Category: BASIC
A new version of ugBASIC, the isomorphic open source BASIC compiler, has been released. It contains specific space and time optimizations for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128, and it supports REU RAM Expansion “out of the box”, with automatic generation of floppy disk set. ugBASIC is a cross compiler for Linux and Windows for writing games in an easy language, that can run on…
NOMAM’s BASIC Ten-Liners 2024 is back with its thirteenth edition, featuring games programmed with just ten lines of code in BASIC for the cherished Atari 8-bit computers.
NOTE: If what I describe in this article applies to other implementations of BASICs that use reserved string space, please leave a comment and let me know. I was in junior high school when I started learning to program BASIC. Initially, this was done by reading a book a classmate had and then writing programs out on paper. We’d then…
Although I started out my home computer life with a Commodore VIC-20, I ended up moving to a 64K Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (“CoCo”) mostly because of its Microsoft Extended BASIC. Having built-in commands like PLAY, DRAW, PAINT, LINE and CIRCLE let me do graphics that anyone with an Extended BASIC CoCo could run. On my VIC-20, I had…
Previously, I shared my discovery that the new ChatGPT artificial intelligence program had some understanding of programming languages such as C, BASIC and even COBOL. In the days since that discovery, I have continued to experiment with this technology and have found it to be quite useful. It has already helped me with my day job. It was able to…
OpenAI is the entity behind the trendy DALL-E art generator that creates images using artificial intelligence. That’s the thing that’s been creating nightmare fuel images like this one of “a robot using a 1980s home computer inside a Radio Shack.” Recently, they opened up their ChatGPT chat bot and the world may never be the same. When I first tested…
The 2022 Basic 10 Liners contest is over and, once again, brings very clever and impressive programs that are hard to believe were made using 10 lines of BASIC, sometimes very encrypted 10 lines, but still an amazing accomplishment! Nothing less than 82 programs were submitted, giving a lot of work and amusement to the 8 judges, including myself! This…
The Planeta Sinclair blog and the Arca Lusitana archive present: 2022 Pascalated BASIC Contest! This contest invites any interested to write a program in ZX Spectrum BASIC using a more structured approach than the usual BASIC from the 80s offered at the time. In a nutshell, no GOTOs are allowed! The idea came from the fact that when the ZX Spectrum Next was launched, it…
One of the most expected and respected contests in the retro computing community is happening again! The 11th of the BASIC 10-Liner has started and already waiting for your submission. This edition’s rules are pretty much the same as last year’s. BASIC games can be written for all 8-bit computers, as long they are line-oriented dialects. As usual, the PUR-80…
Chapters: 01 , 02 , 03, 04. The story so far: graphic performance is great! We have a notion of memory consumption and the base game idea direction, meaning, we have a designed player moving about. How does one start a game development? In my case and in general, by doing sketches, then mock ups for the target system, then I code the basic…
