MICRO-BALM(ID:4111/mic008)

NYU 1979
References:
  • Fenichel, R.R. review of Harrison 1979 view details
          in ACM Computing Reviews 20(09) September 1979 view details
  • Harrison, Malcolm C. "MICRO-BALM — A programming language for microcomputers." pp370-380 view details Extract: Review
    MICRO-BALM is a simple language with an ALGOL-like syntax, operating on integers, reals, strings, Booleans, and list structures. Free storage is maintained by a LISP-like garbage collector. Primitives for file handling and interrupt processing are also provided. A compiler-based MICRO-BALM system has been implemented in less than 16K bytes of coding.
    MICRO-BALM is put forward as an alternative to BASIC, and it would appear to dominate BASIC in every respect. It is an elegant contribution.
    Unfortunately, MICRO-BALM has no more chance of displacing BASIC than MAD had of displacing FORTRAN. Those who think of computing as a maturing scholarly discipline, building on its own past, should ponder the parallel histories of maxi and micro software.
    R. R. Fenichel, Santa Monica, Calif.
          in [AFIPS] National computer conference 1979 New York, June 4-7, 1979, AFIPS Press, Montvale, N. J., 1979 Vol. 48, June 1979. view details