Back To BASIC: Kemeny & Kurtz's book from 1985 (opens in new tab)

Very interesting indeed! My internal expectations are very much aligned to the earlier MS Basics and to BBC Basic as shipped - I’m surprised to see so many examples go the other way. But your explanation is solid. BBC Basic fell far short of identical syntax to MS Basic 5.0! Arguably in this case it also fell short of identical semantics… still, of course, I’m fond of what I know. Perhaps most remarkable is the change in Sinclair Basic, from the ZX80 following the microcomputer compromise, to...