beginner programming questions

[mjlescord]

hello! i am interested in learning to program. can anyone recommend some good books for learning how? what programming language is best and/or easiest to use when programming fo the atari 5200? what's the best book out there for learning basic? thanks for the help.

[Heaven/TQA]

of course 6502 assembler to get the best out of the 5200...

 

on atari 8bit computers everyone would go for atari basic which is build in but then there was the much more advanced & faster basic called "turbo basic xl".

 

i had a quick look in the 5200 basic compiler from calamari. try to use this. this has some nice features included (incl. structured programming etc...) and with this

you have your 1st results relativly quick.

this could keep you motivated... later when you are more experienced you will switch to plain assembler as no high level language can make the best assembler code for a system.

 

of course you need a lot of atari relevant material like grafic chip informations, sound programming, etc... but keep reading the forums frequently and study examples...

 

any questions?

 

hve

[Sheddy]

Looks like Albert has just posted some news for some good references.www.atariarchives.org

 

Also a recent 8-bit thread may help out.

8-bit programming....

 

[ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: Sheddy ]

[TheYoungProgrammer]

I think you should go on EBAY and bid an auction for an EPROM Programmer. All you have to do is find the right EPROM programmer for the job. Besides that, you should know how to use a soldering iron. Happy programming!

[+Cafeman]

I may be misinterpreting what Blueground is saying, but don't get the impression that an Eprom program actually does any programming!

 

It writes data to an Eprom from your PC, correct? The 'data' still has to be programmed by YOU, in ASM or BASIC and then compiled into a .bin file.

[TheYoungProgrammer]

That's not what I ment. But, don't you need an EPROM programmer to program the games? Mjilescord, you need a soldering iron, an EPROM programmer, an old Combat cartridge, and the knowledge to know how to program 6502(which is probably the only problem for most people). I hope you know what to get now. Next you have to learn to program in 6502 language.

[+Cafeman]

Actually, it's easier to just use an emulator to run your game code. When the game gets further along, then you do need a way to burn an EPROM to try it out on the actual system.

 

But working on the emulators is very nice, the windows / pc environment.

[OldGuru]

Both De-Re-Atari and Atari Archives have assembler and basic examples. Once you know a programming language, you'll have to learn how to apply it on the Atari 5200 itself...

 

O.G.