Editing Dartmouth BASIC (section)

==BASIC language==
The first release implemented the following statement types, taking some of its operators and keywords from [[FORTRAN|FORTRAN II]] and some from [[ALGOL|ALGOL 60]]. Overall, the language more closely follows the FORTRAN model,{{sfn|Kurtz|1981|p=523}} in that it generally has one statement per line of code, lacks ALGOL's "blocks" to group code (these [[structured programming]] constructs were a primary reason for ALGOLs development) and the use of GOTO to control program flow.

From ALGOL it took the <code>FOR...TO...STEP</code> style loops that replaced FORTRAN's unwieldy <code>DO...CONTINUE</code> statements.{{sfn|Kurtz|1981|p=524}} BASIC also simplified the <code>IF...THEN</code> construct to allow simple comparisons like {{code|IF X>5 THEN GOTO 20|basic}}, as opposed to FORTRAN's <code>IF (X-5) 20,20,30</code>.{{sfn|Kurtz|1981|p=524}} FORTRAN's style "computed IF" was reintroduced with the <code>ON...GOTO</code> command in later versions.

Variable names were limited to A to Z, A0 to A9, B0 to B9,&nbsp;..., Z0 to Z9, giving a maximum of 286 possible distinct variables. FORTRAN's odd system for setting up the variables I through N as integers and the rest as floating point was removed, and all variables were assumed to be floating point and dimensioned with up to 10 elements. The <code>DIM</code> command was only required if the array held more than ten elements.{{sfn|Kurtz|1981|p=524}} Array names were restricted to A to Z only.

===List of BASIC statements===
; <code>DEF</code> : define single line functions
; <code>DIM</code> : (short for ''dimension'') define the size of arrays
; <code>END</code> : define the end of the program
; <code>STOP</code> : stop a program before the textual end
; <code>[[For loop|FOR]] / TO / STEP</code> : define loops
; <code>NEXT</code> : mark the end of loops
; <code>[[GOSUB]]</code> : transfer control to simple subroutines
; <code>[[Return statement|RETURN]]</code> : return control from simple subroutines
; <code>[[GOTO]]</code> : transfer control to another statement
; <code>IF / THEN</code> : decision making
; <code>LET / =</code> : assign formula results to a variable
; <code>PRINT</code> : output results
; <code>DATA</code> : store static data within the program
; <code>READ</code> : input data stored in DATA statements
; <code>REM</code> : comment ("REMark")

It also implemented floating-point numeric variables and arithmetic.

===List of operators===

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Arithmetic operators
!colspan="2"|Relational/logical operators
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>-</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Negation (unary op.)
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>=</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Equal To
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>+</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Addition
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>&lt;&gt;</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Not Equal To
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>-</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Subtraction (binary op.)
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>&lt;</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Less Than
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>*</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Multiplication
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>&lt;=</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Less Than or Equal To
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>/</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Division
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>&gt;</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Greater Than
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>?</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Exponentiation
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>=&gt;</code>
|style="vertical-align: top"|Greater Than or Equal To
|-
!colspan="4"|Grouping operator
|-
|style="vertical-align: top"|<code>(&nbsp;)</code>
|colspan="3" style="vertical-align: top"|Grouping
|}

===List of functions===
; <code>ABS</code> : Absolute value
; <code>ATN</code> : Arctangent value (result in [[radian]]s)
; <code>COS</code> : Cosine value (argument in [[radian]]s)
; <code>EXP</code> : Exponential value
; <code>INT</code> : Integer value
; <code>LOG</code> : Natural Logarithmic value
; <code>RND</code> : Random value
; <code>SIN</code> : Sine value (argument in [[radian]]s)
; <code>SQR</code> : Square root value
; <code>TAN</code> : Tangent value (argument in [[radian]]s)