I picked up the book in the title post from my library for 50 cents ~year 2002 or so.
The one I was a fan of before then was 'Computer Spacegames', which you can read here: https://archive.org/details/Computer_Space_Games/
BASIC Computer Games
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Re: BASIC Computer Games
#92this book brought me so many hours of joy as a child. I typed these programs in and read it over and over again. I remember now parts that I didn't understand (like Nim) and being amazed at some things people could do in BASIC ( https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=4 ). For fun recently I ported zork to an esp32.
> being amazed at some things people could do in BASIC My first software engineering job out of highschool used a version of BASIC; I was originally hired as an "operator" because I didn't have a degree, and they wouldn't hire programmers without degrees. So they trained me on how to load 9-track tapes on a vacuum-column drive, as well as how to load up greenbar and run reports on the system. It was an IBM RS/6000 ru…
I never heard about Pick Basic before. Apparently, Dick Pick (!) was news worthy back in the day...
"If you want the track record of Dick Pick, just hang upside down" [1]
1: https://secure28.securewebsession.com/jes.com/gfx/people/csn...
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#93I picked up the book in the title post from my library for 50 cents ~year 2002 or so. The one I was a fan of before then was 'Computer Spacegames', which you can read here: https://archive.org/details/Computer_Space_Games/
There is a project to port games from that book (among many other Usborne books) to python: https://yorkshire4.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#94The 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.)
Hey, I can still remember most of the copy protection poem from Faery Tale Adventure. Them's some valuable neurons that won't be repurposed any time soon.
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#95I wonder what Mr. Ahl has been up to. Last thing I heard was Small Basic with Microsoft.
It's fun to check out http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Home.htm and http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Ahl/DHA.htm every once in a while.
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Horribly nested BASIC is just what you did before you did it better.
On the Commodore 64, it was the only option. It had minimal support for a thing it called a "subroutine", but what it really was was a GOTO that pushed the source on to the stack and could be RETURN'd to that source. In particular, no concept of return value, no concept of parameters; everything's global. Modification of global values prior to the "call" is the argument passing, and modification of global values is t…
It was “GOSUB” if I remember correctly!! Ah good old times!!
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#97Readers in the UK or Commonwealth might be more familiar with the Usborne series of books for 8 bit computers. The publisher has made them available from their website[0]. Here is a series of modern reviews from a friend of mine[1]. My favorite when I was a kid was the one that taught assembly language to pre-teens. I still think of cartoon robots putting notes into boxes whenever I assign something to a variable. [0…
Another one specifically for the Beeb
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#98I learned programming on a Timex Sinclair (2 KiB) with the book Brain games for kids & adults using the Timex/Sinclair 1000, 1500 & 2000 series. There were other editions for other platforms (Apple, Commodore, etc.)
It consisted of 26 games/puzzles, one for each letter of the alphabet. Went looking and found this little treasure trove:
http://www.gamebase64.com/search.php?a=5&f=3&id=9556&d=42&h=...
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#99What would be cool is an embedded BASIC interpreter/emulator, so you can play (and perhaps even tweak) them inline.
Re: BASIC Computer Games
#100Here is the 80s Disney book "Disney's Computer Fun" that taught me Basic programming:
https://jbretro.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/retro-book-disneys-...
You did not need even a computer for the first exercises.
Too bad that the kids have to begin with JavaScript today.