BASCOM53.DOC
 (a comparison of Microsoft's version 5.2 and 5.3 Basic compilers)
		     by T.E.M. - 9/11/81

The MBXREF.BAS (MBASIC 5.2 [CP/M ver]) Cross Reference Utility was
downloaded from Prodigy Systems CBBS and compiled using BASCOM ver.
5.3.  Using a Zenith Z-89 with 2mz Z-80, 55 cps Nec Spinwriter at
1200 baud, the 5.2 interpreter version took 592 seconds to xref this
program for both listing and xref (option 3).  The compiled version
took 297 seconds to execute the identical task... a 100 % difference!
The compiled run was printer-bound, ...it undoubtedly would have
run even faster but for the printer speed.

Comparison of BASCOM ver 5.2 to ver 5.3 for MBXREF program:
	5.2 generated a 34 k .COM file for MBXREF.
	5.3 generated an 8 k .COM file, and required the 16 k BRUN file
	    for a total of 24 k total for a single program.

The improvement with 5.3 compounds when two or more programs reside
on the same diskette, however, because BRUN need only be there once.
For instance: to contain twenty copies of the 5.2 mbxref.com would
have occupied 340 k of disk space; whereas 20 copies of 5.3 mbxref.com
plus one copy of brun would occupy 176 k, ....or about half the space.

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	The MBXREF.BAS program is available on several RCPM's.
I have used it a fair amount, and it seems to be very solid.

	Ver 5.3 appears to be at least as fast as 5.2 BASCOM; perhaps
a little faster for some applications.

	BRUN.COM is a 16 k file.  It is the ONLY additional file
required at run execution time.  All the other files distributed
with BASCOM 5.3 are either optional, or requried at compile time.
BRUN.COM does require a license per CPU.

	If you want to distibute your .COM file, but do not want to
buy a BRUN use license for each user, 5.3 does allow you to create
a large .COM file (like ver 5.2 did) which does NOT require BRUN.COM.
This is specified at compile time, and is thoroughly explained in
the documentation that accompanies 5.3.

	I would urge owners of 5.2 BASCOM to pay the upgrade fee to 5.3.
The disk space savings are substantial, and the programs load faster.
If you have been putting off getting BASCOM because of the huge .COM
files created by 5.2 and earlier versions, that problem no longer exists.