atxl

Atari BASIC XL

Keywords

all of Atari BASIC plus:

Atari BASIC XL was released in 1983 as a cartridge for the Atari XL line of 8-bit computers. As such, it was not an extension, but a complete replacement for the original, already aged Atari BASIC.

Comparison of reference manuals for Atari BASIC is actually confusing because the original and the XL version seemed to co-exist for a while. According to an OSS manual for BASIC XL, it seems that this version pretty much incorporates everything from the original Atari BASIC and the A+ extension.

Parts were completely replaced under the hood, however. XL implemented loops in a much faster, address-based fashion, and this change alone boosted Atari BASIC out from the backmarkers row of performance.

Where it is/was used

  • Atari XL line

Noteworthy characteristics

  • The opening ( for function arguments is part of the functions names, so there must not be a space between the function name and the parenthesis.

Environment and usage

Extensions

Curiosities

Influenced by

Influence for

Versions and successors

References

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