Library /sys$common/syshlp/basichelp.hlb Qualifiers, BYTE  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  Tells BASIC to allocate 8 bits of storage as the default  size  for  all
  integer  data  not  explicitly  typed in the program.  This lets you use
  integer values between -128 and 127, inclusive.

  Format

      BYTE