At Next Without For, Earl Evans and Randy Kindig cover historical computer languages (compilers and interpreters) and modern programming tools for retro computers.
Randy and Earl share the results of our listener survey on retro computer development, favorite languages, and more!
News/Personal Projects
AtariAge Forum post on CubeDot for Atari 8-bit systems - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/387935-cubedot-fuji-do-fuji-poo-dr-love-and-total-recall/ (https://www.blogger.com/)
15th Edition of BASIC 10 Liner Contest for 8-bit computers has started. The Deadline for submissions is Sunday, March 22, 2026 - https://t.co/eeno5J8fak (https://www.blogger.com/)
ABBUC (Atari Bit-Byter User Club) Game and Application Software Contests:
ABBUC - https://www.abbuc.de
ABBUC Application Software Competition 2026 - deadline for submissions: March 1, 2026 - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/387745-abbuc-application-software-competition-2026-has-been-launched/ (https://www.blogger.com/)
ABBUC Game Software Competition 2026 - deadline for submissions July 31, 2026 - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/387744-abbuc-software-competition-2026-has-been-launched/
Show Topic
No links related to the main topic. Thanks to everyone who submitted responses for our survey - this show wouldn't have been possible without you!
Other Links
Join the NWF crew on Discord! https://discord.gg/XAWv7PAFH4
23 May 2025
Show 015 - Atari 8-Bit Programming
Hosts Randy and Earl explore modern programming options for Atari 8-bit systems, covering languages like Action! and FastBASIC, plus assemblers and IDEs for retro computing enthusiasts.
24 Feb 2025
Show 014 - The History of BASIC
Randy and Earl cover the history of the BASIC programming language, including its origins, and the wide adoption of BASIC on 8-bit systems in the 1970s and 1980s!
News
BASIC 10-Liner Contest - https://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium
Show Topic
https://www.dartmouth.edu/basicfifty/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxo9LVIgOiI
“Fire in the Valley: The Birth and Death of the Personal Computer” by Michael Swaine, Paul Freiberger (associate link) - https://amzn.to/3EzdPCp
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC
“Sophistication & Simplicity: The Life and Times of the Apple II Computer” by Stephen Weyrich - https://amzn.to/4hFGkNy
“iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It” by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith - https://amzn.to/42ZhBzc
“Commodore: A Company on the Edge” by Brian Bagnall - https://amzn.to/4gHvfdu
"101 Basic Computer Games" by David H. Ahl - https://amzn.to/3QitZTg or “101 BASIC Computer Games: Microcomputer Edition” - https://amzn.to/4hABxwT
“BASIC Session”:The ACM SIGPLAN History of Programming Languages (HOPL) conference In Los Angeles, CA, June 1-3, 1978 - https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/800025.1198404
2006 Salon Article - Why Johnny Can't Code - https://www.salon.com/2006/09/14/basic_2/
Microsoft Small Basic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Small_Basic
Basic-256 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic-256
Quite Basic - https://www.quitebasic.com/
Dartmouth held a 50th anniversary celebration for BASIC on May 1st, 2014. A short documentary film was produced for the event:
Fifty Years of BASIC, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal By Harry McCraken in Time magazine - http://time.com/69316/basic/
Other Links
Join the NWF crew on Discord! https://discord.gg/XAWv7PAFH4
19 Jun 2024
Show 013 - ugBASIC
Randy and Earl talk about ugBASIC, and Randy interviews the author/creator!
News
BASIC 60th birthday!: https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/03/basic_60th_birthday_releases/
AMSCII-Compo: https://logiker.com/AMSCII-Compo (Amstrad CPC AMSCII)
Show Topic
ugBASIC main site: https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/
ugBASIC IDE: https://spotlessmind1975.itch.io/ugbasic-ide
ugBASIC keywords: https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/#collapseKeywords
ugBASIC examples: https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/target/to8#examples
ugBASIC forum: https://forum.ugbasic.iwashere.eu/viewforum.php?f=8
Soko64 - fun puzzle game written in ugBASIC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwuryS6pvKU
Other Links
101 BASIC PROGRAMS FOR MICROCOMPUTERS: https://www.atariarchives.org/basicgames/
Floppy Days Podcast: https://www.floppydays.com
ANTIC Podcast: https://www.ataripodcast.com
18 Mar 2024
Show 012 - CHIP-8
Randy and Earl explore programming of the CHIP-8 family of interpreters!
News!
No news this episode!
