<s>
IBM	B-Language
System/36	I-Language
BASIC	I-Language
was	O
an	O
interpreter	B-Application
for	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
System/36	I-Device
midrange	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System/36	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
was	O
first	O
offered	O
in	O
1983	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
such	O
,	O
contained	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
trappings	O
that	O
a	O
BASIC	O
program	O
would	O
have	O
encountered	O
in	O
the	O
time	O
period	O
of	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
,	O
the	O
Commodore	O
64	O
,	O
the	O
VIC-20	B-Device
,	O
the	O
TRS-80	B-Device
,	O
or	O
many	O
other	O
offerings	O
of	O
the	O
Seventies	O
and	O
early	O
Eighties	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
S/36	B-Device
BASIC	O
uses	O
conventions	O
that	O
are	O
no	O
longer	O
standard	O
in	O
modern	O
BASICs	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
line	O
numbers	O
,	O
and	O
does	O
not	O
support	O
newer	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
,	O
procedures	O
,	O
properties	O
,	O
and	O
so	O
forth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BASIC	O
interpreters	B-Application
written	O
in	O
the	O
Seventies	O
tended	O
to	O
"	O
do	O
odd	O
things	O
odd	O
ways	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
on	O
the	O
Apple	B-Device
II	I-Device
,	O
a	O
programmer	B-Application
could	O
embed	O
a	O
command	O
into	O
a	O
program	O
via	O
PRINT	O
,	O
when	O
prefaced	O
by	O
the	O
character	O
string	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System/36	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
tends	O
to	O
stay	O
away	O
from	O
these	O
odd	O
conventions	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
the	O
programmer	B-Application
could	O
call	O
for	O
the	O
Alarm	O
(	O
a	O
buzzing	O
sound	O
made	O
by	O
the	O
terminal	O
)	O
via	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BASIC	O
statements	O
are	O
expected	O
to	O
be	O
entered	O
in	O
capital	O
letters	O
,	O
and	O
while	O
the	O
operator	O
can	O
press	O
Cmd2	O
to	O
use	O
lowercase	O
,	O
the	O
BASIC	O
interpreter	B-Application
will	O
convert	O
non-comment	O
keywords	O
into	O
uppercase	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
that	O
BASIC	O
could	O
be	O
useful	O
in	O
a	O
midrange	O
computing	O
environment	O
,	O
IBM	O
added	O
extensions	O
to	O
the	O
language	O
that	O
were	O
specific	O
to	O
the	O
hardware	O
and	O
software	O
conventions	O
of	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
System/36	I-Device
Family	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
file	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
indexed	O
,	O
direct	O
,	O
and	O
sequential	O
disk	O
files	O
,	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
open	O
and	O
close	O
multiple	O
printer	O
files	O
,	O
and	O
LOAD/SAVE	O
from	O
libraries	O
on	O
the	O
fixed	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sometimes	O
BASIC	O
did	O
not	O
have	O
very	O
much	O
user	O
space	O
(	O
since	O
all	O
S/36	B-Device
programs	O
are	O
limited	O
to	O
64K	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
area	O
called	O
"	O
code	O
space	O
"	O
which	O
contains	O
the	O
current	O
user	O
program	O
must	O
reside	O
within	O
the	O
user	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
programmers	B-Application
prefer	O
matrix	O
mathematics	O
where	O
the	O
lowest-numbered	O
index	O
is	O
0	O
,	O
others	O
prefer	O
1	O
.	O
and	O
accomplish	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RPG	B-Language
II	I-Language
programs	O
on	O
the	O
S/34	B-Device
and	O
S/36	B-Device
could	O
not	O
call	O
each	O
other	O
,	O
but	O
BASIC	O
programs	O
could	O
,	O
using	O
the	O
statement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Second	O
,	O
with	O
,	O
which	O
in	O
S/36	B-Device
BASIC	O
can	O
incorporate	O
a	O
constant	O
,	O
a	O
string	O
variable	O
,	O
a	O
line	O
number	O
,	O
or	O
a	O
label	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fourth	O
,	O
by	O
using	O
a	O
workstation	O
file	O
(	O
opened	O
with	O
and	O
so	O
forth	O
)	O
and	O
performing	O
various	O
combinations	O
of	O
and	O
to	O
that	O
workstation	O
file	O
,	O
using	O
SDA-generated	O
screen	O
formats	O
similar	O
to	O
those	O
in	O
other	O
S/36	B-Device
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
and	O
are	O
already	O
familiar	O
to	O
COBOL	B-Application
programmers	B-Application
and	O
describe	O
the	O
actions	O
taken	O
to	O
access	O
S/36	B-Device
disk	O
files	O
using	O
BASIC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
n't	O
possible	O
to	O
access	O
every	O
single	O
type	O
of	O
S/36	B-Device
file	O
because	O
these	O
include	O
system	O
files	O
,	O
libraries	O
,	O
and	O
folders	O
,	O
but	O
every	O
user-created	O
S/36	B-Device
file	O
with	O
a	O
fixed	O
record	O
length	O
(	O
only	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
programs	O
can	O
use	O
variable	O
record	O
lengths	O
)	O
will	O
suffice	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
S/36	B-Device
BASIC	O
,	O
to	O
print	O
to	O
the	O
printer	O
,	O
a	O
device	O
file	O
must	O
be	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
versions	O
of	O
BASIC	O
allow	O
the	O
programmer	B-Application
to	O
sort	O
an	O
array	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
S/36	B-Device
BASIC	O
does	O
n't	O
provide	O
a	O
function	O
for	O
this	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
does	O
provide	O
an	O
interesting	O
remedy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
programmer	B-Application
can	O
define	O
an	O
array	O
with	O
the	O
same	O
number	O
of	O
elements	O
as	O
the	O
target	O
array	O
and	O
use	O
AIDX	O
or	O
DIDX	O
to	O
create	O
an	O
ascending	O
or	O
descending	O
index	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Writing	O
a	O
BASIC	O
program	O
is	O
much	O
more	O
fun	O
than	O
rewriting	O
the	O
same	O
program	O
each	O
time	O
you	O
use	O
it	O
,	O
therefore	O
the	O
authors	O
of	O
BASIC	O
allow	O
programmers	B-Application
to	O
their	O
program	O
code	O
to	O
a	O
library	O
member	O
and	O
to	O
it	O
when	O
changes	O
are	O
made	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Note	O
that	O
System/36	B-Device
files	O
are	O
not	O
part	O
of	O
libraries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
is	O
the	O
S/36	B-Device
BASIC	O
command	O
used	O
to	O
renumber	O
statements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System/36	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
has	O
a	O
very	O
dangerous	O
command	O
called	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System/36	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
has	O
another	O
dangerous	O
command	O
called	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System/34	B-Device
BASIC	O
and	O
System/36	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
are	O
very	O
similar	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
machine	O
code	O
incompatibility	O
makes	O
it	O
impossible	O
to	O
port	O
a	O
subroutine	O
member	O
BASIC	O
program	O
between	O
these	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
