Editing Tiny BASIC (section)

=== Altair BASIC ===
[[File:Altair BASIC Paper Tape.jpg|thumb|right|A paper tape containing the expanded 8K version of Microsoft BASIC]]

The earliest [[microcomputer]]s, like the [[Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems|MITS]] [[Altair 8800]], generally had no built-in [[input/output]] (I/O) beyond front-panel switches and [[Light-emitting diode|LED]] lamps. Useful work generally required the addition of an I/O [[expansion card]] and the use of some form of [[computer terminal|terminal]]. At the time, video-based terminals were very expensive, costing much more than the computer, so many users turned to mechanical devices like the [[Teletype Model 33]]. The Model 33, like most [[teleprinter]]s of the era, included a [[punched tape|tape punch]] system intended to allow operators to pre-record their messages and then play them at "high speed", faster than most individuals could type the message live. For the early microcomputers, this provided a convenient [[computer data storage]] format, allowing the users to write programs to paper tape and distribute them to other users.<ref name="tv_typewriter">{{cite web|first=Don|last=Lancaster|url=https://www.tinaja.com/ebooks/tvtcb.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.tinaja.com/ebooks/tvtcb.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=TV Typewriter Cookbook|date=1976|pages=210–211}}</ref>

The [[Homebrew Computer Club]] met for the first time in March 1975, and its members soon used the meetings to swap software on punched tape. At the June meeting, a tape containing a pre-release version of [[Altair BASIC]] disappeared. The tape was given to Steve Dompier, who passed it on to Dan Sokol, who had access to a high-speed tape punch. At the next meeting, 50 copies of Altair BASIC on paper tape appeared in a cardboard box.{{sfn|Manes|Andrews|1994|p=81}} When [[Ed Roberts (computer engineer)|Ed Roberts]], founder of MITS, learned of this, he stated "Anyone who is using a stolen copy of MITS BASIC should identify himself for what he is, a thief."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Letter from the President |journal=Computer Notes |last=Roberts |first=H. Edward |volume=1 |issue=5 |pages=3–4 |publisher=MITS |location=Albuquerque NM. |date=October 1975 |url=http://startup.nmnaturalhistory.org/gallery/notesViewer.php?ii=75_10&p=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323162008/http://startup.nmnaturalhistory.org/gallery/notesViewer.php?ii=75_10&p=3 |archive-date=March 23, 2012}}</ref> [[Bill Gates]] made this more formal, writing "[[An Open Letter to Hobbyists]]", complaining that "As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software."{{sfn|Manes|Andrews1994|p=91}}