Here are some old 8-bit BASIC programs from the Brazilian edition of INPUT, which I could not find elsewhere.
INPUT is a historic, beloved, classic partwork computer encyclopaedia from the early 1980s, which was translated and published in Brazil by by Nova Cultural, part of Editora Abril, in 1985.
One day I had an idea that these old BASIC programs might provide a good exercise in code analysis and inspiration for small programming projects in newer languages, especially in the BASIC family (and I was not the first to think that).
Brazilian INPUT was one of the few magazines of the time with MSX BASIC programs. It was a very capable BASIC quite similar to later Microsoft BASICs for the IBM-PC. Also, I had an MSX computer when I was a kid, so I know a bit of it. For these reasons I decided to copy the MSX sources here, at least initially. But I would warmly welcome contributions in the form of sources for any other computer lines which were published in the Brazilian, English and any other editions of INPUT.
I take NO CREDITS for the original BASIC source codes found here. They were copied and published here for educational purposes only. Should the authors or editors require, I will promptly remove them from this repository (senseless as it might be after almost 40 years).
INPUT had creative, journalistic and long titles for its applications and games. The subdirectories here have their shorter Portuguese names as close as possible to each program´s functionality, type or given title in the Brazilian INPUT.
Each program directory contains:
-
at least one .BAS file with the original source, named after the computer line it was written for (msx.bas for example).
-
the directory README.md, containing the operation instructions published in INPUT, and as much as I could do of a code analysis, which might be of interest to some, and relevant links to the repository wiki.
-
eventually, source files for other versions. The file extensions usually differentiate versions easily enough, but the file name should tell the interpreter, compiler, platform etc. This is especially important for newer BASICs which may as well use the .BAS extension. If needed, the file name should include version number/letter and/or author.
- Documentation for each non-original version should go to the wiki.
Are highly appreciated!
-
Please use the Issues forum for pointing out typos, suggestions and corrections for the READMEs, etc.
-
Please send me a pull request if you have INPUT-published BASIC source files for other programs and/or computer families.
-
If you like the challenge to write a version of a program, please send a pull request – and don´t forget the documentation!