Chinese BASIC (中文培基) is the name given to several Chinese-localized versions of the BASIC programming language in the early 1980s. BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. ... MacGyver - 1980s hero The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...

Versions

At least two versions of Chinese BASIC were modified Applesoft BASIC that accepted Chinese commands and variables. They were built into some Taiwan-made Apple II clones. One of these was shipped with the best-selling Multitech Microprofessor II (known as Acer today). Another version was shipped with MiTAC's Little Intelligent Computer (小神通) [1]. Applesoft BASIC was the second dialect of BASIC supplied on the Apple II computer, superseding Integer BASIC. Applesoft BASIC was supplied by Microsoft; Apple was looking for a new version of BASIC for the Apple II Plus computer with 48 KB of RAM, and after their success with Altair BASIC... The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... The following is a list of clones of Apples Apple II home computer: Apco Arrow 1000 Base 64 Basis 108 Bell & Howell [[Citron II] CSC Euro Super CV-777 Franklin Ace Golden II InterTek System IV ITT 2020 Laser 128 Multitech Microprofessor II (MPF II) MicroSCI Havac Microcom IIe... Microprofessor II (MPF II), introduced in 1982, was Acers (then known as Multitech) second branded computer product and also one of the earliest Apple clones. ... Acer (LSE: ACID) (Chinese:宏碁股份有限公司) is a Taiwan-based company which by 2004 had grown to be one of the worlds top five branded PC vendors. ...

In addition to Apple II clones, Multitech also developed a Zilog Z80-based port of the Chinese BASIC for its own line of high-end computers. One of the first Z80 microprocessors manufactured; the date stamp says well before July 1976. ...

Example

In a typical Chinese BASIC environment, Chinese and English commands are interchangeable. It may also accept Chinese and Latin alphabet variables. For example you may use PRINT A in line 50, 印 A in line 200 and ? A in line 250. They all do the same thing -- to print out the value of A on screen. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

Keyboard layout for Cangjie method File links The following pages link to this file: Cangjie method Chinese BASIC Categories: GFDL images ...

This program calculates the sum of log (E) + log (E+1) + log (E+2) + ... + log (F). The Chinese characters used as variables are the 24 radicals of the Cangjie method, one of the earliest QWERTY keyboard-compatible Chinese input methods. The author of the example program may have been Chu Bong-Foo, the inventor of the Cangjie method and one of the founding fathers of modern Chinese computing. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... In computer science and mathematics, a variable (sometimes called a pronumeral) is a symbol denoting a quantity or symbolic representation. ... The Cangjie method (倉頡輸入法， 仓颉输入法)—originally spelt Changjei method—is a system by which Chinese characters may be entered into the computer. ... The QWERTY Layout QWERTY, otherwise known as home row (pronounced ) is the most common modern-day keyboard layout on most English language computer and typewriter keyboards. ... Since the Chinese language uses a logographic script—that is a script where one or two character corresponds roughly to one word or meaning—there are vastly more characters, or glyphs, than there are keys on a standard computer keyboard. ... Chu Bong-Foo (朱邦復) invented the Cangjie method, the most widely available Chinese input method, in 1976. ...

The length of an Applesoft BASIC variable name is restricted to two bytes. Therefore, the variables THISNUMBER and THATNUMBER are treated in the same way. In Multitech's Chinese BASIC, a variable can be 3 bytes long (one Chinese character + one numeral). A byte is commonly used as a unit of storage measurement in computers, regardless of the type of data being stored. ...

See also

• Non-English-based programming languages

Non-English-based programming languages are computer programming languages that, unlike most well-known programming languages, do not use keywords taken from, or inspired by, the English vocabulary. ...

External links

• A page of the Chinese BASIC manual