Editing Tiny BASIC (section)

{{Short description|BASIC programming languages designed for under 4 KB}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name = Tiny BASIC
| logo =               <!-- (filename) -->
| logo caption = 
| screenshot =         <!-- (filename) -->
| screenshot caption = 
| paradigm =           <!-- or: | paradigms = -->
| family =  
| designer =   [[Dennis Allison]]        <!-- or: | designers = -->
| developer = 
| released = 1975
| latest release version = 
| latest release date =     <!-- {{start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date =     <!-- {{start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| typing = 
| scope = 
| programming language = IL (Interpretive Language)
| discontinued =
| platform = 
| operating system = 
| license = Public domain
| file ext = 
| file format =        <!-- or: | file formats = -->
| website =            <!-- {{url|www.example.com}} -->
| implementations = 
| dialects = Denver Tiny BASIC, Enhanced 6800 Tiny BASIC, MINOL, National Industrial Basic Language, Palo Alto Tiny BASIC, 6800 Tiny BASIC, TBI68K, Tiny BASIC Extended
| influenced by = [[Dartmouth BASIC]], 8008 BASIC
| influenced = [[Astro BASIC]], [[Atari BASIC]], [[Level I BASIC]]
}}

'''Tiny BASIC''' is a family of [[Programming language#Dialects, flavors and implementations|dialects]] of the [[BASIC programming language]] that can fit into 4 or fewer [[kilobyte|KB]]s of [[random-access memory|memory]]. Tiny BASIC was designed by [[Dennis Allison]] and the [[People's Computer Company]] (PCC) in response to the [[Open Letter to Hobbyists|open letter]] published by [[Bill Gates]] complaining about users [[Software piracy|pirating]] [[Altair BASIC]], which sold for $150. Tiny BASIC was intended to be a completely free version of BASIC that would run on the same [[:Category:Early microcomputers|early microcomputers]].

Tiny BASIC was released as a specification, not an implementation, published in the September 1975 issue of the PCC newsletter. The article invited programmers to implement it on their machines and send the resulting [[assembler language]] implementation back for inclusion in a series of three planned newsletters. [[Li-Chen Wang]], author of Palo Alto Tiny BASIC, coined the term "[[copyleft]]" to describe this concept. The community response was so overwhelming that the newsletter was relaunched as ''[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]]'', the first regular periodical to focus on microcomputer software. ''Dr. Dobb's'' lasted in print form for 34 years and then online until 2014, when its website became a static archive.

The small size and free source code made these implementations invaluable in the early days of microcomputers in the mid-1970s, when [[RAM]] was expensive and typical memory size was only 4 to 8&nbsp;KB. While the minimal version of Microsoft's Altair BASIC would also run in 4&nbsp;KB machines, it left only 790 bytes free for BASIC programs. More free space was a significant advantage of Tiny BASIC. To meet these strict size limits, Tiny BASIC dialects generally lacked a variety of features commonly found in other dialects, for instance, most versions lacked [[String (computer science)|string variables]], lacked [[floating-point arithmetic|floating-point math]], and allowed only single-letter variable names.

Tiny BASIC implementations are still used today, for programming [[microcontrollers]] such as the [[Arduino]].