Vector Basic Interpreter Basic 80 Reference Manual - page 38
SK, Extended, Disk
To store the numeric 'and string
constants
that
are accessed by the program's READ statement(s).
(See READ, Section 2.54)
DATA statements are
nonexecutable
and
may
be
placed
anywhere
in
the
program.
A
DATA
statement may contain as many constants as
will
fit
on
a
line
(separated by commas), and any
number of DATA
statements
may
be
used
in
a
program.
The
READ
statements access the DATA
statements in order
(by
line
number)
and
the
data
contained therein may be thought of as one
continuous list of items, regardless of how many
items are
on
a
line
or
where the lines
are
placed in the program.
of constants> may QOntain numeric constants in any format, i.e., fixed point, floating point or inte~er. (No numeric expressions are allowed ~n the list.) String constants in DATA statements must be surrounded by double quotation marks only if they contain commas, colons or significant leading or trailing spaces. Otherwise, quotation marks are not needed. The variable type (numeric or string) given in the READ statement must agree with the corresponding constant in the DATA statement. DATA statements may be reread from the beginning by use of the RESTORE statement (Section 2.57). See examples in Section 2.54, READ.