Tag: programming

KansasFest 2019: 
11 New Books & Lordlings of Yore Box

Much like my experience at KansasFest every year, the people who attend are one of the best reasons for going beyond the fun and informative sessions. Before I share some fun photos highlighting a few people in “KansasFest 2019: Special Moments,” I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the hard work and new products that led to my annual KansasFest attendance and presentation. This encompasses five new books, six manuals, and a limited edition box for the…

All About DOS: Enhanced Edition

Seattle, Washington — July 19, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released their new book “All About DOS: Enhanced Edition.” As a guide to DOS 3.3 for the Apple II, All About DOS contains many useful programs and in-depth topics. This new Enhanced Edition, encompassing over 560 pages, is improved with a new design, art, glossary, and technical appendices. It includes a wide variety of references and how-to’s, making it a great reference for Apple II programmers….

All About Pascal: Enhanced Edition

Seattle, Washington — July 19, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released their new book “All About Pascal: Enhanced Edition.” As a guide to the Pascal language for the Apple II, All About Pascal contains a wide range of useful programs and in-depth topics. This new Enhanced Edition, encompassing over 180 pages, is improved with new art, a glossary, and maintains most of the original layout with enhanced scans. It features many example programs, references, and how-to’s…

The Etch-a-Sketch and Other Fun Programs

Seattle, Washington — July 9, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Brian Wiser are proud to announce the immediate availability of his new book “The Etch-a-Sketch and Other Fun Programs.” This is a collection of his Apple II software programmed when he was a student. BASIC and machine language programming were once taught in schools, and here you’ll find a variety of useful graphics, education, utility, and game software. The author also shares fun stories about his…

Appilot/W1

Seattle, Washington — July 5, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Bill Martens are proud to announce the immediate availability his programming manual “Appilot/W1.” Appilot/W1 is a complete and interactive Pilot Programming Environment for the Apple II. Appilot/W1 allows users to create and execute full-fledged Pilot programs in a single lightweight environment without sacrificing time or effort. Comes complete with built-in DOS, editor, and interpreter. Availability The “Appilot/W1” manual is available through the A.P.P.L.E. bookstore with production…

Applesoft Carpenter II

Seattle, Washington — July 5, 2019 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released the manual for “Applesoft Carpenter II.” Applesoft Carpenter II is a collection of seven utility programs for Applesoft programmers that enhance programming productivity. The tools were written for the Apple II by three well-known programmers: Wayne Eastwood, Glen Bredon, and Val J. Golding. Availability The “Applesoft Carpenter II” manual is available through the A.P.P.L.E. bookstore with production and fulfillment by Lulu.com. A disk image will…

ProBASIC released by A.P.P.L.E.

  Seattle, Washington — November 24, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Alan Bird are proud to announce the immediate availability of the new manual ProBASIC: Professional Modular BASIC Programming.  ProBASIC enhances the Applesoft BASIC that is built-in to your Apple II computer.  New commands and functions can be added to your programs.  Programmers familiar with structured languages such as Pascal and C will quickly see the similarities between a ProBASIC module and a procedure or function….

All About Applesoft: Enhanced Edition released by A.P.P.L.E.

Seattle, Washington — July 5, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is proud to announce the immediate availability of our book All About Applesoft: Enhanced Edition. As a comprehensive guide to Applesoft BASIC, “All About Applesoft” examines the construction and use of the BASIC programming language on a variety of levels.  This new “Enhanced Edition,” encompassing 280 fact-filled pages, features the improved readability of modern fonts and typesetting, memory maps, example programs, many programming references, how-to’s, and a…

Blankenship BASIC – New Manual

Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has released a new manual for the Apple II programming language Blankenship BASIC by John Blankenship.  Beyond improved readability from modern typesetting, this 80 page manual makes using, understanding, and expanding the programming language easy.  John assisted us with this release, and he is eager to see how people expand their programs. Blankenship BASIC, last released 1987, expands the power of Applesoft BASIC by vastly expanding available commands and capabilities for Apple II programmers…

Big Mac – New Compilation Manual

Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) released a new, expanded paperback manual for the popular Apple II machine language programming tool Big Mac: Macro Assembler.  Originally published in 1981 by A.P.P.L.E. from author Glen E. Bredon, the new 128 page manual combines for the first time Big Mac, along with Big Mac.LC, Symbol Cross-Reference, and Symbol Symon that expand its capabilities. Availability Big Mac: Macro Assembler is available through the A.P.P.L.E. bookstore with production and fulfillment by Lulu.com.  The programs…

GBBS Pro 2.2 Book released by A.P.P.L.E.

