By then, HiSoft BASIC, Omikron BASIC and STOS BASIC had appeared. However, compilers and run-time executables started to appear for these BASICs that produced executable code that could run on all STs, and type-in programs became less fashionable, so there was no longer a need for a standard BASIC. As these BASICS were not free, a program written in one of these BASICs could only be listed and run if the user had that BASIC. FaST BASIC and GFA BASIC were two of the first of these third-party BASICs to be released. The relatively low quality of ST BASIC quickly opened up a market for third-party BASICs on the ST. Regarding reports that MetaComCo was "one bug away" from releasing a long-delayed update to the language, it jokingly wondered "whether Atari has only one more bug to eliminate from ST BASIC or one more to add". After citing other flaws (such as ? 257 * 257 and ? 257 ^ 2 not being equivalent) the magazine recommended "avoid ST BASIC for serious programming". Similar commands, such as x = 39.8 or x = 4.725, crash the computer the magazine described the results of the last command as "as bad a crash as you can get on the ST without seeing the machine rip free from its cables, drag itself to the edge of the desk, and leap into the trash bin". Compute! in September 1987 reported on one flaw that it described as "among the worst BASIC bugs of all time". The windows can only be selected with the mouse.
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