<s>
Data	B-Language
General	I-Language
Extended	I-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
also	O
widely	O
known	O
as	O
Nova	O
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
,	O
was	O
a	O
BASIC	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
interpreter	B-Application
for	O
the	O
Data	B-Device
General	I-Device
Nova	I-Device
series	O
minicomputers	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
seminal	O
Dartmouth	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
including	O
the	O
Fifth	O
Edition	O
's	O
string	O
variables	O
and	O
powerful	O
commands	O
for	O
matrix	B-Architecture
manipulation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
compile-and-go	O
Dartmouth	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
was	O
an	O
interpreter	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
this	O
,	O
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
added	O
substring	O
manipulation	O
using	O
array	O
slicing	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
common	O
on	O
BASICs	O
of	O
the	O
era	O
,	O
found	O
on	O
HP	B-Language
Time-Shared	I-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
Sinclair	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
Atari	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
and	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
contrasts	O
with	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
style	O
which	O
uses	O
string	O
functions	O
like	O
,	O
and	O
thus	O
makes	O
porting	O
string	O
code	O
somewhat	O
difficult	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
General	O
later	O
purchased	O
rights	O
to	O
a	O
much-expanded	O
BASIC	B-Language
which	O
was	O
released	O
as	O
Data	B-Language
General	I-Language
Business	I-Language
Basic	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
added	O
powerful	O
database	O
functionality	O
and	O
largely	O
replaced	O
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
on	O
DG	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
internal	O
floating	B-Algorithm
point	I-Algorithm
number	I-Algorithm
format	O
normally	O
used	O
two	O
16-bit	O
words	O
for	O
a	O
total	O
of	O
32-bits	O
,	O
stored	O
least	O
significant	O
bit	O
first	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bit	O
0	O
was	O
the	O
sign	O
,	O
1	O
through	O
7	O
was	O
the	O
exponent	O
stored	O
in	O
excess-64	O
format	O
,	O
and	O
8	O
through	O
31	O
the	O
mantissa	B-Algorithm
stored	O
as	O
hexadecimal	O
digits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Numbers	O
could	O
alternately	O
use	O
a	O
double-precision	O
format	O
that	O
extended	O
the	O
mantissa	B-Algorithm
only	O
,	O
adding	O
another	O
32-bits	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Arrays	O
could	O
be	O
med	O
in	O
1	O
(	O
array	O
)	O
or	O
2	O
(	O
matrix	B-Architecture
)	O
dimensions	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
lower	O
bound	O
was	O
always	O
1	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
added	O
the	O
suite	O
of	O
matrix	B-Architecture
math	I-Architecture
operations	O
from	O
Dartmouth	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
's	O
Fifth	O
Edition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
included	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
pre-rolled	O
matrixes	O
,	O
like	O
for	O
a	O
zero-matrix	O
,	O
for	O
a	O
matrix	B-Architecture
of	O
all	O
1	O
's	O
,	O
and	O
for	O
the	O
identity	B-Algorithm
matrix	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Characters	O
within	O
strings	O
could	O
be	O
escaped	O
by	O
placing	O
their	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
value	I-Protocol
between	O
angle-brackets	O
,	O
for	O
instance	O
,	O
String	O
variables	O
,	O
like	O
their	O
numeric	B-Algorithm
counterparts	O
,	O
consisted	O
of	O
only	O
a	O
single	O
letter	O
,	O
or	O
one	O
letter	O
and	O
one	O
digit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
is	O
the	O
case	O
for	O
all	O
variables	O
in	O
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
,	O
string	O
variables	O
were	O
normally	O
allocated	O
ten	O
spaces	O
,	O
but	O
could	O
be	O
extended	O
up	O
to	O
a	O
maximum	O
of	O
32k	O
with	O
an	O
explicit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
an	O
uncommon	O
syntax	O
,	O
even	O
when	O
it	O
was	O
being	O
introduced	O
,	O
most	O
BASICs	O
using	O
slicing	O
used	O
that	O
for	O
concatenation	O
as	O
well	O
,	O
for	O
instance	O
,	O
would	O
append	O
at	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
,	O
while	O
those	O
using	O
string	O
functions	O
,	O
like	O
Microsoft	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
already	O
widely	O
used	O
the	O
plus	O
sign	O
for	O
this	O
operation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
syntax	O
change	O
was	O
because	O
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
allowed	O
math	O
operators	O
to	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
strings	O
,	O
up	O
to	O
the	O
first	O
non-numeric	O
character	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
would	O
put	O
3579	O
into	O
A	O
,	O
without	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
explicitly	O
convert	O
them	O
to	O
numerics	B-Algorithm
,	O
normally	O
handled	O
with	O
the	O
function	O
in	O
most	O
dialects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Non-numerics	O
were	O
simply	O
ignored	O
,	O
put	O
1234	O
into	O
A	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
lacked	O
the	O
command	O
from	O
Dartmouth	O
that	O
converted	O
an	O
entire	O
string	O
to	O
or	O
from	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
values	I-Protocol
in	O
an	O
array	O
,	O
for	O
instance	O
,	O
which	O
results	O
in	O
B	O
being	O
assigned	O
10	O
numbers	O
,	O
each	O
one	O
an	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
value	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
is	O
otherwise	O
similar	O
to	O
Dartmouth	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
in	O
the	O
variety	O
of	O
commands	O
it	O
supports	O
and	O
their	O
syntax	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Extended	O
BASIC	B-Language
added	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
immediate	O
mode	O
editing	O
statements	O
that	O
are	O
not	O
really	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
language	O
per	O
se	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
was	O
similar	O
to	O
,	O
but	O
read	O
the	O
lines	O
from	O
the	O
card	B-Device
reader	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
was	O
like	O
,	O
but	O
sent	O
the	O
file	O
to	O
the	O
card	B-Device
punch	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
operating	O
system-related	O
statements	O
included	O
to	O
print	O
a	O
list	O
of	O
logged-in	O
users	O
,	O
to	O
bother	O
them	O
,	O
to	O
set	O
the	O
right	O
margin	O
(	O
page	O
width	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
print	O
the	O
memory	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
program	O
,	O
the	O
opposite	O
of	O
what	O
would	O
be	O
returned	O
in	O
MS	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
with	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Functions	O
closely	O
matched	O
Dartmouth	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
with	O
a	O
few	O
additions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
returned	O
a	O
numeric	B-Algorithm
value	O
encoding	O
the	O
positions	O
of	O
the	O
front-panel	O
switches	O
.	O
</s>
