BASIC A

BASIC A is one of the company Optimized Software Systems (OSS ) developed BASIC interpreter for the Atari 8- bit home computer. OSS had purchased from Shepardson Microsystems, Inc., the developers of the Atari BASIC, the rights of the BASIC interpreter and this further developed. BASIC A is backwards compatible with Atari BASIC, but faster and has numerous additional functions for string handling (MID $, LEFT $, RIGHT $ ) and for the utilization of the hardware of the Atari home computers, such as ease of programming of player-missile graphics.

While Atari BASIC housed on an 8 KB ROM Catridge, or XE models was with the Atari XL / built in, BASIC A was delivered on diskette. It took 16 KB of memory, so that the programmers were only about 23 KB for its BASIC programs. BASIC A was sold in 1983 for about $ 80, included also the OSS programs OS / A and EASMD were ( Editor / Assembler / Debugger).

Since you need the interpreter used to run programs written in BASIC A , could programs that take advantage of the advanced capabilities of BASIC A , can not be exchanged with users who did not have these. A compiler for BASIC A there was not.

In 1984 the successor of BASIC XL.

Weblink

  • BASIC A product review - by Richard E. DeVore, in ANTIC Vol.2, No.2 May 1983 ( in English )
  • BASIC
  • Atari
Optimized Systems Software Sprite (computer graphics) Read-only memory
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