Were you BASIC?

[SneakyNinja]

I was all about programming back then. I loved it. Still do, which is handy as I'm a developer/architect/CTO by trade now.

 

I started off with a bit of BASIC on my C64, along with a Simon's Basic cartridge, which I'd completely forgotten about until @Clipper mentioned it. Dabbled a bit with basic on the Spectrum but preferred the '64.

 

Then the INPUT magazines came along and I got the assembly language bug. I had to use an assembler written in basic to compile my stuff, and if/when it crashed I had to reset, load the assembler from tape, then load my code and try again. Great fun though. Had a weirdly emotional response to seeing those magazines again in the Retro RMC cave. I remember hand assembling some code as it just wouldn't work and discovering a bug in the assembler itself.

 

Then I got an Amiga and the heady hights of 68000. So much easier. I think my highlight was getting an Amiga and Atari ST to communicate via serial cable using assembly language. Fun fact, we played Falcon 3.0 on those two linked machines and whoever was using the Atari always won - never found out why but I suspect different flight models.

 

During that time I did my Computing GCSE project which was a simple music editor in Z80 that ran on some Sharp machine with a built in tape deck.

 

I tried 6502 assembly again recently and my brain has forgotten pretty much everything. I can recommend this course though, which I'm half way through. 

 

https://pikuma.com/courses/learn-assembly-language-programming-atari-2600-games

 

 

[smac]

The weird commodore stuff predates the 64; the BASIC for the CBM Pet omitted commands like CLS/CLR (Clear Screen) and you had to use PRINT “” with weird control characters - inverse heart for CLS, as I recall.