Lawrence Kesteloot wondered if a Basic compiler could fit in the same space as a Basic interpreter, and found it could. The project is written in C, so it's doubly surprising (to me.) The Basic does lack some features - crucially it lacks strings - but it's described as 5x to 30x the speed of the interpreter it replaces.
https://github.com/bradgrantham/apple2a
https://www.teamten.com/lawrence/projects/apple2a/
(It's open source too.)
via Emmanuel Florac on diaspora
Apple IIa - a Basic compiler, as a replacement ROM
Re: Apple IIa - a Basic compiler, as a replacement ROM
Very interesting find!
Cat; the other white meat.