Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

BASIC Programming

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Developer(s)
  
Warren Robinett

Designer(s)
  
Warren Robinett

Release date(s)
  
1979

Publisher(s)
  
Atari

Platform(s)
  
Atari 2600

BASIC Programming (Model# CX2620) attempted to teach simple computer programming on the Atari 2600. It was released in 1979, and it was one of only a few non-gaming cartridges ever designed for the 2600. The programming language was superficially similar to dialects of BASIC, but differed in many important aspects. The extremely small RAM size of the Atari 2600, 128 bytes, severely restricted the possibilities of this cartridge for writing programs.

Details

The BASIC Programming display was divided into six regions:

  • Program where instructions are written (maximum of nine (or eleven) lines of code).
  • Stack shows temporary results of what your program does.
  • Variables displays the values of any variables your program is using.
  • Output displays any output values your program is creating.
  • Status displays the amount of available memory remaining
  • Graphics contains two colored squares that can be manipulated by your program.

    • Input is given through two Atari keypad controllers, which came with special overlays to show how to type the different commands and letters. Programs were restricted to 64 characters in size and 9 lines of code, severely limiting the programs that could be written. Users could disable all windows except Program and keep selecting "New Line" until over nine empty lines had been entered and thus their program could use 11 lines of code using this trick.

    References

    BASIC Programming Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA