Lesson plan

Minimal BASIC

Minimal BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language developed as an international standard. The effort started at ANSI in January 1974, and was joined in September by a parallel group at ECMA. The first draft was released for comments in January 1976 and the final standard, known alternately as ANSI X3.60-1978 or ECMA-55, was published in December 1977. The US Bureau of Standards introduced the NBSIR 77-1420 test suite to ensure implementations met the definition. By this time, Microsoft BASIC was beginning to take over the market after its introduction on early microcomputers in 1975, and especially after the introduction of the 1977 "trinity" - the Apple II, Commodore PET and TRS-80, all of which would cement MS-style BASICs as the de facto standard. ISO standardization of Minimal BASIC began as ISO 6373:1984 but was abandoned in 1998. An effort to produce a more powerful dialect, Full BASIC (also known as Standard BASIC), was not released until January 1987 and had little impact on the market.

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Article summary

Minimal BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language developed as an international standard. The effort started at ANSI in January 1974, and was joined in September by a parallel group at ECMA. The first draft was released for comments in January 1976 and the final standard, known alternately as ANSI X3.60-1978 or ECMA-55, was published in December 1977. The US Bureau of Standards introduced the NBSIR 77-1420 test suite to ensure implementations met the definition. By this time, Microsoft BASIC was beginning to take over the market after its introduction on early microcomputers in 1975, and especially after the introduction of the 1977 "trinity" - the Apple II, Commodore PET and TRS-80, all of which would cement MS-style BASICs as the de facto standard. ISO standardization of Minimal BASIC began as ISO 6373:1984 but was abandoned in 1998. An effort to produce a more powerful dialect, Full BASIC (also known as Standard BASIC), was not released until January 1987 and had little impact on the market.

Key claims

  1. release date: 1976 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. release date: 1987 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  3. release date: 1976 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  4. release date: 1976 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  5. release date: 1420 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  6. release date: 1984 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "1976". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the release date is "1987". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. The record states that the release date is "1976". What evidence would count against this claim?
  5. The record states that the release date is "1976". What evidence would count against this claim?
  6. The record states that the release date is "1420". What evidence would count against this claim?
  7. The record states that the release date is "1984". What evidence would count against this claim?
  8. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  9. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1347611611

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.