Re: Apple I Integer BASIC dump/listing?

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Eric Smith wrote:

>pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter) writes:
>> Who will be the first to post such a processed listing of the Basic
>> for the Apple I ????
>
>It's much easier and faster to simply do another disassembly using a
>better disassembler:
>
>    http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/apple/apple1/basic/

Thanks for another very helpful disassembly.  ;-)

In a brief perusal, I note several differences from the version of
Apple I BASIC on Applefritter, in particular the regions:
EE53.EE62, EEA6.EEC8, and EF85.EFB2.

Although there may be other, earlier, differences, the fact that
these all occur toward the end of the program suggests that
they may be patches/additions.  I can't guess the chronology,
but someone more familiar with the program could probably
put this together.

Of some interest is the reassignment of some zero page locations,
such as LOMEM and HIMEM.

This makes me wonder just how many versions of Apple I BASIC
were actually shipped.  It is not hard to believe that it was a work
in progress at the time of the Apple I.

Thinking back to how Woz keyed it in each time he used it
suggests that he may have been continually tuning/enhancing it.

I know that anytime I have had to re-type a program, I can't 
help making changes to it that seem obvious in the process of
re-entering it, but were not noticed while it was being written.
It seems that the "mass" of an existing code base is a barrier
to making large or structural changes.

On several occasions, I have lost the source to a program,
making it necessary to re-enter it, either from a listing or from
memory, and the result was always better than before.  This
is further support for my motto that: "The wastebasket is our
most important design tool; and it's seriously underused." ;-)

-michael

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