Z88DK, C compiler and assembler for 8080, Z80, 8085
https://z88dk.org/site/
CHIP-8
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIP-8
Joseph Weisbecker:
http://www.cosmacelf.com/history/joseph-weisbecker.html
Joseph Weisbecker’s introduction of CHIP-8 in Byte Magazine, Dec. 1978
https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1978-12/page/n109/mode/1up
CHIP-8 Technical Reference:
https://github.com/mattmikolay/chip-8/wiki/CHIP%E2%80%908-Technical-Reference
IDE for creating CHIP-8 programs:
https://johnearnest.github.io/Octo/
Writing programs for CHIP-8 using Octo IDE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-G6Dm5AX3I
Awesome CHIP-8 - list of CHIP-8 resources
https://chip-8.github.io/links/
CHIP-8 program archive
https://github.com/JohnEarnest/chip8Archive
CHIP-8 Computer
https://chip-8.com/
CHIP-8 Extensions and Compatibility
https://chip-8.github.io/extensions/#a-note-on-modern-implementations
EZ-Pack: Convert large images into CHIP-8 Sprites
https://beyondloom.com/tools/ezpack.html
EZ-Writer: Compose text strings to fit a CHIP-8 or SCHIP display, with a variety of fonts
https://beyondloom.com/tools/ezwriter.html
EZ-Bake Animator: Pre-generate Octo-compatible graphics programmatically
https://beyondloom.com/tools/ezbake.html
C-Octo: Develop Octo programs from the command line
https://github.com/JohnEarnest/c-octo
For MacOS and Windows - Dorito
https://github.com/lesharris/dorito?tab=readme-ov-file
For Windows - CHIP-8 emulator on Github
https://github.com/massung/CHIP-8/releases
Octojam
https://itch.io/jam/octojam-10
https://beyondloom.com/blog/octojam.html
Emma 02 emulator
https://www.emma02.hobby-site.com/index.html
Can use RCA tab, COSMIC VIP option, for original CHIP-8 emulation
18 Aug 2023
Show 011 - Using BASIC on Modern Hardware
News!
Atari BASIC AI training - https://discord.gg/WnEcxSvtS
Nabu computer - https://nabu.ca/
More Contests!
Amiga Jam - https://itch.io/jam/amigatooljam
VisionBASIC Game Contest - http://visionbasic.fun/
AMSTRAD ASCII Compo - http://logiker.com/AMSCII-Compo
BASIC implementations for iOS (iphone/iPad):
BBC BASIC by Richard Russell - free - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/bbcbasic/id6444498023
Commodore BASIC - Hand BASIC - CBM flavor by Ahmad Hawwash - free - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hand-basic-cbm-flavor/id394924289
Hotpaw BASIC (iPad) - $4.99 - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hotpaw-basic/id295464266
See: http://www.hotpaw.com/rhn/basic/iphone/ for a more complete description of the Basic language syntax
Smart BASIC (iOS/Mac) by Nikolay Denislamov $11.99 - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/basic-programming-language/id1540244170
BASIC implementations for Android
"BASIC Programming Compiler" - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.krazeapps.basicprogrammingcompiler
BASIC implementations for MacOS:
PC-BASIC - (Windows/Mac/Linux/Python) - https://robhagemans.github.io/pcbasic/
BBC BASIC by Richard Russell - https://www.bbcbasic.co.uk/bbcbasic.html
PureBASIC - also Linux, Windows, RPi, AmigaOS 4 - https://www.purebasic.com/
Chipmunk BASIC - https://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/
BASIC implementations for Windows:
Vintage BASIC - http://www.vintage-basic.net/download.html
SpecBAS - https://github.com/ZXDunny/SpecBAS
https://hackaday.com/2021/05/10/sinclair-basic-for-today/
SmallBASIC - https://smallbasic-publicwebsite.azurewebsites.net/
QB64 - https://qb64.com/ - Windows, Linux, MacOS
FreeBASIC - https://www.freebasic.net/
BASIC implementations for Linux:
Matrix Brandy BASIC VI - http://brandy.matrixnetwork.co.uk/
Also check out this BBC BASIC reference - http://www.riscos.com/support/developers/bbcbasic/index.html
BASIC implementations for Web Browser:
SPIDERBASIC - https://www.spiderbasic.com/ (Web/desktop)
Applesoft BASIC in Javascript - https://inexorabletash.github.io/jsbasic/
Quite BASIC - http://www.quitebasic.com/prj/games/hangman/
Applesoft BASIC Editor CyanIIDE - https://paleotronic.com/applesoft/
wwwBASIC - https://github.com/google/wwwbasic
https://hackaday.com/2018/09/17/its-the-web-basically/
17 Mar 2023
Show 010 - Assembly Language, Part II
Randy and Earl continue the discussion of Assembly Language in this second episode of a two-parter. If you missed it, check out Show 009 for Part I!
16 Jan 2023
Show 009 Assembly Language Part I
In part I of this discussion on assembly language, Randy and Earl discuss what assembly language is, who invented it, how it works (generally), and why one might have chosen to use it back in the classic days of computing.
25 Jun 2022
Show 008 - 64 Bites
Randy interviews Michal Taszycki, owner of 64 Bites! And, we talk about some more contests.
6 Mar 2022
Show 007 - Programming Contests
Earl and Randy talk about various retro computer programming contests, where participants can show off their creations for platforms from back in the day!
11 Oct 2021
Show 006 - SNOBOL
Randy and Earl talk about the SNOBOL programming language - history, specifics of the language, and how to play with it today!
18 Jan 2021
Show 005 - Programming the TI 58 and 59
Randy and Earl discuss programming for the TI 58 and 59 programmable calculators!
4 Oct 2020
Show 004 - Turbo Rascal
Randy and Earl talk about Turbo Rascal Syntax Error, and Randy has a chat with its creator.
22 Jul 2020
Show 003 - Fortran
Randy and I cover Fortran, the granddaddy of computer languages.
21 Jun 2020
Show 002 - Randy and Earl
Randy Kindig joins Next Without For as a co-host, and the podcast reboots!
13 Oct 2013
Show 001 - Turbo Pascal 3
A look at Turbo Pascal 3 for CP/M - the last version of Turbo Pascal to be released on that classic operating system.
26 May 2013
Show 000 - dBase III Plus 1.1
Show zero of Next Without For covers the dBase III Plus 1.1 database programming environment.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
10 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 41 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
62
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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