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  • Why do you need a parser to check the range used? Can't you just look at the last line of the file? Commented Jan 16, 2020 at 2:20
  • You still have to parse the number :-) It's all regex in the end. Commented Jan 16, 2020 at 15:06
  • While BBC BASIC did accept 0 as a line number, an error at line 0 would be reported with the "at line 0" omitted as if it were an immediate mode error. Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 10:30
  • Do you have a link to your lex/yacc code and the results? I'm curious what the maximums were and what the "reserved for system use" line numbers were used for on various machines. (Also, does "-ve" mean "negative"? You may want to change that in your answer as it was confusing.) Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 21:23
  • Your question about Atari's BASIC using signed numbers makes me wonder if it might share lineage with VAX BASIC which also had a max of 32767. According to Wikipedia, VAX BASIC was based on DEC's BASIC-PLUS for the PDP-11 from 1972. DEC's manual ( archive.org/details/…) states the max line number is 32767. Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 21:29