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This page was created on 08-Mar-2010 20:15 by Carsten Strotmann

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Version Date Modified Size Author Changes ... Change note
114 24-Feb-2023 14:10 18 KB Andreas Tartz to previous
113 24-Feb-2023 13:11 18 KB Andreas Tartz to previous | to last
112 24-Feb-2023 13:09 18 KB Andreas Tartz to previous | to last
111 24-Feb-2023 13:06 17 KB Andreas Tartz to previous | to last
110 24-Feb-2023 12:57 17 KB Andreas Tartz to previous | to last
109 24-Feb-2023 12:53 17 KB Andreas Tartz to previous | to last
108 24-Feb-2023 12:38 17 KB Andreas Tartz to previous | to last
107 03-Feb-2023 15:21 17 KB Maury Markowitz to previous | to last
106 13-Dec-2021 16:05 17 KB Maury Markowitz to previous | to last
105 16-Sep-2021 13:46 17 KB Maury Markowitz to previous | to last
104 16-Sep-2021 13:30 17 KB Maury Markowitz to previous | to last general cleanup
103 29-Jul-2020 21:57 17 KB Peter Dell to previous | to last TURBO-BASIC XL ==> Turbo-BASIC XL
102 23-May-2020 05:03 17 KB Roland B. Wassenberg to previous | to last
101 01-May-2020 02:03 17 KB Roland B. Wassenberg to previous | to last

Page References

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Atari BASIC

Version management

Difference between version and

At line 6 changed one line
Atari originally licensed the 6502-assembler code for Microsoft BASIC. This came in two versions, one that was about 7900 bytes that used a 6-byte floating point number format, and another that was closer to 9000 that included an expanded floating point format with 9-byte numbers. The vast majority of 8-bit machines used the larger 9k version, and then further expanded it with additional functions for basic input/output. For instance, the BASIC and I/O in the early PET machines was supplied in a total of 12k of ROM.
Atari originally licensed the 6502-assembler code for Microsoft BASIC. This came in two versions, one that was about 7900 bytes that used a 32-bit (6-digit) floating point number format, and another that was closer to 9000 that included an expanded floating point format with a 40-bit (9-digit) numbers. The vast majority of 8-bit machines used the larger 9k/40-bit version, and then further expanded it with additional functions for basic input/output. For instance, the BASIC, character set and I/O in the early PET machines was supplied in a total of 16k of ROM.
At line 8 changed one line
Atari had selected an 8k cartridge format because that was an easy size to supply in a single ROM. So the Atari programmers started with the smaller 8k version of the MS code and struggled to cut it down enough to fit in a cart. That was hard enough of its own, but they really wanted to add additional instructions to take advantage of the Atari's graphics and sound. Eventually, some time in the summer of 1978, they gave up and went looking for a 3rd party to do it for them.
When the project was still a games console, Atari had selected an 8k cartridge format because that was an easy size to supply in a single ROM. So the Atari programmers started with the smaller 8k version of the MS code and struggled to cut it down enough to fit in a cart. That was hard enough of its own, but they really wanted to add additional instructions to take advantage of the Atari's graphics and sound. Eventually, some time in the summer of 1978, they gave up and went looking for a 3rd party to do it for them.
At line 10 changed one line
Shepardson Microsystems Inc, or SMI for short, won the contract. They proposed a simplified syntax and the cutting of a number of rarely-used features, leaving more room for new commands for graphics and sound. Even then, the result required about 10k, so to cross the remaining gap to 8k, some of the core libraries were moved out of the language and into the operating system ROMs. This had the side-effect of allowing any other language on the Atari to use these routines as well.
Atari approached Shepardson Microsystems Inc, or SMI for short, who had written a number of 6502-based products and a series of BASICs for other machines. They proposed a simplified syntax and the cutting of a number of rarely-used features, leaving more room for new commands for graphics and sound. Even then, the result required about 10k, so to cross the remaining gap to 8k, some of the core libraries were moved out of the language and into the operating system ROMs. This had the side-effect of allowing any other language on the Atari to use these routines as well.
At line 14 changed one line
Two major pieces of code were moved out of the BASIC into the OS ROM. The first was a set of graphics routines to set up the screen, draw lines, and similar. The second was the floating point math system, based on a new implementation of the 6-byte binary-coded-decimal (BCD) format. Both libraries were notoriously slow. Generally, Atari BASIC was among the slowest BASICs of its era, both due to the OS code and two problems involving loops.
