the best to worst basic interpreters

[xxx]

in my opinion...

 

1 rm nimbus  

2 zx spectrum

3 c128

4 c16 

5 amstrad cpc

6 c64 (quirky but in a good way)

7 atari 8 bit

8 amiga wb 1.3 

9 zx81 

10 zx80

11 amiga wb 1.0

12 vic 20 (pretty bad)

13 sord m5

14 ti99 extended 

15 bbc micro 

16 ti99

17 cbm pet

18 trs80 coco (terrible)

19 apple 2 (wtf?)

20 cpm basic

21 trs80

22 apple 1 (pure hell)

 

 ive programmed basic on all these systems... 

 

let me know what you think...

Edited December 28, 2020 by xxx

[xxx]

1 1/2 sam coupe 

[carlsson]

Did you draw numbers out of a hat? ?

 

C64 and VIC-20 have the same BASIC interpreter, so the only difference is the number of columns on screen: the VIC actually does logic lines up to 88 characters while the C64 can only do 80.

 

I don't know how AmigaBASIC differs between WB 1.0 and 1.3 but I'll take your word for it that it somehow got improved before it was axed completely in 2.0.

 

However you can rank ZX-80 and ZX-81 ahead of several of the other systems is beyond my imagination. In particular the BBC Micro which is known to have one of the most advanced and fastest BASIC interpreters of all times, to the point that it got ported to other systems.

 

Sord M5 has three different BASIC cartridges so it is not clear which one you mean: BASIC-I for integers, BASIC-F with floating point numbers or BASIC-G with graphics commands. In a similar fashion, I believe CP/M has at least two or three different BASIC environments too.

[Keatah]

..or put Apple II near the bottom.. WTF?

 

[xxx]

54 minutes ago, carlsson said:

Did you draw numbers out of a hat? ?

 

C64 and VIC-20 have the same BASIC interpreter, so the only difference is the number of columns on screen: the VIC actually does logic lines up to 88 characters while the C64 can only do 80.

 

I don't know how AmigaBASIC differs between WB 1.0 and 1.3 but I'll take your word for it that it somehow got improved before it was axed completely in 2.0.

 

However you can rank ZX-80 and ZX-81 ahead of several of the other systems is beyond my imagination. In particular the BBC Micro which is known to have one of the most advanced and fastest BASIC interpreters of all times, to the point that it got ported to other systems.

 

Sord M5 has three different BASIC cartridges so it is not clear which one you mean: BASIC-I for integers, BASIC-F with floating point numbers or BASIC-G with graphics commands. In a similar fashion, I believe CP/M has at least two or three different BASIC environments too.

bbc basic was awful... 

 

so sord m5 basic would be

 

1 basic i

2 basic f

3 basic g

 

ive used all these too

 

starting from no 13

Edited December 28, 2020 by xxx

[xxx]

11 minutes ago, Keatah said:

..or put Apple II near the bottom.. WTF?

 

slow and clunky...

[Keatah]

Hugely popular and very successful. And certainly better than ZX81.

 

This is more of a favs list than a performance list.

[pacman000]

The worst is probably Basic Programming for the Atari 2600. Don't know about the best.

[xxx]

24 minutes ago, pacman000 said:

The worst is probably Basic Programming for the Atari 2600. Don't know about the best.

yeah i forgot about that one

[Keatah]

TRS-80, Casio, Sharp Pocket Computers..

[pacman000]

4 hours ago, Keatah said:

TRS-80, Casio, Sharp Pocket Computers..

Good or bad?

[Keatah]

Compared to some 8-bit machines, much smaller and less capable, less features. But on their own and for what they were. Pretty good.

[potatohead]

45 minutes ago, pacman000 said:

Good or bad?

I really liked the Radio Shack ones.  Model 100 = awesome, and I had the folding one which I can't remember off hand.  It had 2K RAM and a respectable BASIC.  When I was in manufacturing, I programmed a bunch of layout math into the folding one and used the crap out of it every week.  For a while, I had the use of a Model 100.  It has a bitmap display, which surprised me, and is a killer feature.  I programmed more math into that and some graphics.  Too bad I didn't get one for myself, but the little folding one was enough as I didn't need any graphics.

 

Scored a Model 100 recently for a 20 spot.  It's a really neat machine, and I hope to have some time to explore writing some assembly language for it.  I think it can do a lot more graphically than we've typically seen, but so far...  It's fun for notes and as a terminal.  Have done both of those, along with some programs.  People like to futz with it, and pretty much everyone says, "4 AA batteries, and it runs how long?"  LOL

 

Anyway, I see this BASIC list very differently.  Would deffo not put Applesoft as far down as it is, and wouldn't put it at the top either.  BBC Basic by a mile there.  It's a crazy list!

