4 comments

  • madanparas9 minutes ago
    There's a 300-page MIT Press book analyzing exactly this line of code: 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); :GOTO 10. It's free as a PDF and covers the mathematics (Truchet tilings), the C64 hardware, and the cultural history. The article doesn't mention it.
  • jason_s1 day ago
    Oh that -- I used to print those out from my C64 to my Star Micronics dot-matrix printer and add selected white-out / ink to make them more interesting.
  • aa-jv17 hours ago
    It seems that the BASIC&#x27;s of yesteryear still have a lot to teach us.<p>My favourite example is the annual BASIC 10 liner competition:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;basic10liner.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;basic10liner.com&#x2F;</a><p>Basically, folks compete to write the best, most interesting, most inspiring 10 lines of BASIC code imaginable .. and ooh boy, has there ever been some truly amazing stuff! A dynamically generated dungeon crawler, a full implementation of lunar lander, countless arcade-style games, an implementation of Brainfuck .. the list goes on and on .. all in just 10 LINES OF BASIC!<p>Another source of BASIC inspiration, I find, is in the synthesis one-liner scene - which of course, is dominated by the C64 for its synth goodness, but there are other examples out there where, in just a single line of code, entire techno and other electronic-music tracks are generated, on the fly, by ye&#x27; olde 8-bit computer of choice (C64, mostly, though..) The bytebeat techniques in use by some synth-one-liner hackers seem to be continually producing extraordinary results.<p>For example:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;replicate.com&#x2F;andreasjansson&#x2F;synth-one-liner&#x2F;readme" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;replicate.com&#x2F;andreasjansson&#x2F;synth-one-liner&#x2F;readme</a><p>.. and a good treatise on the various techniques:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;countercomplex.blogspot.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;10&#x2F;algorithmic-symphonies-from-one-line-of.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;countercomplex.blogspot.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;10&#x2F;algorithmic-symp...</a><p>I think there is a lot of value in learning BASIC using these kinds of techniques in this day and age. I know for sure I&#x27;d struggle to have a full Lunar Lander or Asteroids implementation of just 10 lines of javascript, if that is even feasible .. but seeing so many BASIC implementations is just truly inspiring.<p>What we have lost in the rush for shiny bloat, eh folks?<p>The old adage that limits produce wonders, is never truer than in the 10 Line BASIC competition entries ...
  • fortyseven1 day ago
    Nothing like ignoring the spirit of the thing by turning it from one line to nearly a dozen.