How does BASIC-DOS compare with the BASIC interpreters that IBM PC users actually had? To find out, we wrote a set of benchmarks, BENCH.BAS, that runs unchanged in all three environments:
Each test was run on a 4.77Mhz IBM PC XT with a Color Graphics Adapter, both without and with an 8087 math coprocessor, and timed by BENCH.BAS itself, using the BIOS timer tick count. The BASIC-DOS results are from a release (non-DEBUG) build. Times are in seconds (smaller is better), and the fastest time for each test is in bold.
| Test | BASICA | BASICA w/8087 |
GW-BASIC | GW-BASIC w/8087 |
BASIC-DOS | BASIC-DOS w/8087 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integer math | 30.1 | 30.1 | 27.3 | 27.3 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Floating-point math (64-bit) | 42.0 | 42.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 10.6 | 1.7 |
| Math functions | 11.8 | 11.8 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 16.0 | 0.5 |
| String functions | 7.4 | 7.4 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 2.9 | 2.7 |
| Arrays and subroutines | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Primes | 78.9 | 78.9 | 73.6 | 73.6 | 6.9 | 6.9 |
| Screen output | 7.6 | 7.6 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Graphics: PSET | 19.9 | 19.9 | 17.5 | 17.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Graphics: LINE | 4.2 | 4.2 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| CIRCLE.BAS | 9.1 | 9.1 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 5.6 | 5.3 |
For programs that do most of their work with integers, which includes most games, utilities, and of course PRIMES, BASIC-DOS is typically 5 to 11 times faster than BASICA and GW-BASIC.
BASICA and GW-BASIC are also unable to use an 8087, because internally, they use a floating-point format known as MBF (Microsoft Binary Format). BASIC-DOS performs all floating-point operations using IEEE 64-bit precision, automatically using an 8087 when one is installed and software emulation otherwise.
The machine below boots the BASIC-DOS6 diskette, which includes BENCH.BAS. Type BENCH to run the benchmarks with BASIC-DOS, or MSBASIC BENCH to run them with GW-BASIC (type SYSTEM to return to BASIC-DOS afterward). The full set of tests takes a few minutes, and each result is displayed as it completes.
That’s the end of the current preview. All the demos featured in the preview are also available in our set of Demo Configurations.
Copyright (c) 2020-2026 Jeff Parsons Released under MIT License