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Mallard BASIC


Mallard BASIC is a BASIC interpreter for CP/M written by Locomotive Software and supplied with the Amstrad PCW range of small business computers, the ZX Spectrum +3 version of CP/M Plus, and the Acorn BBC Micro Z80 second Processor.

In the 1980s, it was standard industry practice to bundle a BASIC interpreter with microcomputers, and the PCW followed this practice. While it was primarily a wordprocessor for business use, it was not a dedicated WP: it also ran the CP/M operating system. Though there were existing implementations of BASIC for CP/M, such as Digital Research's CBASIC and the third-party ZBasic, they followed the earlier 1970s model of compilers, fed source code prepared in a separate text editor.

Mallard was more like a traditional micro ROM BASIC, with an integrated editor which was tailored for the PCW's non-standard 90-column screen.

Although the PCW actually had excellent monochrome graphics support for its time and specification, closely comparable to the Hercules Graphics Card for the PC, Mallard BASIC had no graphics support whatsoever. Instead, Locomotive optimised it for business use, with, for instance, full ISAM random-access file support, making it easier to write database applications.


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