for users was that direct access to some features of their machines was not available, but this could be remedied with callable functions and subroutines specially written in assembly language. Using newer versions of True BASIC, some of the older functions are blocked out. An example of the recent code would be more like this: RANDOMIZE SET WINDOW 0,20,0,20 SET COLOR 5 !Set the pen and text colour to 5 as true basic has 0-15 colours PRINT "Welcome To ..." !Print "Welcome To ..." on the user's screen. DO !Begin the loop LET x=rnd*20 !Let the value 'x' equal a random number between '0' and '20' LET y=rnd*20 !Let the value 'y' equal a random number between '0' and '20' Pause .1 !Waits 1/10 of a second PLOT TEXT, at x, y: "Fabulous Wikipedia!" !Plot 'Fabulous Wikipedia!' at coordinates 'x' and 'y' LOOP !End the loop END !End the program This simple program plots the text "Welcome To ..." at the top left-hand corner of the screen, and then continues into a never-ending loop plotting "Fabulous Wikipedia!" at random coordinates. An example of simple animation could be like this: !Draw the Car SET WINDOW 0,20,0,20 SET COLOR 5 BOX AREA 2,6,2,3 BOX AREA 9,13,2,3 BOX AREA 16,20,2,3 SET COLOR 249 PLOT LINES :0,5;20,5 FLOOD 10,1 BOX KEEP 0,20,0,5 IN road$ BOX CIRCLE 2,3,5,6 FLOOD 2.5,5.5 BOX CIRCLE 5,6,5,6 FLOOD 5.5,5.5 SET COLOR 35 PLOT LINES :2.5,6;5.5,6 PLOT LINES :5,6;8,6;8,8;6,8;6,10;2,10;2,8;0,8;0,6;3,6 FLOOD 4,8 SET COLOR 248 BOX AREA 4,5,8,9 BOX KEEP 0,8,5,10 IN car$ !Save the car in 'car$' FOR x=1 TO 20 STEP 1 !Create a 'for' loop BOX SHOW road$ AT 0,0 BOX SHOW car$ AT x,5 PAUSE .1 CLEAR NEXT x !End the 'for' loop END !End the programs Reception Jerry Pournelle in 1985 asked, "why do we need True BASIC at all? [It] doesn't seem to do anything regular BASIC doesn't do, and what it does do isn't attacked in a logical or intuitive manner." He criticized the lack of output when encountering an error, preventing interactive debugging by "inserting print statements as diagnostics". Pournelle concluded, "I think I'll pass up the opportunity to become a born-again True BASIC believer. I'll enjoy my Microsoft and CBASIC heresies." Some users have complained about their programs and the editor using up 100% of their CPU (or core). This appears to be caused by the editor and user's programs using a