BBC BASIC Nomenclature |
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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:
Conversely, BBC BASIC for the ARM is refered to in documentation as "ARM BBC BASIC" and has startup message such as:
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) |
The top twenty results for "BBCBASIC" included
and the first five matches were: bbcbasic.com, bbcbasic.com, mdfs.net, mdfs.net, mdfs.net.
The top twenty results for "BBC BASIC" included
and the first five matches were: bbcbasic.com, R.T.Russell, R.T.Russell, R.T.Russell, Brandy Basic.