In order to fit the code into a 8k ROM, two major pieces of code were moved out of the BASIC into the OS ROM. The first was a set of graphics routines to set up the screen, draw lines, and similar. The second was the floating point math system, based on a new implementation of the 6-byte binary-coded-decimal (BCD) format. Both libraries were notoriously slow. Generally, Atari BASIC was among the slowest BASICs of its era, both due to the OS code and two problems involving loops.
At line 16 changed one line
The performance issues led to a profusion of 3rd party BASICs, some of which continue to be developed to this day. By replacing the math libraries and fixing these two loop issues, speed improves on the order of 3 to 5 times in most programs, and this is a common feature of 3rd party BASICs like [TURBO-BASIC XL] and [Altirra Basic]. For even higher performance, [FastBasic] uses a p-code system that can be quickly interpreted.
The performance issues led to a profusion of 3rd party BASICs, some of which continue to be developed to this day. By replacing the math libraries and fixing these two loop issues, speed improves on the order of 3 to 5 times in most programs, and this is a common feature of 3rd party BASICs like [Turbo-BASIC XL|TURBO-BASIC XL|Turbo-BASIC XL] and [Altirra Basic]. For even higher performance, [FastBasic] uses a p-code system that can be quickly interpreted.
At line 43 added 4 lines
!!Source Code
[{Image src='The_Atari_BASIC_Source_Book-Bill_Wilkinson-Kathleen_O_Brien-Paul_Laughton.jpg' width=305 height=467 }]
[The Atari BASIC Source Book - Bill Wilkinson, Kathleen O'Brien and Paul Laughton|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/The_Atari_BASIC_Source_Book-Bill_Wilkinson-Kathleen_O'Brien-Paul_Laughton.pdf] ; size: 76.8 MB ; 316 pages
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[{Image src='Cart_800er.jpg' width=200 height=247 }]
Atari Basic Cartridge - brown - Revison A\\
\\
[{Image src='Cart_XE.jpg' width=200 height=247 }]
Atari Basic Cartridge - silver - Revison C ; Revision B was soldered in the machines only and therefore not available as a stand-alone cartridge
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!!Source Code
[{Image src='The_Atari_BASIC_Source_Book-Bill_Wilkinson-Kathleen_O'Brien-Paul_Laughton.jpg' width=610 height=933 }]
[The Atari BASIC Source Book - Bill Wilkinson, Kathleen O'Brien and Paul Laughton|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/The_Atari_BASIC_Source_Book-Bill_Wilkinson-Kathleen_O'Brien-Paul_Laughton.pdf] ; size: 76.8 MB
At line 87 changed 8 lines
* [ATARI BASIC Reference Manual|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/ATARI_BASIC_Reference_Manual.pdf] ; size: 77.7 MB
* [The Atari BASIC source book|The Atari Basic Source Book], contains the complete source code for Atari BASIC, fully described. Useful for anyone interested in interpreter design.
* [Atari Basic Rev C Reference Manual]
* [ATARI Basic Leitfaden.pdf]
* [Atari BASIC Quick Reference Guide-Gilbert Held.pdf]
* [ATARI BASIC-Handbuch für Selbststudium und Praxis-BOB ALBRECHT, Le Roy Finkel, JERALD BROWN-Screen.pdf] 214 Doppelseiten, OCR, 44,8 MB
* [Atari Basic Reference Manual Rev. A (1980)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/ATARI_BASIC_Reference_Manual.pdf] ; size: 77.7 MB ; 122 pages
* [Atari Basic Reference Manual-Product Update-C061038 Rev. A, Errata for the above manual (1982)|Atari_Basic_Reference_Manual-Product_Update-C061038_Rev._A-©_1982_Atari,_Inc.pdf] ; size: 4.2 MB ; 6 pages
