Altair BASIC
A BASIC language interpreter developed by Bill Gates and Paul Allen for the Altair 8800, compressed to approximately 4 KB. It was Microsoft's earliest software product and established the company's licensing-based business model.
Timeline (last 90 days)
In 1975, the Altair BASIC interpreter was created and became Microsoft's first commercial product.
The Altair BASIC source code was written in 8080 assembly language.
The Altair BASIC interpreter used tokenization technology to convert BASIC keywords into single-byte tokens in order to save memory.
Altair BASIC adopted a dynamic allocation mechanism for program space, variable space, and stack space to support larger programs within limited memory.
Altair BASIC was sold as a standalone commercial product, priced from $150 for the basic edition to $500 for the extended edition.
Before Altair BASIC, software was typically provided free as a bundled add-on to hardware or freely shared within user communities.
All Facts (6)
In 1975, the Altair BASIC interpreter was created and became Microsoft's first commercial product.
50%UnverifiedThe Altair BASIC source code was written in 8080 assembly language.
50%UnverifiedThe Altair BASIC interpreter used tokenization technology to convert BASIC keywords into single-byte tokens in order to save memory.
50%UnverifiedAltair BASIC adopted a dynamic allocation mechanism for program space, variable space, and stack space to support larger programs within limited memory.
50%UnverifiedAltair BASIC was sold as a standalone commercial product, priced from $150 for the basic edition to $500 for the extended edition.
50%UnverifiedBefore Altair BASIC, software was typically provided free as a bundled add-on to hardware or freely shared within user communities.
50%