BBC BASIC Console Mode editions: shorter name?

[Hated Moron]

BBC BASIC for Windows is generally called BB4W for short, and BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0 is abbreviated to BBCSDL. But we don't, I think, have a short name for the BBC BASIC Console Mode editions. Always having to call them that is very long-winded!

Can anybody suggest a short name to use for the BBC BASIC Console Mode editions, that won't always need explaining? I really don't think BBCCON fits the fill!

[Hated Moron]

On 21/10/2023 22:33, Robin Hodson wrote (Cross-posted from the Discussion Group):

Perhaps BBCTTY, after the old name for a console?

Well, yes, indeed that is a very interesting suggestion - and one I would never have thought of myself.

It's worth mentioning that Console can itself be misleading - at least one person thought it meant Games Console! TTY wouldn't risk that confusion.

What do others think?

[Flatlander]

I am unfamiliar with the console edition, and I had to look up TTY, so only BBCConsole would make sense to me.
(The last games console I had was Pong in the 70’s!)

Can the strengths are this edition be highlighted in one word?

edit:”of this edition”.

[STOS]

For what it really matters, I do like Robin Hodson's suggestion of BBCTTY; short and concise for us oldies.

For harmless fun as it has no graphics or sound...
BBCABRIDGED
BBCCENSORED
BBCIMPAIRED
BBCCORE

[Hated Moron]

Can the strengths are this edition be highlighted in one word?

No, but nor can the features of BB4W or BBCSDL! They are abbreviations which can only be used when the intended audience already knows what they mean. One will typically use the full name once, in any given context, and then use the abbreviation thereafter for brevity.

One thing to consider is that all BASICs were 'Console Mode' BASICs until integrated graphics became commonplace in home computers in the 1980s, and were still common for decades afterwards. So for many people of a 'certain age' if you say BASIC, without further qualification, it's a Console Mode BASIC that they will assume you mean.

In the context of BBC BASIC it's not only 'my' versions that are available in Console Mode editions but also Matrix Brandy, in that case the various editions are distinguished only by the name of the executable: brandy for the GUI edition, tbrandy for the text-only edition (which has coloured text, as my Console editions do) and sbrandy for an even more minimal version without coloured text.

[Hated Moron]

It's worth mentioning that Console can itself be misleading - at least one person thought it meant Games Console! TTY wouldn't risk that confusion.

I still quite like BBCTTY but I wonder if there's potential for some confusion because TTY (standing for TeleType) might imply that capabilities like multi-coloured text, cursor addressing etc. are not supported when in practice they are (the console is assumed to be a VT-100 or ANSI-compatible colour terminal). TTY feels more like a 'dumb terminal' to me.

[DDRM]

By analogy with BB4W, it could be BB4C, or BB4Con?

[Hated Moron]

By analogy with BB4W, it could be BB4C, or BB4Con?

There's a problem with that: it makes it sound as though the Console Mode editions are related to BBC BASIC for Windows when of course they are actually derived from (and use the same interpreter as) BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0. So any abbreviation really must start BBC... and not BB4...

You must have noticed how many people refer to BBC4W rather than BB4W, which is one reason why I chose BBCSDL as the abbreviation for BBC BASIC for SDL 2.0. BB has too many meanings (e.g. the 'other' BB4W: Business B4 Work and there was once also Building Blocks for Web)!

[Soruk]

It's worth mentioning that Console can itself be misleading - at least one person thought it meant Games Console! TTY wouldn't risk that confusion.

I still quite like BBCTTY but I wonder if there's potential for some confusion because TTY (standing for TeleType) might imply that capabilities like multi-coloured text, cursor addressing etc. are not supported when in practice they are (the console is assumed to be a VT-100 or ANSI-compatible colour terminal). TTY feels more like a 'dumb terminal' to me.

BBCVT?

[Hated Moron]

BBCVT?

In the basement of Television Centre I suppose! Quadruplex or C-format?