Well, TinyBASIC was available as both an interpreter, but more often, as a compiler.
Though it was a primitive compiler compared to today, due to the size of the language, it easily fit within 2-3kb, which on your 8kb system, would leave 5kb or more for program memory.
In fact, some TinyBASIC systems had a virtual machine and JIT compiler in 120 instructions, or around 2kb, as early as 1964.
Though BASIC is slower than Forth, or was in those days, the main benefit is instant availability. BASIC syntax was the jumping on point for more than a few programmers, myself included, because of it's simplicity.
