This page (revision-114) was last changed on 24-Feb-2023 14:10 by Andreas Tartz 

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

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Atari BASIC

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Atari BASIC is the "standard" BASIC dialect for the 8-bit series. It was originally sold separately from the machines in a (relatively expensive) 8kB ROM cartridge. Starting with the 1200XL, the ROMs were included inside the machine. There are three versions, the original Revision A, and the updated B and C which fixed various bugs.
Atari BASIC is the "standard" BASIC dialect for the 8-bit series. It was originally sold separately as a (relatively expensive) 8kB ROM cartridge. Starting with the 1200XL, the ROMs were included inside the machine. There are three versions, the original Revision A, and the updated B and C which fixed various bugs.
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Atari BASIC was priginally written by Shepardson Microsystems in late 1978 as part of a somewhat rushed effort to make a BASIC that would fit in an 8kB ROM. The standard BASIC of the era, Microsoft's "8k basic", was actually around 9kB, and the most common versions were about 11kB. In spite of their best efforts, Atari programmers failed to pare it to 8kB, and hired Shepardson to do it for them.
Atari BASIC was originally written by Shepardson Microsystems in late 1978 as part of a somewhat rushed effort to make a BASIC that would fit in an 8kB ROM. The standard BASIC of the era, Microsoft's "8k basic", was actually around 9kB, and the most common versions were about 11kB. In spite of their best efforts, Atari programmers failed to pare it to 8kB, and hired Shepardson to do it for them.
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Among the code moved to the OS ROMs was the floating point system, which was based on a 6-byte format. The 9kB version of MS BASIC also used this format, while the much more common 11kB version used an expanded 9-byte format. The Shepardson floating point code was notoriously slow, and this had a significant performance impact on almost all programs.
Among the code moved to the OS ROMs was the floating point system, which was based on a 6-byte format. The 9kB version of MS BASIC also used this format, while the much more common 11kB version used an expanded 9-byte format. This meant the Atari has somewhat less accuracy, although in practice this meant little. In contrast, a very real issue was that the Shepardson floating point code was terribly slow, and this had a significant performance impact on almost all programs.
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Generally, Atari BASIC was among the slowest BASICs of its era, both due to the math code and two problems involving loops. 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.
Generally, Atari BASIC was among the slowest BASICs of its era, both due to the math code and two problems involving loops. 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 [FastBasic].
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Generally, one can describe Atari BASIC's design philosophy as orthogonal, in that any command could be used anywhere (there was no difference between "immediate mode" other than the lack of a line number) and every output had a corresponding input. For instance, all BASICs include a LIST command that outputs the source in text form to the screen or another device. Atari BASIC added an ENTER command which did the reverse, taking text from a device and putting it into the program. This opened up a number of possible overlay techniques that other versions lacked.
Generally, one can describe Atari BASIC's design philosophy as "orthogonal", in that any command could be used anywhere (there was no difference between "immediate mode" other than the lack of a line number) and every output had a corresponding input. For instance, all BASICs include a LIST command that outputs the source in text form to the screen or another device. Atari BASIC added an ENTER command which did the reverse, taking text from a device and putting it into the program. This opened up a number of possible overlay techniques that other versions lacked.