<s>
Mallard	O
BASIC	O
is	O
a	O
BASIC	B-Language
interpreter	I-Language
for	O
CP/M	B-Application
produced	O
by	O
Locomotive	B-Device
Software	I-Device
and	O
supplied	O
with	O
the	O
Amstrad	B-Device
PCW	I-Device
range	O
of	O
small	O
business	O
computers	O
,	O
the	O
ZX	B-Operating_System
Spectrum	I-Operating_System
+3	O
version	O
of	O
CP/M	B-Application
Plus	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Acorn	B-Device
BBC	I-Device
Micro	I-Device
's	O
Zilog	O
Z80	O
second	O
processor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
standard	O
industry	O
practice	O
to	O
bundle	O
a	O
BASIC	B-Language
interpreter	I-Language
with	O
microcomputers	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
PCW	O
followed	O
this	O
practice	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
PCW	O
was	O
primarily	O
a	O
dedicated	B-General_Concept
word	I-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
for	O
business	O
use	O
running	O
LocoScript	B-Protocol
,	O
it	O
was	O
running	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
the	O
CP/M	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
were	O
many	O
existing	O
implementations	O
of	O
BASIC	O
for	O
CP/M	B-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
Digital	O
Research	O
's	O
CBASIC	B-Language
and	O
the	O
third-party	O
ZBasic	B-Application
,	O
but	O
they	O
followed	O
the	O
earlier	O
1970s	O
model	O
of	O
compilers	B-Language
that	O
were	O
fed	O
source	O
code	O
prepared	O
in	O
a	O
separate	O
text	B-Application
editor	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
of	O
booting	O
into	O
CP/M	B-Application
or	O
a	O
similar	O
OS	O
,	O
these	O
machines	O
booted	O
directly	O
into	O
a	O
BASIC	O
normally	O
stored	O
on	O
ROM	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
PCW	O
actually	O
had	O
excellent	O
monochrome	O
graphics	O
support	O
for	O
its	O
time	O
and	O
specification	O
,	O
closely	O
comparable	O
to	O
the	O
Hercules	B-Device
Graphics	I-Device
Card	I-Device
for	O
IBM	O
PC	O
compatible	O
computers	O
,	O
Mallard	O
BASIC	O
had	O
no	O
graphics	O
support	O
whatsoever	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
,	O
Locomotive	B-Device
Software	I-Device
optimised	O
it	O
for	O
business	O
use	O
,	O
with	O
,	O
for	O
instance	O
,	O
full	O
ISAM	B-Application
random-access	O
file	O
support	O
,	O
making	O
it	O
easier	O
to	O
write	O
database	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
fact	O
,	O
the	O
Locomotive	B-Device
Software	I-Device
name	O
came	O
from	O
the	O
phrase	O
"	O
to	O
run	O
like	O
a	O
train	O
"	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
this	O
theme	O
that	O
was	O
used	O
to	O
name	O
Mallard	O
BASIC	O
—	O
no	O
other	O
Locomotive	B-Device
Software	I-Device
product	O
was	O
named	O
after	O
anything	O
railway-oriented	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Graphics	O
could	O
be	O
implemented	O
by	O
loading	O
the	O
GSX	O
extension	O
to	O
CP/M	B-Application
,	O
but	O
this	O
was	O
cumbersome	O
for	O
BASIC	O
programmers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
lack	O
of	O
graphics	O
support	O
was	O
rectified	O
by	O
several	O
BASIC	B-Language
toolkits	I-Language
,	O
of	O
which	O
the	O
most	O
popular	O
was	O
Lightning	O
Extended	O
BASIC	O
(	O
LEB	O
—	O
see	O
external	O
links	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Probably	O
the	O
most	O
widespread	O
Mallard	O
application	O
ever	O
was	O
RPED	B-Language
,	O
the	O
text	B-Application
editor	I-Application
supplied	O
with	O
the	O
PCW	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
was	O
short	O
for	O
Roland	O
Perry	O
's	O
EDitor	O
,	O
the	O
program	O
having	O
been	O
quickly	O
written	O
by	O
Roland	O
Perry	O
,	O
the	O
Amstrad	O
executive	O
running	O
the	O
computer	O
product	O
development	O
,	O
when	O
it	O
was	O
realised	O
that	O
CP/M	B-Application
-80	I-Application
came	O
with	O
no	O
usable	O
full-screen	O
editor	O
,	O
but	O
users	O
had	O
a	O
requirement	O
to	O
edit	O
configuration	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
problem	O
was	O
apparent	O
with	O
DOS	B-Operating_System
Plus	I-Operating_System
and	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
supplied	O
with	O
IBM-compatible	O
Amstrad	O
computers	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
RPED	B-Language
for	O
those	O
machines	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
8086	I-General_Concept
assembler	B-Language
,	O
and	O
not	O
Mallard	O
BASIC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IBM	O
PC	O
version	O
of	O
Mallard	O
Basic	O
is	O
still	O
available	O
from	O
LocoScript	B-Protocol
Software	O
as	O
an	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
program	O
,	O
which	O
will	O
run	O
under	O
Windows	O
as	O
a	O
disc-only	O
version	O
with	O
licence	O
or	O
with	O
the	O
full	O
Introduction	O
&	O
Reference	O
manual	O
.	O
</s>
