2 What this User Guide can and can’t do The BBC Microcomputer is a very versatile machine. On its own, connected to your television set, the computer can respond to programs which you yourself type in, to produce numbers, words, lines and movement on the screen and sound. Connect a suitable cassette tape recorder and you can then save your own programs for future use or run programs which have been written by other people. The WELCOME cassette which comes with the computer contains a number of programs specially written for the machine.
Other programs are available in large numbers, including programs linked to hobbies and games, and programs for use in the home, in business and in education. Languages other than BASIC (such as LISP, FORTH, BCPL and PASCAL) are available. These languages are stored in an integrated circuit which has to be plugged into your BBC Microcomputer. This must be done by your dealer. The early chapters of this book will show you how to load and save programs from cassette, how to write simple programs and how to create certain graphics effects on the screen. There are also some complete programs to type in yourself. However, this is not a step-by-step course in BASIC programming.
Most of what follows in the later chapters forms a reference guide on how to use the various commands and keywords of the BBC BASIC language. If you are an absolute beginner then much of this will not be very easy to understand. However, as you get more experience of programming, this material will prove invaluable.