<s>
Locomotive	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
is	O
a	O
proprietary	O
dialect	O
of	O
the	O
BASIC	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
written	O
by	O
Locomotive	B-Device
Software	I-Device
on	O
the	O
Amstrad	B-Device
CPC	I-Device
(	O
where	O
it	O
was	O
built-in	O
on	O
ROM	B-Device
)	O
and	O
the	O
later	O
Locomotive	O
BASIC-2	O
as	O
a	O
GEM	O
application	O
on	O
the	O
Amstrad	O
PC1512	O
and	O
1640	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
the	O
main	O
descendant	O
of	O
Mallard	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Language
for	O
CP/M	B-Application
supplied	O
with	O
the	O
Amstrad	B-Device
PCW	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
two	O
versions	O
of	O
Locomotive	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
:	O
1.0	O
which	O
only	O
came	O
with	O
the	O
CPC	O
model	O
464	O
,	O
and	O
1.1	O
which	O
shipped	O
with	O
all	O
other	O
versions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BASIC	O
1.1	O
was	O
also	O
shipped	O
with	O
the	O
Amstrad	B-Device
CPC	I-Device
Plus	O
series	O
machines	O
,	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
included	O
game	O
cartridge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
was	O
based	O
on	O
existing	O
work	O
recently	O
undertaken	O
writing	O
Mallard	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
for	O
Acorn	O
Computers	O
Z80	O
addon	O
for	O
the	O
BBC	O
Micro	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
reported	O
to	O
have	O
taken	O
around	O
12	O
weeks	O
to	O
enhance	O
the	O
existing	O
code	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
"	O
very	O
influenced	O
"	O
by	O
BBC	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
though	O
adding	O
additional	O
functions	O
to	O
do	O
things	O
that	O
would	O
have	O
required	O
assembly	B-Language
language	I-Language
on	O
the	O
BBC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
when	O
compared	O
to	O
other	O
home	O
computers	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
the	O
Amstrad	O
via	O
Locomotive	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
granted	O
a	O
relatively	O
high	O
level	O
of	O
control	O
over	O
the	O
CPC	O
sound	O
chip	O
,	O
an	O
AY-3-8912	B-Device
with	O
3	O
melodic	O
channels	O
and	O
1	O
noise	O
channel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
chip	O
was	O
also	O
used	O
on	O
late-model	O
ZX	B-Operating_System
Spectrums	I-Operating_System
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
and	O
MSX	B-Operating_System
computers	O
,	O
but	O
none	O
of	O
those	O
had	O
such	O
a	O
complete	O
built-in	O
SOUND	O
command	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
)	O
,	O
the	O
playback	O
of	O
digitally	O
sampled	O
sounds	O
as	O
in	O
the	O
game	O
RoboCop	B-Application
for	O
example	O
,	O
and	O
so	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
fact	O
,	O
during	O
those	O
years	O
,	O
the	O
BASIC	O
supplied	O
as	O
standard	O
with	O
most	O
low-cost	O
home	O
computers	O
also	O
acted	O
as	O
a	O
more	O
or	O
less	O
simple	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
PEEK	B-Language
and	I-Language
POKE	I-Language
,	O
CALL	O
provided	O
an	O
interface	O
to	O
assembly	B-Language
language	I-Language
programming	O
from	O
BASIC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
the	O
Commodore	O
64	O
's	O
built	O
in	O
BASIC	O
(	O
Commodore	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
)	O
,	O
which	O
had	O
no	O
dedicated	O
commands	O
for	O
graphics	O
or	O
sound	O
,	O
Locomotive	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
allowed	O
doing	O
pretty	O
much	O
anything	O
that	O
was	O
within	O
the	O
standard	O
capabilities	O
of	O
the	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
not	O
unimportant	O
,	O
as	O
some	O
other	O
machines	O
of	O
the	O
era	O
required	O
programmers	O
to	O
use	O
assembler	B-Language
in	O
order	O
to	O
access	O
the	O
full	O
sound	O
and	O
graphics	O
capabilities	O
of	O
their	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MSX	B-Operating_System
,	O
Sinclair	B-Operating_System
Spectrum	I-Operating_System
and	O
some	O
others	O
offered	O
a	O
similar	O
,	O
more	O
or	O
less	O
complete	O
command	O
set	O
for	O
their	O
sound	O
and	O
graphics	O
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
Sinclair	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
or	O
Commodore	O
64	O
BASIC	O
,	O
which	O
had	O
various	O
keyboard	O
command	O
shortcuts	O
or	O
specialized	O
keys	O
for	O
choosing	O
symbols	O
or	O
colors	O
,	O
Locomotive	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
keywords	O
were	O
typed	O
in	O
full	O
and	O
the	O
interpreter	B-Language
parsed	B-Language
,	O
recognized	O
and	O
tokenised	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programs	O
could	O
be	O
saved	O
onto	O
Compact	O
Cassette	O
or	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
and	O
retrieved	O
as	O
binary	O
or	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
files	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
