Exploring BASIC Programming for the Atari 2600 - Part 1

This video is the first of a two-part series where we take a look at "BASIC Programming" for the Atari 2600 and discuss its usage, features, and limitations. I give an overview of how the cartridge presents its programming environment, how the keyboard controllers are used to input data, and demonstrate the limited memory available for authoring programs. We also take a brief look at some artwork from a 1981 Atari game catalog! In "Part 2", we'll examine the music, keypad input, and graphics features of the language. We'll also do some real-world code optimizations to work within the memory limitations discussed in this video. Please use the following time-code index to jump to relevant sections in the video. 0:00 Introduction and Atari Game Catalog 1:36 My burning questions about BASIC Programming for the Atari 2600 2:58 Internet lore on the cartridge's purpose 4:14 Overview of Keyboard Controllers 7:04 Screen overview: Text quality 8:18 Screen overview: Data/Program Sections 10:40 Limitations: what to expect before writing a program 11:49 Overview of memory limitations 12:42 Program #1 - Output Memory Consumption 17:10 Program #2 - Internal Memory Consumption 24:52 Conclusion about memory use Github for documents referenced in this video: https://git.io/JL5kF "BASIC Programming: Atari Archive Episode 34"    • BASIC Programming: Atari Archive Episode 34   "Exploring BASIC Programming for the Atari 2600 - Part 2"    • Exploring BASIC Programming for the Atari ...   "Building a Universal Atari 2600 12-button "Star Raiders" Controller"    • Building a Universal Atari 2600 12-button ...   Program in closing comments: "Balloon Catcher" by Dave Britten https://www2.gvsu.edu/brittedg/BasicP...