Again here:
I am already entering the world of BASIC, and I have come across many entries that indicate that the ALTAIR 8800 ran this or that game; but looking for sources, I can't find anything; I get the impression that the Altair, being able to read BASIC (with the Gates device), was supposed to read the game; which seems absurd to me, since a BASIC compiler in Windows NT, 95, 98, 2000, XP, 7, 10, 11, etc., could also run the BASIC code.
The case of C64 or PET, or ATARI is different, in that yes, we did find traces that certain authors ported the games to those platforms.
And I know, it will be said that it is difficult to trace BASIC, but, we have an old example, but more efficient than ALTAIR, which is SOL-20, which has a complete catalog of games that were ported in BASIC, on said computer.
ALTAIR 8800
I suppose you are right that the games from the 101 Basic book were runnable on Altair 8800 out of the box without conversion. Zerothis decided to make Altair 8800 entries from them. I cannot say if that was good or not, because that part of gaming platforms is still quite a black box for me. I do see some sense in making an Altair 8800 entry, but not a Windows entry, because when the book was released the Altair 8800 existed and perhaps was one of the "intended" platforms to run the game on. If thats the case I would lean to accept Altair 8800 entries for this game. I would rather have Zerothis opinion about this before doing mass deletions.
The Altair 8800 did not come with a GUI, generally it was expected that most customers would purchase one separately. They called it a terminal, which was a monitor+keyboard; the graphics were lettering on the keys and text produced on the screen. This would be a convenient way to interact with the machine, typing on the keys and reading from the screen, BASIC code.
However this was not the only way to utilize BASIC code with an Altar 8080. Without the BASIC language, programming the Altair 8080, receiving output, and reviewing the contents of memory including machine code, had to be done by toggling a series of switches and reading the two digit codes on the machine's built-in display . In modern times one might assume this primitive system was done in machine language only. But in fact, once Microsoft BASIC was loaded into machine, one could toggle in BASIC code as hexadecimal, and read BASIC code in memory as hexadecimal on machines built-in display.
Manually toggling or typing we're not the only ways to put load into the machine. There was punch tape and Hardware that could read read it. Microsoft BASIC initially came on punch tape. There was also magnetic tape and Hardware that could read it. Magnetic tape of course was most convenient to read when it was in the form of a cassette.
Note, no matter which of the above methods were used to load Microsoft BASIC interpreter into the Altair 8800's memory, a loading program had to be toggled in manually first. As far as I know there was never any bootloading Hardware that could be used with the Altair 8800, some fancy computers did have such things.
If anyone ever actually toggled in BASIC code, rather than using a terminal or toggling in machine code instead of using BASIC, I would question their sanity. But as I understand it, there was this option.
At that time, BASIC code was often distributed in a form that might need modification before it could be used on a person's computer. BASIC code for Altair 8800 was not uncommon, what's up was possible to buy or acquire a BASIC game or application that could be interpreted on the Altair 8800 without modification. If the code was written for a different computer, the user might have to load it in, then modify it in memory to run. Or they had the option of reading code printed on paper, that they could type in and modify as they went. Generally the variance between BASIC for the different computer types, were minor and only in case of the more advanced commands. PRINT, FOR..NEXT, GOTO, and simple to intermediate math, we're universal. DIM, INPUT, functions, calculus level math, might differ between systems.
It was not uncommon for code printed on paper, to include notes on how it can be modified for dozens of other systems. And publishers often considered the code with modification instructions, to be equally valid as having been published for all those systems, all contained within one printout.
However this was not the only way to utilize BASIC code with an Altar 8080. Without the BASIC language, programming the Altair 8080, receiving output, and reviewing the contents of memory including machine code, had to be done by toggling a series of switches and reading the two digit codes on the machine's built-in display . In modern times one might assume this primitive system was done in machine language only. But in fact, once Microsoft BASIC was loaded into machine, one could toggle in BASIC code as hexadecimal, and read BASIC code in memory as hexadecimal on machines built-in display.
Manually toggling or typing we're not the only ways to put load into the machine. There was punch tape and Hardware that could read read it. Microsoft BASIC initially came on punch tape. There was also magnetic tape and Hardware that could read it. Magnetic tape of course was most convenient to read when it was in the form of a cassette.
Note, no matter which of the above methods were used to load Microsoft BASIC interpreter into the Altair 8800's memory, a loading program had to be toggled in manually first. As far as I know there was never any bootloading Hardware that could be used with the Altair 8800, some fancy computers did have such things.
If anyone ever actually toggled in BASIC code, rather than using a terminal or toggling in machine code instead of using BASIC, I would question their sanity. But as I understand it, there was this option.
At that time, BASIC code was often distributed in a form that might need modification before it could be used on a person's computer. BASIC code for Altair 8800 was not uncommon, what's up was possible to buy or acquire a BASIC game or application that could be interpreted on the Altair 8800 without modification. If the code was written for a different computer, the user might have to load it in, then modify it in memory to run. Or they had the option of reading code printed on paper, that they could type in and modify as they went. Generally the variance between BASIC for the different computer types, were minor and only in case of the more advanced commands. PRINT, FOR..NEXT, GOTO, and simple to intermediate math, we're universal. DIM, INPUT, functions, calculus level math, might differ between systems.
It was not uncommon for code printed on paper, to include notes on how it can be modified for dozens of other systems. And publishers often considered the code with modification instructions, to be equally valid as having been published for all those systems, all contained within one printout.