The script property held plain text, and had no special properties; scripts could be placed in and run from any text container, including string variables ( and thus indirectly text files ), imported from other stacks using the start using command, or even user-typed text in an on-screen text field.
22.
The HP 9830A, introduced in 1972, was the top of the 9800 line programmable calculator line which as first HP computer which fit on a desktop to have a BASIC interpreter in read-only memory ( ROM ) with could be extended with ROMs for features like mass storage, plotter graphics, string variables and matrix operations.
23.
For the third version, the INPUT statement was introduced along with the powerful MAT statements for matrix manipulation and the RESTORE statement for use with READ / DATA . Development continued with the introduction of text manipulation and variables, also known as " string variables ", for version 4 and true file handling in version 5; this is the version from which most later BASIC dialects descend.
24.
No type declarations are required : any variable with a $ sign at the end of its name is a string variable; otherwise it is numeric . ( The plan for LB5 is to support other types and user defined types as well as these . ) For the purpose of making calls to API or 3rd party DLLs there is a STRUCT and the additional types necessary for the DLL . The only other data structure currently supported is the ARRAY . Arrays of one or two dimensions are supported.
25.
With the inclusion of " Extend mode " in later versions, variable names could be up to 29 characters long, and dot ( . ) was added as a permitted character, but every variable name still had to begin with a letter . ( Before the introduction of Extend mode, white space was not required between variables and other language elements : " " would be interpreted as " " . ) Integer variables ( 16-bit, range-32768 to + 32767 ) were indicated with a % suffix; string variables ( variable length ) were indicated with a $ suffix.
