JR-BASIC
{{Short description|Dialect of the BASIC programming language}}
{{infobox programming language
|name = JR-BASIC
|logo =
|paradigm = imperative, algorithmic
|year = {{Start date and age|1981}}
|designer =
|developer = Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd.
|latest release version = 5.0
|latest release date =
|typing =
|implementations =
|dialects = BASIC
|influenced_by = Microsoft BASIC
|influenced = None
|operating_system = Matsushita JR series
|license =
|website =
}}
JR-BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language running on the Matsushita JR series of microcomputers.{{Cite web |last=kemusiro |date=May 28, 2017 |title=JR-100 |url=http://asamomiji.jp/contents/documents/retropc/jr100 |website=計算機室 (Computer room)}}
Although it's its own dialect, it was designed to be mostly compatible with Microsoft BASIC. Since it was developed for low-cost entry-level machines, it featured as few functions as possible, in order to save computer resources. Nevertheless, the interpreter was intended to be compact and efficient, with a feature-rich screen editor supporting direct execution of BASIC instructions.
Commands were input by keywords{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/Panasonic_JR-100U_Operating_Instructions |title=Operating Instructions - Personal Computer JR-100U |publisher=Matsushita Electric Trading Co., Ltd.}} - by pressing a combination of control and alphabet keys, a full command word would be entered. This was faster and more comfortable than typing words letter by letter, as the computer keyboard was poor (chiclet keyboard).
JR-BASIC 1.0
JR-BASIC 1.0 is the original version present on the JR-100 computer, released in 1981.{{Cite web |title=MATSUSHITA National JR 100 |url=https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=320 |website=OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum}}
=Specifications=
class="wikitable" |
Constants
| Integer (-32767 to +32767); Hexadecimal; String |
---|
Integer variables
| Alphabet or alphabet + number (ex: {{code|A}}, {{code|B1}}) |
String variables
| Alphabet + $ (ex: {{code|D $, W $}}); Up to 32 characters |
Arrays
| One dimension (ex: {{code|E (5)}}); Two dimensions (ex: {{code|F (X, Y)}}) |
Calculations
| Addition (+), Subtraction (-), Multiplication (*), Division (/), Remainder (MOD) |
Commands and Statements
| {{codett|2=basic|AUTO, BEEP, CLEAR, CLS, CONT, DATA, DIM, END, FIND, FOR - NEXT, GOSUB - RETURN, GOTO, HCOPY, IF - THEN, INPUT, LET, LIST, LLIST, LOAD, LOCATE, LPRINT, MLOAD, MSAVE, NEW, OPTION, PICK, POKE, PRINT, READ, REM, RESTORE, RUN, SAVE, STOP, VERIFY}} |
Functions
| {{codett|2=basic|ABS, ASC, CHR $, FRE, FLD, HEX $, HPOS, VPOS, LEFT $, LEN, MID $, MOD, PEEK, RIGHT $, RND, SGN, SPC, TAB, USR, VAL}} |
Line numbers
| 1 to 32767 |
=Keyboard commands=
Key combinations allowed the user to enter commands and control the onscreen basic interpreter.
class="wikitable" |
Standard input key
! Control mapping |
---|
1
| (HOME) |
2
| |
3
| |
4
| |
5
| (DELETE) |
6
| (←) |
7
| (↓) |
8
| (↑) |
9
| (→) |
0
| (INSERT) |
–
| (RUBOUT) |
Q
| |
W
| |
E
| |
R
| |
T
| |
Y
| |
U
| |
I
| |
O
| |
P
| |
A
| |
S
| |
D
| |
F
| |
G
| |
H
| |
J
| |
K
| |
L
| |
;
| |
:
| |
Z
| (L.INS) |
X
| (CANCEL) |
C
| (BREAK) |
V
| (GRAPH) |
B
| |
N
| |
M
| |
,
| |
.
| |
JR-BASIC 5.0
The JR-200 model, released in 1983,{{Cite news |last=Ahl |first=David H. |date=May 1983 |title=Panasonic JR-200 |url=https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1983-05. |work=Creative Computing Magazine |pages=16 |volume=9 |issue=5}} came with JR-BASIC 5.0 that added extended functionally like graphical commands such as COLOR
, (which selected character color, background color and display mode) and PLOT
which permitted direct addressing of the low resolution graphics mode (64×48, using text semigraphics characters, which represented pixel blocks that used one-quarter of each character). Eight colors were available for the background and foreground use: blue, red, magenta, green, cyan, yellow, white and black. By re-programming a part of the character-set a limited high resolution graphics mode was achievable with a resolution of 256×192.