Questions tagged [programming]
For questions about programming languages and constructs. For questions about specific languages please check for language-specific tags first, and use those instead.
103
questions
5
votes
2answers
355 views
How did Microsoft get away with JScript? [closed]
How exactly did Microsoft reverse engineer Brendan Eich's JavaScript, call it something else and not get a massive lawsuit in the aftermath? I understand this was a long time ago but I still wonder ...
7
votes
1answer
263 views
Can you program an arcade game and have MAME or another emu run it?
I know Mame works with drivers for each game or hardware, and it checks for specific ROMs, and I guess it might check also for some checksum to verify the ROMs integrity.
Is there some way you could ...
13
votes
1answer
437 views
Did Babbage's Analytical Engine lack indirect addressing?
As I understand it the analytical engine could only refer to memory by variable cards that had the explicit address printed on them, see https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/cards.html. For instance the ...
20
votes
3answers
2k views
How were the 70's and 80's coin-op programmed?
How were the 70's and 80's coin-op programmed?
What tools did a programmer use?
Nowadays a programmer can use a PC, an IDE to program, test, use breakpoint... but in the 80s?
How could a programmer ...
30
votes
3answers
3k views
How did Elite do vertex transformation?
In 3D graphics, vertex transformation is the process of converting x,y,z coordinates in 3D space, to x,y coordinates on the screen. According to https://www.khronos.org/opengl/wiki/...
1
vote
5answers
783 views
What was the first introduction of callback concept of programming?
Although I seriously code with computer languages in general since 2010 and as an amateur programmer with programming languages in particular since 2015 (primarily Bash and JavaScript imperative ...
-5
votes
1answer
150 views
What is the maximum 64 bit integer (number) value? [closed]
I already know that the maximum integers for ranges higher than 24-bit (16 777 216) will very likely exceed 1 000 000 000, so, what is the maximum 64 bit integer? It is larger than 10 bilion?
7
votes
2answers
754 views
Were any DOS games (or software) known to use VBE/AF?
Were there any MS-DOS games or graphics software that were known to take advantage of VESA BIOS Extensions/Accelerator Functions (VBE/AF)?
some of the functions defined in the standard are ... Bit ...
11
votes
1answer
457 views
Why didn't Wozniak's interrupts work on the Apple I monitor program?
In his autobiography, Steve Wozniak recounts[1] his difficulty getting interrupts working on the 6502 microprocessor:
The next step was to debug the 256-byte monitor program on the PROMs. I spent ...
5
votes
3answers
422 views
How to use HGR2 (or HGR) on an Apple II
I am a big fan of the TV show lost, and I was trying to make the Dharma Initiative logo.
But at certain point I couldn't add new lines of code and the final part of the logo was cut off. I tried to ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
What was the earliest microcomputer Logo language implementation?
Wikipedia has a long list of Logo implementations, but I'd like to know what the earliest implementation is on a microcomputer, or, more likely, what are the earliest ones if there isn't one with ...
2
votes
2answers
335 views
emulator library that allows to partially emulate old games [closed]
EDIT: previously I added a lot of examples to this questions. I removed the examples, because the question was voted to be "too broad", so I put more emphasis on the question again.
Question:
Is ...
2
votes
1answer
494 views
What programming languages appeared in 1961?
I'm trying to get Programming Languages Through The Years over on the Code Golf site going again. The Wikipedia article that the challenge has been working from only lists COMIT for 1961, and calling ...
37
votes
8answers
7k views
What was the point of separating stdout and stderr?
I occasionally need to work with console commands and 100% of the time I want to redirect my output to a file I fail to redirect stderr as well as stdout the first time. I can't think of a single ...
68
votes
5answers
12k views
Why wasn't ASCII designed with a contiguous alphanumeric character order?
Anyone who has dealt with strings at a low level (e.g., writing a parser in C), knows that doing so tends to involve frequent checks of—either manually, or through isalpha(), isalnum(), etc—whether a ...
10
votes
2answers
573 views
Why are my VGA vram to vram copies so slow?
I'm doing some mode x programming and I noticed that my vram to vram copies are much slower than I expected. My copying method was described by Michael Abrash in his Graphics Programming Black Book ...