Seattle, Washington — July 21, 2017 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Kevin M. Smallwood are proud to announce the immediate availability of the book GBBS Pro Bulletin Board System: Version 2.2 and the software update that accompanies it. GBBS Pro is a user-friendly, highly-modifiable Bulletin Board System (BBS) for communications and entertainment.  It has advanced features that can be configured by a novice, yet challenge advanced programmers.  Originally released between 1980 and 1993 for Apple II computers,…

What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition released by A.P.P.L.E.

Seattle, Washington — July 22, 2016 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Robert Tripp are proud to announce the immediate availability of the book What’s Where in the Apple – Enhanced Edition: A Complete Guide to the Apple II Computer. And now on November 23, 2020, due to popular demand, What’s Where in the Apple is available in additional versions and formats!  First and foremost, our “Enhanced Edition” has more design readability enhancements, a few small corrections, and…

Making Apple II Software Now Easier with Xcode

Jeremy Rand has released Apple2BuildPipeline to simplify and facilitate making Apple II software on OS X with Xcode. Based on a project by Quinn Dunki, Rand says, “The big change is that I have created an installer which adds a template in Xcode for Apple II projects…So, the next time you are thinking of starting some new project in Xcode, you can think ‘should I build something for iOS, Mac OS X or maybe the Apple II.’  When you select…

Macports: Running Linux/BSD software directly on a Mac

I can hear “Mac purists” complaining about “polluting their computer with foreign software”. Sorry to dissapoint, but no computer, Mac or otherwise, is the be-all and end-all of computers. There are some things which work better on other platforms and conversely there are some things which work better on a Mac. The objective here is to add to the basic functionality of an excellent machine and make it better. As the title suggest Macports is a way to add the…

Free Programming e-book

Finding interesting stuff for the Mac is difficult given the relative numbers of users and programmers out there. I think I may have found something though. In the *NIX world (including OS X) the Python language seems to be the up and coming thing for programming. Python is an interpreted object oriented language. Python comes free with OS X, Linux, and BSD. It has to be downloaded and installed if it is to run on a Windows machine. I have…

Shell script example for OS X

Almost any series of commands which can be run in the shell can be run from a shell script. Tying in some of the last few posts I published here this is an example. Let’s say I wanted to run the gedit editor from the shell rather than from the dock/GUI… I would first have to locate the executable program. I happen to know it is installed in “/Applications/gedit.app/Contents/MacOS/gedit“. By running this program the gedit editor will start. Since it…

Write Applesoft Basic in Virtual Basic

A new way of writing Applesoft Basic programs has been created by Andres Lozano, known in the Apple ][ world as Loz.  Virtual Basic is a complete BASIC with all of the same operators and commands as Applesoft, except that it is written in a style much like other high level languages of the modern era. The entire system for Virtual Basic is a series of python scripts.   If you are writing Virtual Basic programs, they can written using…

Programmers Tools: Four FREE text editors for OS X

Apple and the BSD folks have included two of the four editors as part of the base install packages. The first goes by two names and is accessed via the terminal (Applications –> Utilities –> Terminal). They are either pico or nano (note the lowercase). These are almost as basic as one can get and still refer to them as full screen editors. The other editor included by Apple is Textedit. This is entirely accessed by the GUI. It has…

Routine to Format Decimal Numbers

10 REM ROUTINE TO FORMAT DECIMALNUMBERS ROUNDED OFF TO TWO PLACES AND RIGHT JUSTIFIED BY BOB HUELSDONK 15 REM 4/27/78 20 REM APPLE PUGETSOUND PROGRAM LIBRARY EXCHANGE 6708 39TH AVE SW SEATTLE, WA. 98136 70 FOR I • 1 TO 10: READ A: P= A : GOSUB 6000 75 PRINT P$: NEXT 80 END 90 DATA 56.2,23456.1,5,1.186,345.70,23,678.0123,-99999.889,.2389,789S67 100 REM 110 REM ” A.’ WAS CHANGED TO ‘P’ 120 REM TO KEEP THE SUBROUTINE 130 REM ANONYMOUS. 140 REM WORKS FOR…

Applesoft ][ Tokens

NOTE:Values 00 to 7F (0 to 127 decimal) are used by the standard Ascii character set. As in Integer BASIC, Apple II outputs last two rows (60-7F) as uppercase. This table is a complement to “Applesoft II Pointers and Tokens on Pages 6 & 7, and should be saved as a  permanent reference chart.