Basic Programs for the Atari 600XL & 800XL

This book is designed to help you learn more about your ATARI 600XL or 800LX home computer, provide you with a number of programs that will be useful to you now or in the near future, and demonstrate to you how a program evolves from start to finish. The "method of teaching" in this book, however, is not a description of the BASIC language, nor is it a summary of how BASIC works and how you may use it. This book is a collection of programs for your ATARI home computer. By using these programs, you will learn the things mentioned above.

When you are reading this book, you "participate" by typing in the program lines as they are shown to you. Before you type a new program into your ATARI, type NEW followed by (as always) a press of the key. This will prepare the computer for your program. Then you can begin reading about the program, how it was made, and what the lines mean as you enter them into the machine. When you have finished typing in the program, you will have a ready-to-run piece of software.You will also know how that program works.

By the time you reach the end of this book, I hope you will have accomplished three things:

  • You will have finished typing in all 20 programs contained in this book, so that you can use them later and perhaps modify them for your own purposes.
  • You will understand how each of the programs works and how it was developed into a working piece of software.
  • You will comprehend the method by which a program is made, from idea to completion.

As you read this book, keep in mind that this should be a learning experience as well as an entertaining one. You'll soon discover that these two elements combine to Increase your experience and your knowledge of the ATARI home computers.