<s>
SCELBAL	B-Language
,	O
short	O
for	O
SCientific	O
ELementary	O
BAsic	B-Language
Language	I-Language
,	O
is	O
a	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
BASIC	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
released	O
in	O
1976	O
for	O
the	O
SCELBI	B-Device
and	O
other	O
early	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
8008	I-General_Concept
and	O
8080-based	O
microcomputers	B-Architecture
like	O
the	O
Mark-8	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
version	O
required	O
8kB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
,	O
while	O
the	O
additions	O
demanded	O
at	O
least	O
12kB	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
language	O
was	O
published	O
in	O
book	O
form	O
,	O
with	O
introductory	O
sections	O
followed	O
by	O
flowcharts	B-Language
and	O
then	O
the	O
8008	B-General_Concept
assembler	B-Language
code	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
primary	O
author	O
of	O
SCELBAL	B-Language
is	O
Mark	O
Arnold	O
,	O
who	O
was	O
a	O
high-school	O
student	O
in	O
1974	O
when	O
the	O
SCELBI	B-Device
was	O
announced	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Arnold	O
was	O
friends	O
with	O
professors	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Wyoming	O
(	O
UW	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
through	O
them	O
had	O
arranged	O
to	O
have	O
an	O
account	O
on	O
their	O
Sigma	B-Device
7	I-Device
mainframe	B-Architecture
computer	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
what	O
became	O
SCELBAL	B-Language
was	O
written	O
for	O
this	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
that	O
year	O
,	O
he	O
wrote	O
an	O
8008	B-General_Concept
cross	B-Application
compiler	I-Application
on	O
that	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Arnold	O
entered	O
UW	O
in	O
1975	O
and	O
contacted	O
Nat	O
Wadsworth	O
,	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
founders	O
of	O
SCELBI	B-Device
,	O
pitching	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
a	O
compiled	B-Language
version	O
of	O
BASIC	O
for	O
their	O
new	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
would	O
be	O
a	O
multi-pass	O
system	O
that	O
would	O
save	O
the	O
intermediate	O
versions	O
on	O
cassette	B-Device
tape	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Wadsworth	O
favored	O
an	O
interpreter	B-Language
,	O
which	O
would	O
require	O
8kB	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
be	O
available	O
on	O
the	O
new	O
8B	O
models	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
language	O
used	O
floating	B-Algorithm
point	I-Algorithm
routines	O
published	O
by	O
Wadsworth	O
in	O
1975	O
in	O
Machine	B-Language
Language	I-Language
Programming	O
for	O
the	O
8008	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Arnold	O
speculated	O
that	O
,	O
lacking	O
these	O
delays	O
,	O
SCELBAL	B-Language
could	O
have	O
been	O
released	O
at	O
about	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
as	O
Altair	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
in	O
late	O
1975	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ad	O
did	O
not	O
specifically	O
link	O
the	O
language	O
to	O
the	O
SCELBI	B-Device
platform	O
,	O
instead	O
,	O
it	O
simply	O
offered	O
itself	O
in	O
book	O
form	O
as	O
a	O
complete	O
source	O
listing	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
version	O
of	O
BASIC	O
on	O
any	O
8008	B-General_Concept
or	O
8080	B-General_Concept
system	O
with	O
the	O
requisite	O
8kB	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
SCELBAL	B-Language
used	O
a	O
32-bit	O
(	O
four	O
byte	O
)	O
floating	B-Algorithm
point	I-Algorithm
format	I-Algorithm
for	O
numeric	B-Algorithm
calculations	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
23-bit	O
mantissa	O
,	O
1-bit	O
sign	O
for	O
the	O
mantissa	O
,	O
a	O
7-bit	O
exponent	O
,	O
and	O
1-bit	O
sign	O
for	O
the	O
exponent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
manual	O
provides	O
well-documented	O
assembly	B-Language
code	I-Language
for	O
the	O
entire	O
math	O
package	O
,	O
including	O
entry	O
points	O
and	O
usage	O
notes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
32-bit	O
formats	O
were	O
common	O
in	O
this	O
era	O
,	O
while	O
later	O
versions	O
of	O
BASIC	O
,	O
starting	O
with	O
Microsoft	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
for	O
the	O
MOS	B-General_Concept
6502	I-General_Concept
,	O
generally	O
adopted	O
a	O
40-bit	O
(	O
five	O
byte	O
)	O
format	O
for	O
added	O
precision	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SCELBAL	B-Language
was	O
otherwise	O
similar	O
to	O
other	O
BASIC	O
dialects	O
,	O
including	O
early	O
MS	O
