Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2

Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by tjalfi on Sunday August 09, 2020 @08:43PM (#24104280)

Here are some other interpreters if you’re curious how this design compares.

Microsoft 8080 BASIC interpreter [0] is a commented disassembly. An improved version is at [1]. The book Programmers at Work also has notes on the design.

[2] is a z80 BBC BASIC interpreter.

[0] http://altairbasic.org/

[1] https://github.com/option8/Altair-BASIC

[2] https://github.com/jblang/bbcbasic-z80

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by photokandy on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @11:07AM (#24121063)

Nice! (OP here)

I've definitely been looking a some implementations, but I don't think I directly looked at these. (Instead, pagetable.com and gw-basic and the like have proven invaluable as well.) I should write a quick post summarizing all the resources that I've been using -- that might prove useful.

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by wolco on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @12:09AM (#24117081)

Any suggestions for CBM BASIC?

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by rsecora on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @12:52AM (#24117281)

Commodore licensed BASIC from Microsoft in 1977.

You have the original ASM disassembled, ROM, kernal and comments at https://www.pagetable.com/c64ref/c64disasm/

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by photokandy on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @11:09AM (#24121092)

(OP Here)

I've used pagetable.com quite a lot for reference to see how things were done in CBM BASIC. I didn't always follow that direction (also looked at GW-BASIC, and others), but it has proven very useful to either set me on a well-trod direction or to validate ideas I'd already had.

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by MrYellowP on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @02:40AM (#24117751)

Try this one: https://github.com/mist64/cbmbasic

Or, although not what you asked: https://github.com/microsoft/GW-BASIC

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by pvg on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @02:01AM (#24117558)

That's a neat site. Does that mean there are no public/surviving original comments of the C64 BASIC and kernal?

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by rsecora on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @02:40AM (#24117755)

The dissembled ROM and mappings has been documented since the 80s. (Vic20, PET, 64 and 128).

My references (35 years) ago were some books published by Data Becker GmbH.

Note also that there were basic extensions to address the limitations of CBM basic like the Simon basic cartridge.

That Simon basic was a wonder in their own. Written by a gifted teenager and extending by mapping addresses in the ROM. It was possible to write sprites and graph in basic without pokes (no ASM needed).

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by pvg on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @09:00AM (#24119816)

Right but the disassembled commentaries are not written by the people who originally wrote the code, so if that site is to be believed the 'original' comments and source are not around for things like the kernal and other Commodore-specific bits. It seems like an odd thing not to have surfaced given that by this point we have things like OG Quickdraw and Karateka code.

Edit: I missed the comment downthread that says that some of that code was released a couple of years ago.

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by beernutz on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @08:38AM (#24119641)

Yes, Simons basic really rocked my world! So many commands and cool things to play with! Inspired me to write my own "basic" extensions and burn them to a prom to make my own cartridge. Though things were much more primitive, it was fun getting such a low level look at everything.

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by exlurker on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @02:30AM (#24117701)

Yes; the original sources were found a few years back: https://www.pagetable.com/?p=894

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by MrYellowP on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @02:40AM (#24117749)

Here: https://github.com/mist64/cbmbasic

Or, although not what you asked: https://github.com/microsoft/GW-BASIC

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by ChickeNES on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @12:44AM (#24117236)

https://www.pagetable.com/?p=793

https://www.pagetable.com/c64ref/c64disasm/

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Re:Building a Basic Interpreter, '80s Style, Part 2 by exlurker on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @01:51AM (#24117521)

https://github.com/mist64/cbmbasic Basic V2 as a scripting language

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