doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (07/10/85)
There may be a pleasant surprise hiding in the never-ending stream of
new books which purport to explain how to program the C-64.
Compute! magazine has published a very thick (600 page) paperback called
"Programming the 64" (or something like that, my memory fails me).
Thumbing through it at the bookstore, it looked awfully promising.
Like all such books, it covers programming in BASIC. And continues with
how to program the "goodies" like joystick, paddles, sound, graphics,
and sprites. But then it goes on to cover machine language programming
including how to use the Kernal and how to use machine language routines
to speed up BASIC programs.
Although Commodore's own Programmer's Guide for the 64 is still the
ultimate reference manual, this new book might well be the best
"how-to" book for the serious C-64 programmer.
Disclaimers: I only thumbed through the book and didn't buy it (I've
learned most of that info the hard way over the last few years). I
have no connection with Compute! magazine and really don't care if
you buy the book or not :-).
--
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{ihnp4,seismo,decvax}!noao!terak!doug
^^^^^--- soon to be CalCompdwl10@amdahl.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (07/15/85)
> Compute! magazine has published a very thick (600 page) paperback called > "Programming the 64" (or something like that, my memory fails me). > Thumbing through it at the bookstore, it looked awfully promising. > > Although Commodore's own Programmer's Guide for the 64 is still the > ultimate reference manual, this new book might well be the best > "how-to" book for the serious C-64 programmer. > I purchased the book, and sent a small review to this group, a couple of months ago. I highly recomend it. I use it more then I use the "Programmer's Guide". It has many examples on doing various graphics and music techniques. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Lowrey "To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question.... ....or is it?" ...!(<sun,cbosgd,ihnp4}!amdahl!dwl10 [ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily those of his most eminent employer. ]
mab@druca.UUCP (BlandMA) (07/17/85)
> Compute! magazine has published a very thick (600 page) paperback called > "Programming the 64" (or something like that, my memory fails me). > Thumbing through it at the bookstore, it looked awfully promising. > > Although Commodore's own Programmer's Guide for the 64 is still the > ultimate reference manual, this new book might well be the best > "how-to" book for the serious C-64 programmer. Compute's publications tend to be very well done. I recommend Compute's "Mapping the 64" for anyone who is interested in exploiting PEEKs and POKEs to the max. It explains how each memory location is used, often with simple examples for the more useful locations. Real-world examples (such as how to really use a sprite) are not given. You'll have to resort to a book such as "Programming the 64" for that (sounds like good marketing sense to me). -- Alan Bland ihnp4!druca!mab AT&T Information Systems, Denver CO