<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft BASIC</span>

Microsoft BASIC

<p><b>Microsoft BASIC</b> is the foundation <a href="/en/Software" title="Software" class="wl">software</a> product of the <a href="/en/Microsoft" title="Microsoft" class="wl">Microsoft</a> company and evolved into a line of <a href="/en/BASIC_interpreter" title="BASIC interpreter" class="wl">BASIC interpreters</a> and <a href="/en/Compiler" title="Compiler" class="wl">compiler</a>(s) adapted for many different <a href="/en/Microcomputer" title="Microcomputer" class="wl">microcomputers</a>. It first appeared in 1975 as <a href="/en/Altair_BASIC" title="Altair BASIC" class="wl">Altair BASIC</a>, which was the first version of <a href="/en/BASIC" title="BASIC" class="wl">BASIC</a> published by Microsoft as well as the first <a href="/en/High-level_programming_language" title="High-level programming language" class="wl">high-level programming language</a> available for the <a href="/en/Altair_8800" title="Altair 8800" class="wl">Altair 8800</a> microcomputer.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Programming language</div>
<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Designed&nbsp;by, Developer, First&nbsp;appea...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vevent mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title summary">Microsoft BASIC</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><div style="text-align:center;"></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Software_design" title="Software design" class="wl">Designed<span>&nbsp;</span>by</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Microsoft" title="Microsoft" class="wl">Microsoft</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Software_developer" title="Software developer" class="mw-redirect wl">Developer</a></th><td class="infobox-data organiser">Microsoft</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">First<span>&nbsp;</span>appeared</th><td class="infobox-data">1975 (cf. <a href="/en/Altair_BASIC" title="Altair BASIC" class="wl">Altair BASIC</a>)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="/en/Software_release_life_cycle" title="Software release life cycle" class="wl">Stable release</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="margin:0px;">cf. <a href="/en/Visual_Basic_.NET" title="Visual Basic .NET" class="mw-redirect wl">Visual Basic .NET</a>
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<p>During the <a href="/en/Home_computer" title="Home computer" class="wl">home computer</a> craze during the late-1970s and early-1980s, BASIC was ported to and supplied with many home computer designs. Slight variations to add support for machine-specific functions, especially graphics, led to a profusion of related designs like <a href="/en/Commodore_BASIC" title="Commodore BASIC" class="wl">Commodore BASIC</a> and <a href="/en/Atari_Microsoft_BASIC" title="Atari Microsoft BASIC" class="wl">Atari Microsoft BASIC</a>.</p>

<p>As the early home computers gave way to newer designs like the <a href="/en/IBM_Personal_Computer" title="IBM Personal Computer" class="wl">IBM Personal Computer</a> and <a href="/en/Macintosh" title="Macintosh" class="mw-redirect wl">Macintosh</a>, BASIC was no longer as widely used, although it retained a strong following. The release of <a href="/en/Visual_Basic_(classic)" title="Visual Basic (classic)" class="wl">Visual Basic</a> reboosted its popularity and it remains in wide use on <a href="/en/Microsoft_Windows" title="Microsoft Windows" class="wl">Microsoft Windows</a> platforms in its most recent incarnation, <a href="/en/Visual_Basic_.NET" title="Visual Basic .NET" class="mw-redirect wl">Visual Basic .NET</a></p>



Microsoft BASIC is the foundation software product of the Microsoft company and evolved into a line of BASIC interpreters and compiler adapted for many different microcomputers. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first version of BASIC published by Microsoft as well as the first high-level programming language available for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. During the home computer craze during the late-1970s and early-1980s, BASIC was ported to and supplied with many home computer designs. Slight variations to add support for machine-specific functions, especially graphics, led to a profusion of related designs like Commodore BASIC and Atari Microsoft BASIC. As the early home computers gave way to newer designs like the IBM Personal Computer and Macintosh, BASIC was no longer as widely used, although it retained a strong following. The release of Visual Basic reboosted its popularity and it remains in wide use on Microsoft Windows platforms in its most recent incarnation, Visual Basic .NET 