Most dialects of BASIC actually had functions too. They just weren’t popularised because line numbers were still essential for line editing on home micros.

> On speed, Forth for the ACE was faster than Basic running under the ZX80. So, it wasn't about using a text-parsed language.

Forth and BASIC are completely different languages and you’re arguing a different point to the one I made too.

Also I don’t see much value in hypothetical arguments like “if Forth won instead of BASIC” because it didn’t and thus we are talking about actual systems people owned.

I mean, I could list a plethora of technologies I’d have preferred to dominate: Pascal and LISP being two big examples. But the C64 wasn’t a lisp machine and people aren’t writing modern software in Pascal. So they’re completely moot to the conversation.