It's me again! Shameless plug: I wrote a review of BBC Basic on my site. Hope it's not too harsh.
1 year ago(+1)
I don't think it's unduly harsh. BBC BASIC is (nearly) 42 years old and most of the features you complain about have been there from the start.
Some can be justified (Cartesian Coordinates are used in PostScript, OpenGL etc. and are the standard way to represent 2-dimensional data in science and engineering); others less so (resolution-independent coordinates are great, but they should have been something like 16-units per pixel, not two).
Having to remain compatible with a language designed in the 1980s is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that it ensures stability, and removes the temptation to 'tinker' with the language. The curse is that (the few) things that, with hindsight, were poorly designed constantly rankle.
By the way, there is a 'proper' ELSEIF syntax, but it's been shoehorned into the language and as such is not particularly pleasant. I'd recommend using a CASE statement in preference:
