Basic Programming
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Not to be confused with BASIC, Atari BASIC or batari BASIC
Basic Programming was a cartridge released in 1979 for the Atari 2600 by Warren Robinett that contained an interpreter for the (Non-Esoteric) programming language Basic. For those who know anything about the Atari 2600, this is a stupid idea.
The entire machine only had 128 bytes of RAM. of which 65 are used for internal uses. Which gives you 63 bytes (called symbols) total for program storage, variables, the stack and the printout.
The "Keyboard" was just a pair of 12 key keypads that connected to the 2 controller ports. Instead of typing in the tokens the tokens were printed on the keypads (a. la Sinclair Basic) in 4 colors and a modifier key called the "Shift Control Key" cycled between the colors.
The cartridge gave the user a full IDE that included a memory viewer, an output console and even a graphics output with 2 sprites.
Keywords
Operations: + - × ÷ ← Mod = < >
Flow Control: If Then Else Goto
I/O: Print Clear Note(music) Key(input)
Sprite Control: Hor1 Ver1 Hor2 Ver2 Hit
Examples
This is the PONG game that’s included in the manual (ball and paddle)
1 Hor 1!Hor 1+Key 2 Hor 2!Hor 2+8 3 Ver 2!Ver 2-3 4 If Hit Then Ver 2!99 ,Note!7 5 Goto 1
This is the version without sound
1 Hor 2!Hor 2+Key 2 If Ver 1>90 Then Ver 1!88 3 If Hit Then Ver 1!9 4 Ver 1!Ver 1+If Ver 1 Mod 2 Then 8 Else 92 5 Hor 1!Hor 1+7 6 Goto 1