 

Hey OP, what was your criteria?  Curious friends want to know

 

[pacman000]

Used a Model 100, & loved almost every aspect of it, including their version of BASIC.

[carlsson]

1 hour ago, potatohead said:

Hey OP, what was your criteria?

I may have come across the source code:

 

10 data"amiga wb 1.0","amiga wb 1.3","amstrad cpc","apple 1","apple 2"
20 data"atari 8 bit","bbc micro","c128","c16","c64","cbm pet","cpm basic"
30 data"rm nimbus","sord m5","ti99","ti99 extended","trs80","trs80 coco"
40 data"vic 20","zx spectrum","zx80","zx81"
50 dim b$(22),o(22):for i=1 to 22:read b$(i):o(i)=-1:next
60 r=rnd(-ti):rem randomize
70 for i=1 to 22
80 r=int(rnd(1)*22)+1:ifo(r)<>-1then80
90 o(r)=i:next
100 for i=1 to 22:print i;b$(o(i)):next

 

Adjust the RND calls and other details accordingly to your BASIC dialect.

[xxx]

5 hours ago, potatohead said:

I really liked the Radio Shack ones.  Model 100 = awesome, and I had the folding one which I can't remember off hand.  It had 2K RAM and a respectable BASIC.  When I was in manufacturing, I programmed a bunch of layout math into the folding one and used the crap out of it every week.  For a while, I had the use of a Model 100.  It has a bitmap display, which surprised me, and is a killer feature.  I programmed more math into that and some graphics.  Too bad I didn't get one for myself, but the little folding one was enough as I didn't need any graphics.

 

Scored a Model 100 recently for a 20 spot.  It's a really neat machine, and I hope to have some time to explore writing some assembly language for it.  I think it can do a lot more graphically than we've typically seen, but so far...  It's fun for notes and as a terminal.  Have done both of those, along with some programs.  People like to futz with it, and pretty much everyone says, "4 AA batteries, and it runs how long?"  LOL

 

Anyway, I see this BASIC list very differently.  Would deffo not put Applesoft as far down as it is, and wouldn't put it at the top either.  BBC Basic by a mile there.  It's a crazy list!

 

Hey OP, what was your criteria?  Curious friends want to know

 

a large and easy to understand syntax. i may be a little sinclair biased... 

Edited December 29, 2020 by xxx

[potatohead]

Just a tad... 

 

It's all good.  I chuckled. 

[bluejay]

And why is CoCo 5th to last... It's got one of the best BASIC's on an 8 bit home computer. I'm presuming you never used Extended Color BASIC in which case you most definitely should.

[oracle_jedi]

2 hours ago, bluejay said:

And why is CoCo 5th to last... It's got one of the best BASIC's on an 8 bit home computer. I'm presuming you never used Extended Color BASIC in which case you most definitely should.

 

I doubt he used any of these BASICs.   He lists RM Nimbus as #1 but BBC BASIC as "awful".  The BASIC shipped with the RM Nimbus was BBC BASIC.  

 

And as @carlsson pointed out, the VIC20 and C64 BASICs are identical.   Half the list are variations on Microsoft BASIC/Extended BASIC yet are assigned completely random rankings.

 

He's a troll.   And not a very good one.  Come back carmel andrews - all is forgiven!

 

[Arnuphis]

BBC Basic was awful?

 

I read that and checked out. BBC Basic was great. Probably the best of the ones I used in the day(CBM Vic/64, TI, Dragon 32, Sinclair, Sharp, Plus/4,128)

[carlsson]

Good call on the RM Nimbus! I had a hunch about its relation to Acorn and BBC BASIC but wasn't sure exactly how.

 

Well, everyone are entitled their opinion and if nothing else it is food for discussion, though the OP's list still looks like drawn out of a hat rather than several factors of an implementation weighed together.

[xxx]

9 hours ago, oracle_jedi said:

 

I doubt he used any of these BASICs.   He lists RM Nimbus as #1 but BBC BASIC as "awful".  The BASIC shipped with the RM Nimbus was BBC BASIC.  

 

And as @carlsson pointed out, the VIC20 and C64 BASICs are identical.   Half the list are variations on Microsoft BASIC/Extended BASIC yet are assigned completely random rankings.

 

He's a troll.   And not a very good one.  Come back carmel andrews - all is forgiven!

 

no way bbc basic is nothing like rm nimbus basic 

[Koopa64]

Has anyone here tried Family BASIC on the Famicom? Technically the BASIC included on the cartridge is called HuBASIC (Hudson BASIC).

[oracle_jedi]

4 hours ago, xxx said:

no way bbc basic is nothing like rm nimbus basic 

 

[potatohead]

lol