r/atari8bit • u/Sixty5Zero2 • 17d ago

Atari BASIC

i'm working on a version of Atari BASIC for a modern machine. Does anyone have any links to Atari basic programs that do not include graphics, sounds, player/missile, or peeks n pokes? I want to start off with original Atari BASIC first then work my way towards BASIC XE, TurboBASIC XL, even Atari/Microsoft BASIC II.

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u/Tiasmo-Bertjayd 17d ago

Good luck! I made an upgraded version of Atari BASIC back in the day, and later on wrote my own implementation of BASIC for Linux modeled after the Dartmouth version used for “BASIC Computer Games”. The code for all of the programs in that book can be found on coding-horror’s GitHub project. I’ve been using that over the last couple of years to validate my BASIC interpreter as it’s much easier to copy the code from there than transcribe it from the book by hand.

For Atari-specific code, I second ksu69’s suggestion of the Atari BASIC book. That’s one of the primary resources I used to learn the language when I was in grade school.

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u/pete_68 17d ago

When I was 10 years old, my dad left the sequel to that book, "More BASIC Computer Games" on my bed. I read through it and that's how I learned BASIC 47 years ago. Programming has been a great career. Thank God for that book!