* [Atari Basic Reference Manual Rev. C (1983)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_Basic_Reference_Manual_Rev._C.pdf] ; size: 47.9 MB ; 134 pages
* [Atari BASIC - Bob_Albrecht, LeRoy Finkel and Jerald R. Brown (1979)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_Basic_1979.pdf] ; size: 80.9 MB ; OCR ; 348 pages
* [Atari_Basic-Richard_Haskell (1983)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_Basic_1983.pdf] ; size: 74.7 MB ; OCR ; 196 pages
* [Atari BASIC-XL Edition - Bob_Albrecht, LeRoy Finkel and Jerald R. Brown (1985)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_BASIC_XL_Edition-Bob_Albrecht,_LeRoy_Finkel_and_Jerald_R._Brown_1985.pdf] ; size: 86.5 MB ; OCR ; 404 pages
* [ATARI BASIC-Handbuch für Selbststudium und Praxis-BOB ALBRECHT, Le Roy Finkel, JERALD BROWN|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/ATARI_BASIC-Handbuch_fuer_Selbststudium_und_Praxis-BOB_ALBRECHT,_Le_Roy_Finkel,_JERALD_BROWN.pdf] ; Größe: 44,8 MB ; OCR ; 214 Doppelseiten
* [ATARI Basic Leitfaden|ATARI Basic Leitfaden.pdf] ; Größe: 5,2 MB ; 11 Seiten
* [Atari BASIC - Quick Reference Guide - Gilbert Held|Atari BASIC Quick Reference Guide-Gilbert Held.pdf] ; size: 10.4 MB ; 8 pages
* [OSS Quick reference card for Atari Basic|oss-quick-reference-card-basic-a-plus.pdf] ; size: 3.4 MB ; 8 pages ; thank you so much Bill Lange for finding this very rare cards. :-)
* [Atari Basic Referenz-Karten|Atari_Basic_Referenz-Karten.pdf] ; Größe: 3,1 MB ; OCR ; 271 Seiten
* [Atari BASIC Source Book (2006)|Atari_BASIC_Source_Book_2006.pdf] ; size: 10.4 MB ; OCR ; 80 pages ; converted 2006 by Andreas Bertelmann for ABBUC ; thank you Andreas
At line 108 added 76 lines
!!Atari Basic Keywords
An incredible good site for all [Atari BASIC keywords|http://www.abbuc.de/software/133-software/softwarereferenz/309-atari-basic-referenz] ; thank you ABBUC, greatly appreciated! :-)
[{Image src='Atari_Basic_Keywords.jpg' width=718 height=323 }]
Atari Basic Keywords
!!Abbreviations
|| Command || Abbreviation
|| BYE || B. \\
|| CLOAD || CLOA. \\
|| CLOSE || CL. \\
|| COLOR || C. \\
|| CONT || CON. \\
|| CSAVE || CS. \\
|| DATA || D. \\
|| DEG || DE. \\
|| DIM || DI. \\
|| DOS || DO. \\
|| DRAWTO || DR. \\
|| ENTER || E. \\
|| FOR || F. \\
|| GET || GE. \\
|| GOTO || G. \\
|| GOSUB || GOS. \\
|| GRAPHICS || GR. \\
|| INPUT || I. \\
|| LET || LE. \\
|| LIST || L. \\
|| LOAD || LO. \\
|| LOCATE || LOC. \\
|| LPRINT || LP. \\
|| NEXT || N. \\
|| NOTE || NO. \\
|| OPEN || O. \\
|| PLOT || PL. \\
|| POINT || P. \\
|| POKE || POK. \\
|| POSITION || POS. \\
|| PRINT || PR. \\
|| PUT || PU. \\
|| RAD || RA. \\
|| READ || REA. \\
|| REM || . \\
|| RESTORE || RES. \\
|| RETURN || RET. \\
|| RUN || RU. \\
|| SAVE || S. \\
|| SETCOLOR || SE. \\
|| SOUND || SO. \\
|| STATUS || ST. \\
|| STOP || STO. \\
|| TRAP || T. \\
|| XIO || X. \\
!!Atari Basic Error Codes
2 - INSUFFICIENT MEMORY\\
3 - BAD VALUE\\
4 - TOO MANY VARIABLES\\
5 - STRING LENGHT ERROR\\
6 - OUT OF DATA\\
7 - BAD LINE NUMBER\\
8 - INPUT ERROR\\
9 - DIMENSION ERROR\\
10 - STACK OVERFLOW\\
11 - OVERFLOW/UNDERFLOW\\
12 - LINE NOT FOUND\\
13 - NO MATCHING FOR\\
14 - LINE TOO LONG\\
15 - GOSUB/FOR DELETED\\
16 - RETURN ERROR\\
17 - SYNTAX ERROR\\
18 - INVALID CHARACTER\\
19 - PROGRAM TOO LONG\\
20 - BAD DEVICE NUMBER\\
21 - LOAD FILE ERROR
At line 104 changed one line