versions	O
like	O
Altair	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
lacking	O
string	O
variables	O
and	O
operators	O
and	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
mathematic	O
functions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oddly	O
,	O
the	O
system	O
required	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
codes	I-Protocol
to	O
have	O
the	O
high-bit	O
set	O
,	O
so	O
to	O
convert	O
from	O
normal	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
to	O
SCELBI	B-Device
character	O
codes	O
,	O
one	O
had	O
to	O
add	O
or	O
subtract	O
128	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
would	O
normally	O
read	O
the	O
user-entered	O
text	O
as	O
a	O
number	O
,	O
but	O
allowed	O
the	O
dollar	O
sign	O
to	O
indicate	O
the	O
value	O
should	O
be	O
read	O
as	O
the	O
SCELBI	B-Device
code	O
instead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
would	O
read	O
the	O
user	O
input	O
"	O
1	O
"	O
into	O
A	O
as	O
the	O
floating-point	B-Algorithm
value	O
1	O
,	O
while	O
would	O
result	O
in	O
A	O
being	O
set	O
to	O
177	O
,	O
49	O
(	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
for	O
"	O
1	O
"	O
)	O
+	O
128	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
the	O
few	O
other	O
differences	O
was	O
that	O
the	O
command	O
found	O
in	O
MS	O
,	O
which	O
clears	O
out	O
existing	O
program	O
code	O
and	O
data	O
,	O
is	O
called	O
for	O
"	O
scratch	O
"	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
function	O
,	O
which	O
called	O
a	O
machine	B-Language
language	I-Language
routine	O
,	O
was	O
for	O
"	O
user	O
defined	O
function	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
allowed	O
a	O
single	O
floating-point	B-Algorithm
parameter	O
to	O
be	O
passed	O
to	O
the	O
user-defined	O
function	O
,	O
whose	O
machine-language	O
code	O
must	O
have	O
been	O
loaded	O
into	O
memory	O
at	O
a	O
fixed	O
location	O
ahead	O
of	O
runtime	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SCELBI	B-Device
published	O
two	O
extensions	O
to	O
the	O
system	O
,	O
the	O
Mathematical	O
Functions	O
Supplement	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Strings	O
Supplement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
MS	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
and	O
the	O
Dartmouth	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
string	O
handling	O
that	O
inspired	O
it	O
,	O
SCELBI	B-Device
used	O
the	O
"	O
slicing	O
"	O
style	O
of	O
string	O
manipulation	O
found	O
in	O
contemporary	O
BASICs	O
like	O
SDS	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
HP	B-Language
Time-Shared	I-Language
BASIC	I-Language
and	O
Northstar	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
or	O
the	O
later	O
Atari	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
SCELBAL	B-Language
also	O
supported	O
string	O
arrays	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
number	O
in	O
the	O
array	O
accessors	O
was	O
the	O
array	O
index	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
optional	O
if	O
the	O
variable	O
was	O
not	O
an	O
array	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SCELBAL	B-Language
also	O
allowed	O
omitting	O
the	O
semicolon	O
,	O
which	O
specifies	O
the	O
characters	O
from	O
the	O
starting	O
point	O
to	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
string	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
similar	O
to	O
SDS	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
there	O
is	O
a	O
major	O
difference	O
in	O
the	O
way	O
this	O
works	O
in	O
comparison	O
to	O
the	O
other	O
BASICs	O
that	O
used	O
slicing	O
syntax	O
,	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
last	O
parameter	O
is	O
the	O
length	O
,	O
not	O
a	O
position	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
in	O
Atari	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
the	O
similar-looking	O
code	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
fashion	O
,	O
SCELBAL	B-Language
works	O
in	O
a	O
fashion	O
more	O
similar	O
to	O
MS	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
,	O
where	O
the	O
equivalents	O
would	O
be	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Likewise	O
,	O
was	O
modified	O
so	O
string	O
variables	O
worked	O
like	O
numeric	B-Algorithm
ones	O
,	O
waiting	O
for	O
the	O
carriage	O
return	O
and	O
then	O
assigning	O
the	O
entire	O
user	O
input	O
to	O
the	O
associated	O
string	O
variable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
added	O
the	O
support	O
functions	O
and	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
convert	O
a	O
string	O
containing	O
a	O
numeric	B-Algorithm
value	O
to	O
a	O
string	O
representation	O
of	O
that	O
number	O
.	O
</s>
