TI BASIC (TI 99/4A)
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This article is about the TI 99/4A home computer programming language. For the calculator language, see TI-BASIC (calculators) (note: hyphen between "TI" and "BASIC" in that one).
TI BASIC was a dialect of BASIC for the Texas Instruments TI 99/4A home computer, developed under contract to Microsoft by Bob Wallace and Bob Greenberg.
TI BASIC was built into the 99/4A, and was remarkably easy to learn. Users could access functions through this simple language that on other computers would only be available to those versed in the machines' assembly language code. Text, full screen graphics, logic operations, and recording to tape could all be accomplished using TI BASIC.
TI Extended BASIC
TI also produced an Extended BASIC cartridge that greatly enhanced the functionality accessible to BASIC users. Smoothly animated graphics could be generated with simple one-line commands. When equipped with the TI Speech Synthesizer, TI Extended BASIC users could also generate speech as easily as writing text on-screen.
Execution speed
One serious shortcoming of TI BASIC was that, as an interpreted rather than compiled language, it ran very slowly. TI Extended BASIC addressed this shortcoming somewhat, but not enough to permit programmers to create animation for smooth, responsive gameplay.