Microsoft Basic
<language> (MS-BASIC) A dialect of BASIC from Microsoft, originally developed by Bill Gates in a garage back in the CP/M days.
It was originally known as GWBasic, then QBASIC and finally MS-BASIC.
When the MS-DOS operating system came out, it incorporated the GWBASIC.EXE or BASICA.EXE interpreters.
GWBASIC ("Gee Whiz") incorporated graphics and a screen editor and was compatible with earlier BASICs.
QBASIC was more sophisticated.
Version 4.5 had a full screen editor, debugger and compiler.
The compiler could also produce executable files but to run these a utility program (BRUN44.EXE) had to be present.
Thus source code could be kept private.
From DOS 5.0 or 6.0 onward, MS-BASIC was standard.
Current version: 1.1, also produces stand-alone executables and can display graphics.
Usenet newsgroup: news:comp.lang.basic.misc.
[Relationship to BASIC in ROM on first IBM PC?]
