The 1980s saw an array of amazing C64 titles: think Dropzone, Impossible Mission, Elite, Mercenary, Uridium, The Last Ninja… These and others represented an incredible variety of genres, from shoot ’em ups to puzzlers, racing games to arcade adventures, plus games that still defy categorisation – The Sentinel, anyone? By the time the 1990s rolled around, talented coders were making the machine do things the original hardware designers didn’t think were possible; games like Turrican, Creatures and Lemmings showed that there was life left in the old CPU yet. Even when Commodore went bust, and the computer was no longer being manufactured, the games still kept coming.

So, this book pays homage not only to the seminal games of the C64’s official lifespan, but also to the developers that kept the system alive, featuring games that were completed and released a decade after the last boxed C64 left the high street.

Both beginners and professionals will find many tips and tricks in this amazing compilation to put the finishing touches to their programs.

Highlights of FOR BASIC TO ONE-LINERS:

• Over 170 tips & tricks for shorter code and faster programs in BASIC
• Basics of BASIC and exercises in BASIC to suit readers of all levels of experience
• User-friendly benchmark comparisons, screenshots and graphics
• More than 300 BASIC commands (POKEs, PEEKs, SYSs, WAITs and CHR$s) with explanations
• Useful appendices with tables and overviews of BASIC abbreviations, screen codes and PETSCII codes of the C64

The book is aimed specifically at programmers on the Commodore 64, but is also suitable for users of 8-bit computers of other brands such as Acorn, Atari, Amstrad, Apple, BBC, Dragon, MSX, NEC, Schneider, Sinclair, Robotron, Tandy or Texas Instruments.

The tutorials can be executed with various BASIC interpreters such as Color, Exos, Extended Color, GFA, GW, HC, IBM Cassette, Integer, Level I & II, MS, N88, Oric, RC or Vision.

Chapters

• basics of BASIC
• BASIC memory
• BASIC abbreviations & tokens
• time measurement
• tips for beginners
• saving characters
• tips and tricks
• speed
• best of one-liners
• curiosities
• overview of PEEKs, POKEs, SYSs, WAITs & CHR$s
• screen codes of the C64
• PETSCII codes of the C64
• command overview of BASIC dialects

About the authors

Holger Weßling, born in 1965, is an accomplished author and former employee of the renowned Data Becker publishing house. After a creative break of several years, he has returned to the world of writing and has become well known for his specialised books about the THEC64 and THEA500 and for the official guide to Impossible Mission.

Martin Roscher is a teaching computer science professor and well-known BASIC programmer. In “FOR BASIC TO ONE-LINERS” he shares his in-depth knowledge to help programmers get the most out of 8-bit programming.