Original BASIC was actually developed with a JIT compiler, only the 8 bit home versions were purely interpreted, and mainframe BASIC already supported structured programming and AOT compilation by the time 8 bit home computers were taking over, e.g. VAX BASIC.
I think many of us that started on 8 bit as kids, and eventually used something else on 16 bit computers aren't aware of this.
Original BASIC was actually developed with a JIT compiler, only the 8 bit home versions were purely interpreted, and mainframe BASIC already supported structured programming and AOT compilation by the time 8 bit home computers were taking over, e.g. VAX BASIC.
I think many of us that started on 8 bit as kids, and eventually used something else on 16 bit computers aren't aware of this.