MacBASIC

Macintosh BASIC, also called MacBASIC, is an implementation of BASIC developed at Apple Computer for the early Macintosh computers.

Development
In September 1981, Donn Denman joined the Macintosh team to begin work on a native interpreter for the new Mac platform. Denman had previously collaborated with Randy Wigginton to port Applesoft BASIC to the Apple III. In spring 1982, Bryan Stearns was brought in to assist Denman for about six months. As the the ship date for the Macintosh 128K approached, Denman also devoted time to writing desk accessories for it. After the Mac shipped in January 1984, Denman resumed work on what would become MacBASIC. He was assisted by Marianne Hsiung and Larry Kenyon at Apple. Scot Kamins from assisted with the documentation and manuals. Unlike other text-based implementations, MacBASIC provided access to Macintosh Toolbox routines, making it useful as a prototyping tool.

Beta release and discontinuation
A beta version of MacBASIC 0.335 was released in early 1984 to universities such as, where it was used in a programming class at the computer science department. It was planned to go on sale for 99. However, Apple abruptly put MacBASIC "on hold immediately" and unsuccessfully attempted to retrieve all the beta copies, which became widely pirated. Managers ordered Denman to destroy all his source code and refused explain why. Computer book publishers expressed disappointment, as some had already printed books about MacBASIC, which was benchmarked to be two to three times as fast as. Confusion ensued among staff until it was revealed that Apple CEO John Sculley had been pressured by Microsoft in 1985 to sell them a perpetual license to the Macintosh user interface and MacBASIC for $1 in exchange for an extension of the license to Applesoft BASIC for Apple II series computers. Microsoft then shelved MacBASIC to eliminate potential competition. Macintosh team member Bill Atkinson was outraged and protested the decision to no avail. Denman then took a leave of absence from the company.

Release history
Two beta versions are known to exist, and the 1.0 release that was delivered to Microsoft was eventually leaked:

Books

 * Introduction to Macintosh BASIC by Scot Kamins, Hayden Book Company. 1984-06. ISBN: 978-0317058741.
 * Macbasic Programmer's Reference Manual by Scot Kamins, Sams. 1984-04. ISBN: 978-0810465541