Meta-question: where's the knowledge?

[bugbear]

I'm trying to get up to speed on Atari programming;

 

One of my problems is that the threads are mainly by experts

(which is good) who are using jargon, nicknames and acronyms

I don't recognise, so I go into a near infinite

recursion of googling/searching old posts or threads.

 

One other problem is that it's hard to tell,

when reading a thread, wether the technique

being discussed is still "start of the art"

or whether its been superseded.

 

Is there a glossary/FAQ for Atari 8 bit programming?

 

I saw a reference to "Ironman Wiki", which sounds promising,

but it seems to not exist anymore, at least at the links given

 

https://wiki.strotmann.de/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Ironman%20Atari

 

BugBear

[Papa]

This would help greatly as the languages and methods discussed would cover so many things that applied to the more diverse computer world. To truncate would help the game oriented programmers, budding or not, veer.

[Irgendwer]

https://wiki.strotmann.de/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Ironman%20Atari

 

 

You are looking for this:

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Ironman%20Atari

 

And: Programming the A8 was never easier than now due to the flood of information and it was never harder than now due to the same reason...

Edited May 4, 2017 by Irgendwer

[snicklin]

I completely understand what is being said here.

 

There is no "All in 1 Atari Programming Bible" out there.

 

However, the closest that we are going to get is the AtariWiki which we need to spend some time building up. It's a good resource, but it isn't full.

 

I must say, there's quite a nice article in there here: https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=XBIOS :) (and if you want to contradict me, log in for an editors account!) :)

[Rybags]

Additional to Ironman, get the Altirra Harware Reference from http://virtualdub.org/downloads/Altirra%20Hardware%20Reference%20Manual.pdf

 

Get the OS Reference and Hardware Manuals

http://www.atarimania.com/documents/atari-800-technical-reference-notes.pdf

http://www.atarimania.com/documents/atari-400-800-hardware-manual.pdf

 

Really, there's not a definitive guide for doing everything. A lot of the tricks of the trade are generic and can equally apply to other computers like C64 - stuff like doing software sprites and animation by changing characters or character set origin.