7
votes
2answers
557 views
Is there data for programming language popularity pre year 2000?
Besides the TIOBE Index, which ranks programming language popularity by search engine hits and seems to have data reaching back to the year 2001, are there other sources with some form of measure for ...
54
votes
6answers
11k views
How did old MS-DOS games utilize various graphic cards?
Nowadays each graphic card has some driver in operating system that translates some (typically) standard API such as OpenGL, so that programmers use some standardized API code to tell graphics cards ...
10
votes
1answer
926 views
What was the first programming language to have 'printf'?
I'm curious as to which language was the first to literally have a formatted text output procedure called 'printf'. A trivial question, sure, but I was prompted to ask by a recent question on ZSPL.
...
14
votes
9answers
2k views
What is the most rudimentary input method a platform has ever been programmed in?
A while ago I did read on the web a page whose topic was more or less:
Real men write [insert lowest level language here]
(a similar page would be this Reddit thread)
If we quickly tour some of the ...
17
votes
3answers
2k views
Is there a way to get a compiler for the original B programming language?
I am learning about the original B programming language, but I don't have a compiler.
Is there an emulator for an old computer that can run an old operating system that have a compiler for the ...
7
votes
3answers
490 views
Did the BCPL programming language support floats?
Did the BCPL programming language support floating point? If not, then how did programmers use it to add two floating point numbers?
5
votes
1answer
244 views
How to add an “int” to a “float” in the B programming language?
C has data types, so if you add an int to a float, for example:
int i = 1;
float f = 2.5;
float r = i + f;
The C compiler will know that it should generate machine instructions that adds an int to a ...
22
votes
10answers
5k views
Was Objective-C really a hindrance to Apple software development? [closed]
I have heard stories from some of the greybeards I have met on the Internet that Objective-C was by all accounts a nightmare to work with. Was that just a thing about all the low-level languages of ...
1
vote
2answers
245 views
What was the first language compiler to support subtype polymorphism? [closed]
I'm trying to understand the history of Dependency Injection in compiled languages, as an intentional feature of the language. The Wikipedia article on the subject is decidedly Java focused, but I ...
2
votes
1answer
151 views
Decoding the Workings of the TRS-80 BASIC Game “Escape!”
I've decided to port Chase! to Swift, apparently because I am insane. In any event, I'm trying to collect the various switches in versions from the era.
One of these is unique, found here under the ...
2
votes
0answers
139 views
Looking for Complex Algorithms to Demonstrate Ascota 170 Capabilities
I am restoring the Ascota 170 antique mechanical programmable computer. It is already working. Now I’m looking for an algorithm to demonstrate its capabilities — like calculating trigonometric or ...
3
votes
0answers
141 views
How did the template cache in CFront work?
I've seen some discussion of how templates were historically implemented in CFront around the web, including here.
The link describes the Borland model, which is familiar, and the CFront model with a ...
4
votes
3answers
304 views
What was the DOS FAT12 720k floppy raw disk format structure?
I am looking for detailed info on the low-level floppy disk structure of an MSDOS-compatible 720k Double Sided Double Density disk. Stuff like GAP/SYNC patterns, ID and CRC Field structure, standard ...
5
votes
2answers
326 views
How was dataflow analysis performed before SSA?
If we look at something like LLVM or the GNU Compiler Collection, Dalvik and many others, their intermediate representation (IR) uses SSA (Static Single Assignment form), as part of their Data-Flow ...
32
votes
6answers
11k views
Which was the first programming language that had data types?
Machine language (and Assembly language) don't have the concept of data types, so if you want to add an int and a float variables in Assembly, you have to use the appropriate Assembly instruction that ...
1
vote
1answer
275 views
What don't I understand about this LR35902 code?
The question you are now reading is about a comment on this question, about overflow bugs in some Pokemon game. A comment on that question says:
It was Game Freak's first project. They just were ...
2
votes
8answers
1k views
Are there any old and nowadays active Operating Systems which has only BASIC Programming Language?
Some old Operating Systems I hear have only BASIC Programming Language. Are there any active and old operating systems which includes only BASIC Programming Language?
3
votes
2answers
643 views
EGA style 16 color dithering
I am trying to write a program in C# that will re-create the type of dithering used in many of the old sierra and Lucas arts games. I have looked up many different dithering algorithms and none seem ...
