If you want a taste of this nostalgia in the modern age, check out the 10LINEBASIC coding competition, which recently concluded with this years entries featuring some truly astonishing games in just 10 lines of BASIC:<p><a href="https://homeputerium.de/" rel="nofollow">https://homeputerium.de/</a><p>One of my favorite machines of the BASIC era - the Oric-1/Atmos - won the competition multiple times in the last few years (though didn’t this year), and I really enjoy going through these games and observing just how rich a few lines of BASIC code could truly be.<p>In this years list of entries, there’s a Pac-Man clone consisting of a single corridor, which is surprisingly fun, a re-interpretation of the Space Invaders gameplay mechanics which, in hindsight just seems so obvious yet so delightfully simple, a full-blown real-time strategy game, and countless arcade-style minigames .. all implemented in just 10 lines of BASIC!<p>As a longtime follower of this competition, I really enjoy the nostalgia factor, and as its a multi-platform activity, its also really fun to learn the quirks and features of different systems BASIC implementations, as well. (Of course, I have a lot of these machines in my retro collection too, so this gives me a yearly scheduled reason to dust some of them off and give them a try)<p>If you haven’t heard of this, yet yearn to know more about BASIC, definitely check it out! The scene has been getting cooler and more diverse as the years go by, and it has to be said that the competition gets more and more effective as the years go by. The beauty and aesthetics of the 10 lines of code that give us a Pac-Man clone really imbues a sense of zen mastery .. and then there is the realization that, if this is what can be done in 10 lines only, imagine if the rest of the computers memory was then used as effectively.<p>Plus, there is just no way modern platforms can attain this level of programming efficiency and style. It’s really telling that BASIC, a much overlooked language, still contains so much fundamental power, unmatched in the modern era.<p>Here’s the link, one more time - BASIC fans, get yourselves ready for a real treat:<p><a href="https://homeputerium.de/" rel="nofollow">https://homeputerium.de/</a><p>(Disclaimer: I was invited to judge this years entries, so yeah .. I’m a bit of a BASIC10LINER pimp. I had so much fun with this in the last few weeks!)