- Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual pdf#
- Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual full#
- Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual software#
- Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual code#
The user has just changed the busy-waiting loop upper limit to the minimum, as per the original game instructions, to maximize the in-game speed hitting ENTER will commit the change.] The current insert position is marked with the inverse letter cursor the letter "L" signifies that the keyboard is in the ordinary letter input mode. The lower portion of the screen shows the current version of the edited line in the line-oriented editor buffer. The currently selected line is marked with the "program cursor", the inverse greater than sign. The larger upper portion of the screen shows a portion of the currently loaded program, " 3D Monster Maze". Originally developed in 1979 to fit in the 4 kB ROM of the ZX80, it was initially an incomplete implementation of the 1978 ANSI minimal BASIC standard and evolved through the 8 kB ROM ZX81 and TS1000 to be an almost complete version in the 16 kB ROM ZX Spectrum. The Sinclair BASIC interpreter was made by Nine Tiles Networks Ltd. If you do not have a ZX81 emulator installed on your computer, and your computer is not itself a ZX81 or ZX81 compatible, you can type any of these programs into the JtyOne online ZX81 emulator and see what they do.Sinclair BASIC (taking its name from innovator Sir Clive Sinclair) is a dialect of the BASIC programming language used in the 8-bit home computers from Sinclair Research and Timex Sinclair.
Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual pdf#
The minimum RAM requirement is usually stated in a note to the program: where it is omitted, it can generally be assumed to be 1k.Ī PDF version of the manual, ZX81 BASIC Programming by Steve Vickers, is available here.
Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual code#
Most ZX81 BASIC programs on Rosetta Code will work with the 1k configuration, but unfortunately some of them do require more. The Timex-branded models marketed in North America came with either 2k or 16k, as did many of the clones.
An expansion pack from Sinclair increased the RAM to 16k other sizes were available from third parties, allowing the ZX81 to be expanded to a theoretical maximum of 56k. The original machine's 1k of RAM was shared between the display, the system variables and stack, and the user's program and variables. If you are used to other popular 8-bit computers, you should expect the ZX81 to feel noticeably slower.
Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual software#
Even FAST mode can be slower than some other BASIC dialects running on comparable hardware, because ZX81 BASIC has no integer type: all numeric operations have to be done on 40-bit floats using software floating-point routines.
Sinclair zx spectrum basic programming manual full#
This can, however, be controlled under BASIC using the FAST and SLOW commands: FAST blanks the screen and allows the processor to operate at full speed, and SLOW reverts to the default behaviour. Since there is no separate video chip, the CPU spends about 75% of its time driving the display and only 25% doing everything else. The ZX81 has no moving parts and only four microchips: the 3.25MHz Z80 CPU, an 8k ROM chip containing the operating system and BASIC, a 1k RAM chip, and an uncommitted logic array. Floating point operations, some string handling, and low-resolution graphics are supported colour, sound, user-defined functions, the READ, DATA, and RESTORE keywords, and assorted other features are not. Note also that the ZX81 uses an idiosyncratic (non-ASCII) character set, so that the CODE and CHR$ functions do not return the same values as they would on the Spectrum. ZX81 BASIC is almost a subset of ZX Spectrum Basic, but not quite: the exponentiation operator is spelled ** rather than ↑ (mapped to ASCII ^), the jump and subroutine call keywords are spelled GOTO and GOSUB rather than GO TO and GO SUB, etc. Today, ZX81 emulators exist for a wide range of platforms and operating systems. Around 1.5 million ZX81s and 'official' compatibles were sold, together with a substantial number of clones (unofficial compatibles) manufactured in Brazil, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. It was developed by John Grant and Steve Vickers. Sinclair ZX81 BASIC is the dialect of BASIC resident in ROM on the ZX81 home computer (1981) and compatibles (Timex Sinclair 1000, Lambda 8300, and many others). Sinclair ZX81 BASIC is an implementation of BASIC.