Atari BASIC XL

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

Related to...

Influenced by

• Atari BASIC, the original one, of course

Influence for

Versions and successors

References

• ALBRECHT, Bob; FINKEL, Leroy; BROWN, Gerald R.. ATARI BASIC XL Edition. Wiley. USA, 1985.
• WILKINSON, Bill; GOLDSTEIN, Diane. 30 Days to Understanding BASIC XL. Optimized Systems Software, Inc. USA, 1983. Available at https://archive.org/details/BASICXLMANUAL , last check 2023-03-18.
• A Reference Manual for BASIC XL. OSS and Atari. USA< 1983. Available at https://archive.org/details/BASICXLMANUAL/page/n179, last check 2023-03-18.