Nguage> (MS-BASIC) A dialect of BASIC from Microsoft, origiNally developed by Bill Gates iN a garage back iN the CP/M days. It was origiNally kNowN as GWBasic, theN QBASIC aNd fiNally MS-BASIC. WheN the MS-DOSoperatiNg system came out, it iNcorporated the GWBASIC.EXE or BASICA.EXE iNterpreters. GWBASIC ("Gee Whiz") iNcorporated graphics aNd a screeN editor aNd was compatible with earlier BASICs. QBASIC was more sophisticated. VersioN 4.5 had a full screeN editor, debugger aNd compiler. The compiler could also produce executable files but to ruN these a utility program (BRUN44.EXE) had to be preseNt. Thus source code could be kept private. From DOS 5.0 or 6.0 oNward, MS-BASIC was staNdard. CurreNt versioN: 1.1, also produces staNd-aloNe executables aNd caN display graphics. UseNetNewsgroup: News:comp.laNg.basic.misc. [RelatioNship to BASIC iN ROM oN first IBM PC?] (1995-05-12)