Our family got our first computer in 1983 (an Atari 400), but unlike most computers of the time the Atari computers did not come with BASIC built-in. So we mostly used it as a fancier version of the Atari 2600. Eventually in the late 1983, perhaps for Christmas, we got the Atari BASIC cartridge which meant I could finally type in and run actual programs. In my “ancient binder of old stuff”, I have hand-written copies of two of the first BASIC programs I wrote.
My favorite 800 BASIC program I wrote was a liar's dice program. I figured teaching a computer to lie convincingly was a challenge. It was a spaghetti bowl of matrices and ran like a dog...but it lied pretty well! Now I wonder if I did a good thing....
Yep, these look like the BASIC I was learning to write on the Commodore 64 and IBM PC back in 1984/5. I used to check out books on BASIC from the University of Arizona and patiently type in the programs, then I'd start changing things to see what happened. lol
My favorite 800 BASIC program I wrote was a liar's dice program. I figured teaching a computer to lie convincingly was a challenge. It was a spaghetti bowl of matrices and ran like a dog...but it lied pretty well! Now I wonder if I did a good thing....
? Was an abbreviation for PRINT on commodore basic
Yep, these look like the BASIC I was learning to write on the Commodore 64 and IBM PC back in 1984/5. I used to check out books on BASIC from the University of Arizona and patiently type in the programs, then I'd start changing things to see what happened. lol
These programs just look so basic.
I will now show myself out.
Atari used one of the stereo channels for audio, and another for data. Some commercially released cassettes played music while the program loaded.
I've always wanted to be able to play my music tapes on a 410 Recorder when I first read about it in Antic, but I didn't have one at the time.
How was it with stereo tapes, did only one track play through the TV which made it a problem?
(Most of my recorded tapes were in mono anyway but just wondering...)