Microsoft has recently made a significant contribution to the open-source community by releasing the source code of its 1976 BASIC version, originally designed for the MOS 6502 processor. This processor was a key component in several early microcomputers, marking a pivotal moment in computing history. The BASIC interpreter, Microsoft’s inaugural product, was initially developed for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. A year after its creation, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, along with the company’s second employee Ric Weiland, adapted BASIC for the 6502 processor. This move proved instrumental when Commodore licensed the software for its PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64 computers, significantly contributing to the popularization of personal computing.
The open-sourced version, BASIC 1.1, includes enhancements made in collaboration with Commodore, particularly improvements to the garbage collector. Hosted on GitHub under the permissive MIT License, the release comprises over 6,900 lines of assembly language code. It supports a full BASIC language implementation, including features like floating-point arithmetic, string handling, and array support, tailored for efficient memory use on 8-bit systems.
This gesture not only celebrates Microsoft’s foundational role in the software industry but also provides a nostalgic yet educational resource for enthusiasts and historians alike. It follows Microsoft’s previous open-source release of GW-BASIC in 2020, further cementing the company’s early influence on the personal computing landscape.
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