Borland Turbo Basic

Developers can now create much larger executable programs without the 64KB limitation previously imposed by BASIC interpreters.

Borland International released Turbo BASIC for MS-DOS in 1987, acquiring it from its original creator, Robert "Bob" Zale, who had developed it as BASIC/Z for CP/M. Turbo BASIC distinguished itself as an interactive compiler, allowing for much larger executable programs than contemporary interpreters like GWBASIC, which were limited to 64 KB. A key feature was its Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which streamlined the edit-compile-run cycle, a departure from the typical command-line compilation process. Borland sold Turbo BASIC for only a couple of years before discontinuing it, after which Zale bought back the rights and continued development as PowerBASIC. During its time under Borland, multiple versions were released, including 1.0 and a bug-fix update to 1.1. In 1987, Borland also launched three "Turbo Toolboxes" for Turbo BASIC: Database, Editor, and Telecom, each priced at $99.95 and including complete source code, to enhance its programming capabilities.

The introduction of an IDE for BASIC programming, as seen in Turbo BASIC, marked a significant step toward more integrated and user-friendly development tools. This "Edit-Compile-Run" environment democratized software creation by simplifying the workflow, making it more accessible for a broader range of developers. It foreshadowed the integrated development environments that would become standard in modern programming.

Borland's release of Turbo BASIC toolboxes for database, editor, and communications programming, complete with source code, signaled a move towards extensible and customizable development ecosystems. This approach empowered developers to build more sophisticated applications by providing specialized modules, while the inclusion of source code fostered a culture of modification and learning within the programming community.