JR-BASIC has been the subject of interest and debate for a long time. Its impact on society and daily life is undeniable, and its relevance has transcended into different areas. This article seeks to explore JR-BASIC in depth, analyzing its origins, evolution and possible future implications. Throughout these pages, different aspects related to JR-BASIC will be addressed, from its historical importance to its influence in the contemporary world. In addition, different perspectives on JR-BASIC will be analyzed, showing its complexity and potential to generate discussions and reflections in different areas. This article aims to provide a complete and enriching vision of JR-BASIC, inviting the reader to delve deeper into this relevant and significant topic.
| Paradigm | imperative, algorithmic |
|---|---|
| Developer | Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. |
| First appeared | 1981 |
| Stable release | 5.0
|
| OS | Matsushita JR series |
| Dialects | |
| BASIC | |
| Influenced by | |
| Microsoft BASIC | |
| Influenced | |
| None | |
JR-BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language running on the Matsushita JR series of microcomputers.[1]
Although it's its own dialect, it was designed to be mostly compatible with Microsoft BASIC. Since it was developed for low-cost entry-level machines, it featured as few functions as possible, in order to save computer resources. Nevertheless, the interpreter was intended to be compact and efficient, with a feature-rich screen editor supporting direct execution of BASIC instructions.
Commands were input by keywords[2] - by pressing a combination of control and alphabet keys, a full command word would be entered. This was faster and more comfortable than typing words letter by letter, as the computer keyboard was poor (chiclet keyboard).
JR-BASIC 1.0 is the original version present on the JR-100 computer, released in 1981.[3]
| Constants | Integer (-32767 to +32767); Hexadecimal; String |
|---|---|
| Integer variables | Alphabet or alphabet + number (ex: A, B1)
|
| String variables | Alphabet + $ (ex: D $, W $); Up to 32 characters
|
| Arrays | One dimension (ex: E (5)); Two dimensions (ex: F (X, Y))
|
| Calculations | Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*), Division (/), Remainder (MOD) |
| Commands and Statements | AUTO, BEEP, CLEAR, CLS, CONT, DATA, DIM, END, FIND, FOR - NEXT, GOSUB - RETURN, GOTO, HCOPY, IF - THEN, INPUT, LET, LIST, LLIST, LOAD, LOCATE, LPRINT, MLOAD, MSAVE, NEW, OPTION, PICK, POKE, PRINT, READ, REM, RESTORE, RUN, SAVE, STOP, VERIFY
|
| Functions | ABS, ASC, CHR $, FRE, FLD, HEX $, HPOS, VPOS, LEFT $, LEN, MID $, MOD, PEEK, RIGHT $, RND, SGN, SPC, TAB, USR, VAL
|
| Line numbers | 1 to 32767 |
Key combinations allowed the user to enter commands and control the onscreen basic interpreter.[2]
| Standard input key | Control mapping |
|---|---|
| 1 | (HOME) |
| 2 | VERIFY
|
| 3 | SAVE
|
| 4 | LOAD
|
| 5 | (DELETE) |
| 6 | (←) |
| 7 | (↓) |
| 8 | (↑) |
| 9 | (→) |
| 0 | (INSERT) |
| – | (RUBOUT) |
| Q | GOSUB
|
| W | RET
|
| E | END
|
| R | RUN
|
| T | THEN
|
| Y | LOCATE
|
| U | IF
|
| I | INPUT
|
| O | OPTION
|
| P | PRINT
|
| A | AUTO
|
| S | STOP
|
| D | DIM
|
| F | FOR
|
| G | GOTO
|
| H | POKE
|
| J | RND (
|
| K | READ
|
| L | LIST
|
| ; | CHR $ (
|
| : | REM
|
| Z | (L.INS) |
| X | (CANCEL) |
| C | (BREAK) |
| V | (GRAPH) |
| B | HCOPY
|
| N | NEXT
|
| M | CLS
|
| , | DATA
|
| . | PEEK (
|
The JR-200 model, released in 1983,[4] came with JR-BASIC 5.0 that added extended functionally like graphical commands such as COLOR, (which selected character color, background color and display mode) and PLOT which permitted direct addressing of the low resolution graphics mode (64×48, using text semigraphics characters, which represented pixel blocks that used one-quarter of each character). Eight colors were available for the background and foreground use: blue, red, magenta, green, cyan, yellow, white and black. By re-programming a part of the character-set a limited high resolution graphics mode was achievable with a resolution of 256×192.