And there were "IDEs" that sometimes were offered in cover tapes, at the expense of even lesser RAM, I got one for the Spectrum.
And the 8 bit computers with at least 128 KB, already could run CP/M, which opened the door for better BASICs, including compilers.
I could have worded that a bit better. What i meant was that as far as I'm aware, QBASIC was the first free OS-bundled fully featured BASIC IDE which even by today’s standards still kind of holds up:
• find and replace
• split panes
• an immediate mode
• debugging
• breakpoints
• built‑in help for every basic keyword and command.
• editing any lines (no need for line number at multiples of 10 to insert and modify at a later time)
In terms of commercial products, there were already a few to chose from, including the big brother Quick BASIC, which introduced its IDE in 1986.
QBASIC was a subset from QuickBASIC 4.5.
10 PRINT "YOU'RE DEFINITELY GOING TO GET FATIGUED"
20 PRINT "AFTER A FEW HUNDRED LINES OF TYPING THIS"
30 PRINT "IN AND MAKE A MISTAKE. HAVE FUN!"
40 PRINT CHR$(7)