Retrocod:r

Habitat - The First Virtual World With Avatars

Jarkko — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:55:24 +0000

Big Screen Fun

Jarkko — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 07:41:26 +0000

How’s this for some retro coding? Happy August, everyone!

Hacky Mouse

Jarkko — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:54:11 +0000

Wanna hack like in the movies?

For free.

Hackety Hack

Jarkko — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:51:10 +0000

A few posts ago, I shared my (and maybe yours too?) first programming experiment. The Commodore 64 “Hello, World”.

For today’s kids, getting started is not quite that easy.

Hard core, professional programming sure has become easier. But at the same time the fine art is getting further and further away from beginners.

Hackety Hack is a great attempt in solving this problem. This simple, fun, and easily approachable Ruby based programming platform is transforming the nature of programming for many.

Give it a shot, and then, let your kids start hacking!

CoolBasic Makes Making Games Easy

Jarkko — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:54:56 +0000

If you are interested in a quick and dirty way for making nice looking games to try out programming, CoolBasic is worth a look. The project hasn’t been updated since 2005, but it works, so if you have some extra time at your hands, check it out.

Abdul Has a Great Attitude

Jarkko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:24:15 +0000

Photo source: Brajeshwar (Flickr)

Apple IIc Programming Fun

Jarkko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:16:30 +0000

Yet another cool example of a simple BASIC program. This time not on a Commodore 64.

World Can Code - ONLINE!

Jarkko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:11:56 +0000

If downloading a Commodore 64 emulator to try out a simple Hello World was too much for you, you’ll love this option: Try your Basic (and many other languages including Pascal) coding skills online, without any loading at all.

Back to Eighties: Writing Your First C64 Hello World in 2008

Jarkko — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:57:51 +0000

Yesterday, I posted my first BASIC “Hello World” program. But just seeing the code doesn’t do much good, so today I’m giving you simple, step by step instructions on writing that very program on a Commodore 64 - only using your PC.

There is no need to go out and look for a real Commodore 64. We are going to use an emulator.

Step 1: Installing the emulator

Point your browser to: http://www.computerbrains.com/ccs64/

Scroll down to where it says Download, and click on the link you can see in the following image:

Once the download is completed, install the emulator by running the installer you just downloaded. When the installation is complete, start CCS64 from the start menu.

Here’s what you’ll see next:

Step 2: Writing the program

Writing the program couldn’t be easier. Just start typing:

“10 PRINT “HELLO, WORLD!”
20 GOTO 10

That’s your program.

Step 3: Running the program

In the Commodore 64 window, type:

“RUN

This is how the window looks just before pressing enter and starting the RUN command:

I won’t ruin your fun by telling what happens next. Try it yourself!

But just in case you want to stop your program at some point, I’ll tell you that pressing the ESC key can help lot.

Guitar Hero on Commodore 64

Jarkko — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:10:20 +0000

As this video nicely demonstrates, the Commodore 64 is not dead - and some people are still living up to the spirit of retrocoding!