Basic Programing (the game)

[Paralistalon]

Yep, we're talking about the game "Basic Programming" for the Atari 2600. I printed the manual off AtariAge yesterday and played through the tutorial. This morning I tried some of the sample programs and made two programs of my own. Here are the two programs I made:

 

Program 1: Coin Toss

 

Speed 60

 

1Print"WIN"

2,,,,,,,,,,

3Clear

4Print"LOSE"

5,,,,,,,,,,

6Clear

7Goto1

 

For 2 or more players. First, close all the fields so you have a blank screen. Player 1 presses the Run/Halt key, then presses it a second time. Now the coin is reset and ready. The next player presses the Run/Halt key, then presses it again. Then, that player shows the Output field and sees if he/she won or lost. If it is blank, that player closes the Output field and tries again. If there are a bunch of people playing, you can play an elimination game. In that case, whenever a person gets a WIN or LOSE, they close the Output screen and reset the coin by pressing Run/Halt twice.

 

Program 2: Graphical Music

 

(The Left Arrow symbol will be replaced with ! )

 

Speed: 60

 

1Ver1!90,Ver2!

90

2A!Key

3If A=0ThenGoto1

4If A>0ThenNote!A

5Ver1!90-Note*

10

6Goto1

 

This program was very hard for me to make so I'm very proud of it. Close all fields except for Graphics, and use the keypad to play the notes. When you press a note, the bar will rise depending on how high the note is.

 

Now I have a few questions for you:

 

Is the programing I learned in Basic Programming the same as the BASIC programing I hear about? How similar are they? How can I program in BASIC on my computer so I don't have the severe memory restriction and so I can save my programs?

 

Finally, in conjunction with Mock and Kepone's threads, how similar is Basic Programming to actually programing for the Atari?

 

Thank you, and if you have any Basic Programming programs of your own, feel free to post them here!

[Snider-man]

Not bad! I believe there was a contest of sorts to see who could come up with the best Basic Programming program using only the 2600 cart. Here's a link to the thread:

 

Basic Programming Challenge

 

Hope this inspires you to even more greatness.

 

And, is the cart like actually programming in BASIC? Uh, nope.

[Voch]

I remember BASIC on my ol' Commodore 64 (V 2.0) and 128D (V 7.0) machines. Now I'm a Java guru.

 

I have BASIC Programming for my 2600 with the keyboard controllers but admittedly haven't tried much with it...

 

Voch

[Paul Slocum]

Is the programing I learned in Basic Programming the same as the BASIC programing I hear about?  How similar are they?

 

2600 Basic is a little different and MUCH more limited than most Basic languages, but it wouldn't take long to make the transfer.

 

How can I program in BASIC on my computer so I don't have the severe memory restriction and so I can save my programs?

 

I asked the exact same question in 1985 and ended up getting a Commodore 64 where I first learned to really program. You might do some searching on download.com for some Basic languages for the PC. You could also download a Commodore 64, Atari 800, or Apple II emulator.

 

Finally, in conjunction with Mock and Kepone's threads, how similar is Basic Programming to actually programing for the Atari?

 

Real 2600 programming requires assembly language which significantly more difficult than Basic. Commodore 64 Basic is probably the best preparation for 2600 programming since its Basic forces you to learn some of the concepts required for assembly. (It doesn't have built in sound and graphics functions and requires you to manipulate memory-mapped registers directly.)

 

-Paul

[MegaManFan]

Commodore 64 Basic is probably the best preparation for 2600 programming since its Basic forces you to learn some of the concepts required for assembly.  (It doesn't have built in sound and graphics functions and requires you to manipulate memory-mapped registers directly.)

 

-Paul

 

Ahh yes, good ol' Peek and Poke. I miss them guys.