3
votes
1answer
293 views
How to read disk files using CBM specific functions in cc65 with proper error checking
TL:DR
What is the reason my kernel_read() function ignoring file errors?
I'm trying to understand how to work with files in cc65 using CBM specific functions. My target is Commodore 64 with 1541 ...
9
votes
4answers
957 views
First language designed to be embedded?
Some languages like Python, Lua, and Tcl are designed with the intention that you can easily embed the interpreter into some other native program. For example, many VFX applications like Nuke, Maya, ...
3
votes
1answer
553 views
Where can I find macrofun.hlp?
In the days before Visual Basic for Applications, the macro language for Microsoft Excel was called XLL. The syntax was similar to that of ordinary Excel formulas, except for two things:
Macros were ...
15
votes
2answers
2k views
First language with C-like memory management
This is a nerd question but I can’t find anything in google. So, in which programming language did the classical memory management system first be implemented?
I mean the division into value types (...
4
votes
1answer
413 views
Was there ever a home PC which ran JOVIAL?
We are having a frank exchange of views here in the office.
We were discussing the heydays of home PCs, back in the early 80s, when there were a plethora to choose from, most running some form of ...
18
votes
2answers
861 views
What's a good way to implement this “splashing water” effect on the C64?
This pillow fighting game set in Venice
depicts the two opponents fighting on a wobbly gondola on a canal. It was apparently known as "Pillow Fight" in English and as "Kissenschlacht" in German, and ...
16
votes
2answers
1k views
6502 branch offset calculation
This question expands on How does the 6502 implement its branch instructions?
I'm working on a cycle accurate VHDL implementation on an FPGA. I have much of the program logic already written, but I ...
4
votes
0answers
238 views
How to use IIgs enhanced graphics modes in AppleSoft BASIC with System 6?
There are many packages that let you use the enhanced graphics modes of the IIgs in AppleSoft BASIC. However most packages like Iconix do not like System 6 so they have to run off disks and not the ...
10
votes
4answers
2k views
What are the rules for Applesoft BASIC formatting for code?
What are the rules for Applesoft BASIC formatting for code? I've been doing some BASIC coding and noticed that:
10 input "some question?"; name$
Will be reformatted as:
10 INPUT "some question?";...
3
votes
4answers
626 views
Was there ever a compiler type that was just large enough to contain a memory segment?
From this answer,
Hark back to the days of segmented 16-bit architectures for example: an array might be limited to a single segment (so a 16-bit size_t would do) BUT you could have multiple ...
13
votes
8answers
3k views
Uses for the halt instruction?
What was the halt instruction in early CPUs such as the Z80 and 8080 used for?
Here's a description of the Z80 instruction:
The HALT instruction suspends CPU operation until a interrupt or reset ...
18
votes
6answers
3k views
What caused the downfall of Pascal? [closed]
From 1985 to 1990 Borland's Turbo Pascal was at least as popular as C for DOS systems. Turbo Pascal was especially popular because of it's ground breaking BGI graphics interface while C was stalled in ...
13
votes
1answer
709 views
Fortran variable type defaults - origin
In older versions of Fortran, e.g. 77, variables did not need to be declared. If the name starts with I, J, K, L, M, or N then it would be assumed to be an INTEGER. Otherwise, it would be assumed to ...
3
votes
1answer
830 views
Is it possible to make VICE load .prg files faster?
When I load a C64 .prg with the Hoxs64 emulator, my .prg loads pretty much instantly.
But when I load the same .prg file with VICE (x64 app.prg) it takes quite a while (depends on memory map, but ...
2
votes
1answer
232 views
Is it possible to use the BRK instruction when ROM is banked out?
I used to use the BRK instruction when debugging on the C64.
However, when I bank out ROM with...
lda #$35 // Bank out kernal and basic
sta $01 // $e000-$ffff
...the BRK instruction (...
12
votes
3answers
2k views
What's a good way to implement this “fade” effect on C64
See the beginning of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmfLBAtGAKk. Here's a screenshot:
It basically clears characters pixel by pixel both horizontally and vertically.
Use sprites for the pixel by ...
