On my site I have tried to be consistant and use "BBC BASIC", but all varients can be seen across the Internet. Acorn has always stated that it is "BASIC" and "BBC BASIC", not "Basic", "BBCBasic" or "BBCBASIC", so my odd uses of "BBCBasic" are noncompliant. It probably started from my creation of a directory called BBCBasic instead of BBCBASIC that started it all off. Whenever I spot a document on my site that does not use "BBC BASIC" I change it.

6502 BASIC on the BBC Micros tended to be refered to as just "BASIC". It wasn't until non-6502 versions were written that some sort of modifier was needed. BBC BASIC for the Z80 is refered to in documentation as "BBC BASIC Z80" and has startup message such as:

• Acorn BBC BASIC Version x.yz
• Amstrad BBC BASIC Version x.yz
• Einstein BBC BASIC Version x.yz

Conversely, BBC BASIC for the ARM is refered to in documentation as "ARM BBC BASIC" and has startup message such as:

• ARM BBC BASIC V version x.yz

BBC BASIC for the Z80 is refered to in its own READ.ME file as BBCBASIC(Z80), BBC BASIC (Z80) and BBCBASIC (Z80). The printed manuals consistantly use BBCBASIC(Z80). I have inconsistantly refered to it as BBCBasic(Z80) and BBCBasic(80), but have tended to use (80) more than (Z80), to be consistant with (32) and (86) for the 32016 and 80x86 versions. 6502 BASIC is a bigger exception to the expected form being refered to as just BASIC I, BASIC II, BASIC III and BASIC IV.

I suppose the correct form should be "BBC BASIC (CPU)". This has the advantage that all varients of BBC BASIC will be listed alphabetically next to each other. However, if a displayed name is truncated than all you see is, for example, "BBC BAS..."

In documentation I have tried to consistantly use "CPU BBC BASIC" and naming files "BBC BASIC CPU".

These are common forms seen:

6502	BASIC	BASIC I	BASIC II	BASIC III	BASIC IV
Z80	Z80 BBC BASIC	BBC BASIC Z80	BBC BASIC (Z80)	BBCBASIC(Z80)	BBCBasic(Z80)	BBCBasic(80)
80x86	8086 BBC BASIC	BBC BASIC 8086	BBC BASIC (86)	BBCBASIC(86)	BBCBasic(86)
32016	32016 BBC BASIC	BBC BASIC 32016	BBC BASIC (32)	BBCBASIC(32)	BBCBasic(32)
ARM	ARM BBC BASIC	BBC BASIC ARM	BBC BASIC (ARM)	BBCBASIC(ARM)	BBCBasic(ARM)	BASIC V	BASIC VI
PDP11	PDP11 BBC BASIC	BBC BASIC PDP11	BBC BASIC (11)	BBCBASIC(11)	BBCBasic(11)

Searching for BBC BASIC

The top twenty results for "BBCBASIC" included

2 matches for Rakewell

and the first five matches were: bbcbasic.com, R.T.Russell, R.T.Russell, R.T.Russell, Brandy Basic.

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Authored by J.G.Harston - Last update: 20-Mar-2004