Introduction to BASIC

This chapter reviews the main features of BASIC in sufficient detail to allow the reader to use and understand the signal processing programs. Although BASIC has serious drawbacks as a professional tool for software development, it is easy to learn and use, and is almost universally available on microcomputers. It is particularly useful for running small interactive programs to evaluate formulae or to check algorithms. Many applications of digital signal processing involve high-speed processing of large amounts of data and require analogue/digital converters and possibly other specialized equipment. Although the real-time processing power required for such applications may be beyond the capabilities of today's home microcomputer running BASIC, the principles involved can be readily demonstrated and studied by running small BASIC programs. There is a lack of standardization for BASIC graphics, and every microcomputer type tends to have its own graphics statements and definitions.