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BASIC Computer Games

vintage-basic.net

21–30 of 124 posts

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#22

No donkey.bas? :)

I guess Gorillas and Nibbles didn't come with that book from the article, but with MS-DOS, so to have it with the book would have been a waste of space as they were already present on most systems

The book was originally published before there was an MS-DOS or IBM PCs.

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#23
post #6

The game lunar explains itself: > the on board computer has crashed (it was made by xerox) so you have to land your lunar module manually Back when games could just make jokes about existing companies without getting into trouble.

Space is big // space is dark // it's hard to find // a place to park.

Some things stick unnaturally well in the brain.

(Yes, I realise this was a Luna Lander clone on the Amiga desktop, but for me it's roughly equivalent time ago.)

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#24

Such nostalgia. That’s how I got into programming.

Likewise.... this book was instrumental in my career trajectory, a real blast from the past. Similarly, GWBasic, Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, etc.

Borland Turbo C++ 3.0 was my main Christmas present when I was 10 years old. A real upgrade from BASIC on my Atari 800. :-)

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#25
My first programming experiences were on a CASIO Graph 65 calculator, with BASIC style language.

My greatest accomplishment was a Stronghold-like simulation/management game, of several hundred lines. Got some success among my pals.

What a time... and what a painful language.

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#26
I have such fond memories of coding in these BASIC games with my dad at our C64 when I was six or so. Honestly the most memorable part was the night I got to stay up late, while he and I spent hours trying to figure out why this one little problem kept appearing. My first late night debugging session.

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#28

Are there any books of this kind for modern languages?

No, and the only reason why not is because people would want/expect to be able to just download the source code and run it without typing it in.

But there's absolutely zero reason why this couldn't be replicated with pygame, nodejs or even just a modern BASIC interpreter/compiler.

Re: BASIC Computer Games

#29

Such nostalgia. That’s how I got into programming.

Typing in a program from a paper source forces you to think about each line you're entering, it's more than just a 'slow way to distribute a program', it's also a teaching exercise along the same lines as how writing your notes in class are part of the learning exercise that reinforces your mental model of the subject.
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