Business Basic

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Business Basic is an interactive high-level programming language developed for minicomputer systems in the early 1970s. Derived from the original Dartmouth BASIC, Business Basic extended the language concepts by introducing file indexing methods which evolved into true keyed access technology similar to those methods available to COBOL programmers.

Because of its interactive nature, Business Basic affords runtime event trapping capabilities, though the character-based systems did not permit the wide range of events that modern graphical environments do. Business Basic interpreters also offer extensive diagnostic capabilities, permitting developers to resolve live problems through telephone support without constantly having to ship updates. The interpretive nature of Business Basic also expedites development efforts through permitting quick testing and debugging of code. The software developer can stop the running of the program at any point, make changes and continue, without the need to go through the recompilation and restart process common with most programming languages.

There are two primary "groups" or "families" of the Business Basic programming language:

  • The MAI Basic Four Business Basic family is the oldest version of the language, and there have been numerous competitors over the years who have duplicated and enhanced the rich MAI language.
  • The Data General Business Basic family is the second most well-known Business Basic. Originally very similar to the MAI language, DG Business Basic and its competitors' derivatives have evolved into a very different style of Business Basic.

Other Business Basics have risen from the Point 4 systems running under IRIS.

In the 1980s, Business Basic was ported from proprietary environments to Unix, Xenix, VMS, and MS-DOS by many vendors, including Thoroughbred, BASIS International, Microshare, Sybex/BBIcon(Canada), and Transoft (UK), to name just a few.


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