[theclaw]

Not just on the Arc either - the inline assembler was also available in BBC BASIC on its predecessor, the BBC Micro. I remember you had to put the asm code in a FOR loop so the interpreter could do two passes - one to locate all the labels and one to assemble the result, I believe.

That BASIC also had proper functions and procedures as well as special fast integer variables in zero page, it offered easy access to the whole machine from graphics to sound to ADCs and tape or disk IO. It was also very fast for the time, and the manuals that came with the machine were excellent.

The BBC micro user manual section on the inline assembler is available here for anyone interested in how it worked: http://central.kaserver5.org/Kasoft/Typeset/BBC/Ch43.html

[Wildgoose]

The inline assembler was also available on the predecessor to the BBC micro, the Acorn Atom. (I'm proud to say I still have mine even if I haven't fired it up in years).

[momentoftop]

One of the most famous games on the Micro was Repton, which the 16-year old Tim Tyler wrote mostly in BASIC, and then gradually optimised into inline assembly.