Re: Altair BASIC Source Code

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:39:14 +0000, Guy Macon wrote:

Udo Munk wrote:

The written-by-Bill-himself stuff is not lost, but it is not
available for the public, see links like this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/05/13/raiders_of_the_lost_altair/

I believe that the source code to the original written-by-bill-gates
Altair BASIC *was* lost by Bill Gates As it says on this webpage:
[ http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/altair/other%20versions/ian.htm ]

Maybe he lost it, at least the source never was released so far.

"This source is "Version 1.1", so it's not the real first version,
nor is the first commercial release because the word "Microsoft"
(or Micro-Soft as it was back then) is notably absent."

They sold it to MITS, also later releases won't include Microsoft, might
be an agreement issue. This 1.1 release might still include Gates
esteregg, don't know, seems in 3.2 it was removed.

...and as it says here:
[ http://www.ddj.com/architect/184404733 ]

"Actually, it's not quite the original, if you go by the version
number. ... What's there is 114 pages of code, constituting the 4K and
8K Basic source.

This is an original version, just not the very first release tho.

Unless I am mistaken, Altair 8K BASIC did not exist at the time the
first Altair 4K BASIC was released, so this is a later version.

Yep.

-------------------------------------------------------------

References / also see:

Quest for the Holy Source: Ian's trip to Harvard [
http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/altair/other%20versions/ian.htm ]

Stalking Bill Gates
[ http://gizmonaut.net/soapflakes/EXE-199711.html

Back to the Future: Bill's Lost Code
[ http://www.ddj.com/architect/184404733 ]

Raiders of the Lost Altair BASIC Source Code [
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/05/13/raiders_of_the_lost_altair/ ]

Altair BASIC 3.2 (4K) - Annotated Disassembly [
http://web.archive.org/web/20011211233332/www.rjh.org.uk/altair/4k/index2.html
]

Microsoft's timeline from 1975 to 1990 [
http://www.thocp.net/companies/microsoft/microsoft_company.htm ]

AN OPEN LETTER TO HOBBYISTS By William Henry Gates III, February 3, 1976
[ http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine.html ]

All interesting readings.

I have a question: what is the earliest written-by-Bill-Gates
original-source-not-a-later-disassembly BASIC that *is* available?

None for the 8080 so far, if you find one I would like to know too.

Microsoft BASIC for the 6502 was sold as a printed listing, I used it as
reference for my early Commodore machine, the first versions came with a
very minimalistic manual.

Udo Munk
--
The real fun is building it and then using it...

.

Relevant Pages

  • Altair BASIC Source Code
    ... I believe that the source code to the original written-by-bill-gates ... Altair BASIC *was* lost by Bill Gates As it says on this webpage: ... Back to the Future: Bill's Lost Code ... Raiders of the Lost Altair BASIC Source Code ...
    (comp.os.cpm)
  • Windows open source in 2010... what if?
    ... What if Bill Gates and the others responsible for the policies of ... Microsoft announced that they would be moving toward an open source ... I've come to distrust and been reluctant to depend on were open source ... If Microsoft Windows 2010 were available for partial source code review ...
    (alt.linux)
  • Re: Object available. No source. Vax to Alpha Migration
    ... It could all easily be lost ... And this is WITH the source code! ... don't really mix with the memory tight and cycle sensitive coding ... CSC Computer Sciences nclews at csc dot com ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: Topmodel2 (again)
    ... >>> owners are happy to grant you a licence but have lost the source code. ...
    (comp.sys.acorn.misc)
  • Re: Visual SourceSafe considered harmful
    ... If they had a backup, ... >> tier application huge projects and never had one problem of source code ... >> being lost directly due to VSS. ...
    (comp.programming)