC if Gates and company had *not*...
>>
>>"Would"?  Someone else DID!!!
>>
>> The first Apple II's were delivered with the non-Microsoft Integer
>> Basic, written by Steve Wozniak.  The Integer Basic ROM's also
>> contained floating-point routines, and if Apple hadn't bought
>> Applesoft from Microsoft, then Wozniak would no doubt have expanded
>> his Integer Basic to also do floating-point.
> 
> Let's not forget to mention Borland.  At one time Borland had a version
> of Basic that competed quite nicely with Microsoft's Basic.  Borland
> also had their own implementation of the C language, and later C+.  For
> a number of years Borland gave Microsoft some very stiff competition
> in the area of programming languages/compilers.
> 
> Best regards,
 
Borland appeared some 5-8 years later though.  The only 8-bit product
by Borland was Turbo Pascal, where versions 1 to 3 were released also
for CP/M-80.  Yes, Turbo Pascal for CP/M-80 blew away the competition
by other CP/M-80 compilers: it was some 5-10 times cheaper, it
compiled much faster, and the compiled programs even ran faster!  Its
only major disadvantage was that Turbo Pascal for CP/M-80 *required*
a Z80 --- thus neither Turbo Pascal, nor .COM files produced by Turbo
Pascal, would run on an 8080 CP/M-80 system.
 
Borland never released any Basic for an 8-bit microprocessor.

Borland bought a Basic compiler with IDE from some people and
marketed it as "Turbo Basic" for some years; after that Borland sold
it back to the same people, who improved it and continued to market
it but under a different name: Power Basic.  I think you still can
buy Power Basic if you would want to.
 
The author of Turbo Pascal, a Dane named Anders Hejlsberg, marketed
it himself first under the name "Compas Pascal" and later "Poly
Pascal".  Anyway, Hejlsberg first went to Microsoft and asked if they
were interested in his compiler --- but MICROSOFT SAID NO!!!!  (it's
a little bit like when Decca Records said "No" to the Beatles in 1962
because they believed Beatles' music had no future....).  Hejlsberg
asked some other companies, found Borland -- and the rest is history.
 
Hejlsberg remained at Borland for many years, but was bought over to
Microsoft some years ago, where he designed the C# programming
language.  C# is to Java a bit like Turbo Pascal was to ANSI Pascal:
practical additional features but nonstandard and single-platform
(OK, Turbo Pascal was dual-platform for awhile: CP/M and MS-DOS, but
so far C# only runs on Ms .NET.  Of course Java is single-platform
too, since it runs only on the JVM).  But it's a bit ironic that C#
now has been standardsized by ECMA, while Sun still refuses to have
Java standardized....
 
-- 
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