1. 3
An Introduction to the
World
of
Computers
1.3.1 What
is
BASIC?
People use language
to
communicate with each other, and specially designed languages are also used for
communication with computers. BASIC
is
one such language.
Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
Just
as
human beings use languages such
as
English, French, German, and Japanese for communication,
there are also many different languages which are used for communication with computers. Among these
are BASIC, FORTRAN,
COBOL, and PASCAL.
Of
these, BASIC is the
computer
language whose struc-
ture
is
closest to
that
of
the
languages used by humans, and therefore
is
the
easiest for humans
to
under-
stand.
1.3.2 Loading BASIC into the MZ-700
The BASIC language
must
be loaded
into
the MZ-700 before
it
can be used
to
do any work. A cassette
tape containing this language has been included in
the
case containing
the
MZ-700. Now let's teach
the
language
to
the computer; procedures for doing this are described below. (The explanation assumes
that
you
are using an MZ-731; however,
the
procedures are basically
the
same for all computers
of
the
MZ-
700
series.)
(I)
Connect the display
as
described on page I 06.
(2)
Turn
on
the power switch located on the back
of
the computer.
(3)
The followil}g characters are displayed on the screen and a square, blinking
pattern
appears. This
pattern
is
referred
to
as
the cursor.
**
MONITOR
1Z-
0
13A
**
*
:::::
t
'---- Cursor
(
4)
Set the cassette tape
cont~ining
the
BASIC
h;mguage
in the computer's data recorder.
* I
*2
(5)
Type in the word
[][Q]!AJ[Q]
and press the I
CRI
key.
After
doing this, the message
..!.
PLAY appears
on
the
screen.
(6)
Press the data recorder's I PLAY I
button;
the cassette tape starts moving and loading
of
the BASIC
language begins.
(7)
After
loading has been completed, the message READY is displayed and the cursor starts
to
blink again.
Notes:
* 1
[][Q]!AJ[Q]
. . . This
is
the
instruction
for
loading programs
or
data from cassette tape.
* 2 I
CRI.
.
..
. . . This
is
referred
to
as
the carriage return key, and
is
mainly used
to
indicate comple-
tion
of
en try
of
an instruction.
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