Editing BBC BASIC (section)

===BBC's involvement===

During the 1970s, the BBC Continuing Education Department was considering how advancements in computer related technology would impact British society. Their Microelectronics Report<ref name="Microelectronics_Report">{{cite web |title=Microelectronics Report |url=https://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/media/BBC-Microelectronic-government-submission.pdf |publisher=BBC Continuing Education Department |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref> in 1979 to the  [[Manpower Services Commission]] describes formally their concerns about increasing polarisation and alienation in the workplace.

The BBC required a [[microcomputer]] usable for demonstrations in their programming that could be purchased by the general public to enable the viewer to themselves experiment. They decided that such a microcomputer needed to be robust, have expansion capabilities and an implementation of BASIC compatible with [[BASIC A|Microsoft BASIC VN5]].<ref name="BBC_Microcomputer_Spec">{{cite web |title=BBC Microcomputer Specification |url=http://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic/beebspec.html |publisher=BBC |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref>

Jointly the government and the BBC established a public awareness and education campaign. This Computer Literacy Project (1980-1989)<ref name="Computer_Literacy_Project">{{cite web |title=Computer Literacy Project |url=https://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/history |publisher=BBC |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref> used the BBC's choice of the [[BBC Microcomputer]] produced by [[Acorn Computers Ltd]]. BBC BASIC was central to the user programming experience.