I'm not talking about today, but back in the 80's, what are the five best programs ever written for the Atari 8-bit Home Computers. Mine in order:
1) Atari BASIC cartridge: I know, many will say Atari BASIC was slow and not compatible with other BASICs, but when you look at what Shepardson did in 8KB, it is utterly amazing. First off, lets roll back to 1979-1982. An Atari 400 or 800 with out a BASIC cartridge, is just a game platform. You add Atari BASIC and now its a computer. Anyone with little knowledge could write a program in BASIC and make it do something. This little cartridge put a lot of power in my hands in 1981. Atari BASIC has powerful graphics and sound features, realtime syntax correction and a decent editor for 1979. Now that is great, but when you consider they did it all in 8KB, this is an outstanding achievement.
2) Atariwriter: It came out in 1982. Prior to that, home computers were pretty much for the techy nerdy crowd because you had to code programs to make it do what you needed. Atariwriter made the Home Computer a useful device for just about everyone. Your sister for term papers, your father for letters, just name it. This program probably sold more Ataris than just about any program I can think of (yes, even Star Raiders). It wasn't until Atariwriter that my cousins, sister, younger brother, etc finally decided they needed a home computer. Again, a very powerful capability that hardly anyone had in the early 1980's.
3) Syncalc: Yes, Visicalc was already out, but Syncalc just was much better. It took advantage of Atari's strengths in graphics. A spreadsheet in the early 80's was not for everyone, but to me an engineering student, it was fantastic. Like Atari BASIC, a huge force multiplier and allowed me to do analysis that would have taken so long to accomplish by hand, that you would not even attempt.
4) OSS Action!: I discovered Action in 1983. I had just taken a class in Pascal programming on an HP3000 mainframe. Wow, Action! was ahead of its time. Great editor, a Pascal, C, ALGOL type language that complied really efficient object code. My brother used to design and sell printer sharing devices using the 6502 and had to write assembly language firmware. He typically used Atari Assembler Editor, but when he was stuck, he'd write the routine in Action!, compile and copy the machine code. On an early 80's home computer, no one had a programming language as powerful as Action!.
5) 850 Express: Three letters, BBS. The ability to call a local bulletin board system in the 80's was a new way to expand what you could do with a computer. Before email, before America Online, the ability to connect live with others and share programs was a taste of what we all take for granted today. In 1986, this was mind blowing. I remember the salesman telling me that 1200 baud is the fastest you will ever be able to go on a phone line. I think of the famous quote from Hoover during the Worlds Fair, "Everything worth inventing, has already been invented".
Honorable mentions: Micropainter, S.A.M. and Assembler Editor
What's your?