!! Atari Basic Kurs (deutsch): Teil 1 und 2 sind vorhanden, Status von Teil 3 ist unklar
!! Atari Basic Kurs (deutsch): Teil 1 und 2 sind vorhanden, Teil 3 wurde leider nie fertig
At line 106 changed one line
* [Kurs 2: Noch mehr BASIC-Lernen Sie BASIC mit Dagmar Berghoff-RXG 55007|Noch mehr BASIC RXG 55007]
* [Kurs 2: Noch mehr BASIC-Lernen Sie BASIC mit Dagmar Berghoff-TXG 55007|Noch mehr BASIC TXG 55007]
At line 110 changed 4 lines
* [Atari BASIC Article in Wikipedia|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATARI_BASIC]
* [Atari Basic vs. Commodore C64 Basic vs. Apple II Basic]
* [Atari BASIC: the good, the bad and the ugly|http://archive.li/njp7N]
* [Extended Atari Basic]
At line 212 added 33 lines
!! References
* [Atari BASIC Article in Wikipedia|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATARI_BASIC]
* [Atari Basic vs. Commodore C64 Basic vs. Apple II Basic]
* [Atari BASIC: the good, the bad and the ugly|https://web.archive.org/web/20070524044410/http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/other_stuff/atari_basic.html]
!!Pictures
[{Image src='Atari_Basic_Reference_Manual_800_.jpg' width=533 height=723 }]
[Atari Basic Reference Manual Rev. A|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/ATARI_BASIC_Reference_Manual.pdf] ; size: 77.7 MB ; 122 pages\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari_Basic_Reference_Manual_XE.jpg' width=437 height=643 }]
[Atari Basic Reference Manual Rev. C|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_Basic_Reference_Manual_Rev._C.pdf] ; size: 47.9 MB ; 134 pages\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari_Basic_1979.jpg' width=364 height=467 }]
[Atari BASIC - Bob_Albrecht, LeRoy Finkel and Jerald R. Brown (1979)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_Basic_1979.pdf] ; size: 80.9 MB ; OCR ; 348 pages\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari_Basic-Richard_Haskell.jpg' width=354 height=468 }]
[Atari_Basic-Richard_Haskell.jpg (1983)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_Basic_1983.pdf] ; size: 74.7 MB ; OCR ; 196 pages\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari_Basic-XL-Edition.jpg' width=308 height=467 }]
[Atari BASIC-XL Edition - Bob_Albrecht, LeRoy Finkel and Jerald R. Brown (1985)|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/Atari_BASIC_XL_Edition-Bob_Albrecht,_LeRoy_Finkel_and_Jerald_R._Brown_1985.pdf] ; size: 86.5 MB ; OCR ; 404 pages\\
\\
[{Image src='ATARI_BASIC-Handbuch_fuer_Selbststudium_und_Praxis-BOB_ALBRECHT,_Le_Roy_Finkel,_JERALD_BROWN-2.jpg' width=336 height=466 }]
[ATARI BASIC-Handbuch für Selbststudium und Praxis-BOB ALBRECHT, Le Roy Finkel, JERALD BROWN|https://data.atariwiki.org/DOC/ATARI_BASIC-Handbuch_fuer_Selbststudium_und_Praxis-BOB_ALBRECHT,_Le_Roy_Finkel,_JERALD_BROWN.pdf] ; Größe: 44,8 MB ; OCR ; 214 Doppelseiten\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari_Basic_Reference_Guide_XL.jpg' width=331 height=233 }]
[ATARI Basic Leitfaden|ATARI Basic Leitfaden.pdf] ; Größe: 5,2 MB ; 11 Seiten\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari BASIC Quick Reference Guide-Gilbert Held.jpg' width=254 height=445 }]
[Atari BASIC - Quick Reference Guide - Gilbert Held|Atari BASIC Quick Reference Guide-Gilbert Held.pdf] ; size: 10.4 MB ; 8 pages\\
\\
[{Image src='Atari_Basic_Referenz-Karten3.jpg' width=336 height=231 }]
[Atari Basic Referenz-Karten|Atari_Basic_Referenz-Karten.pdf] ; Größe: 3,1 MB ; OCR ; 271 Seiten