info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (08/20/84)
From: KSPROUL@RUTGERS.ARPA Has anybody ELSE actually seen this beast, I got a glance at it tonight and it is really neat!! I didnt get a chance to do any bench marks, but there were some neat demo programs with it, and the structure of the programs where great (NO LINE NUMBERS!!) I think this is going to make the mac a real winner!!! Keith Sproul Ksproul@Rutgers -------
info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (08/21/84)
From: ssc-vax!eve@ssc-bee (Michael Eve) [ED. - Note that the original message dealt with Apple Macintosh Basic, and not Microsoft BASIC which this message deals with. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion others have. From what I have seen, Apple Macintosh Basic is a complete win.] .... Before you shell out the bucks for Microsoft Basic, I suggest you read the August Byte, pg. 248. The author claims that with usoft Basic, there is only 13k bytes available for user program and data space! I also attended a seminar by one of the designers of Microsoft Basic here in Seattle. To achieve 14-digit precision with dollars and cents, BCD arithmetic is used internally exclusively. That should really shoot performance in the foot. Early benchmarks I have seen confirm that this Basic does indeed bark. Too bad. The Mac is getting enough bad press without all the flak this Basic is going to catch. mike eve