Deep Blue C

Deep Blue C is based on Ron Cain's public domain Small-C compiler, a subset of the C programming language, modified by John Howard Palevich to run on Atari 8-bit hardware. Palevich also wrote Dandy for APX.{{cite web |title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers |url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/ |last1=Hague |first1=James}} The syntax supported by Deep Blue C is close to that of ANSI C with significant limitations. The compiler creates Intel 8080 binary code which is executed by an 8080 virtual machine as p-code.{{r|striepe198401}}

The user must supply a source code editor, but included libraries provide printf and other I/O routines and video graphics, including player/missile graphics.{{r|striepe198401}} The source code to the compiler was sold separately by APX as Deep Blue Secrets.{{cite book|last1=Palevich|first1=John Howard|title=Deep Blue Secrets Manual|date=1982 |publisher=Atari Program Exchange|url=https://archive.org/stream/APX20179_DeepBlueSecrets/APX20179-DeepBlueSecrets#page/n5/mode/2up|ref=secrets}}

As a proper subset of V7 Unix C, Deep Blue C code that does not use Atari 8-bit features can be compiled on other systems with the full language.{{r|striepe198401}} The following language constructs are not supported:

• structs
• unions
• multidimensional arrays
• floating point numbers
• sizeof operator
• type casting
• functions returning types other than integer

Other non-standard properties of Deep Blue C:

• The last part of switch clause must end with: break, continue, or return.
• The maximum length of a source code line has to be less than 80 characters.
• The number of arguments for functions cannot exceed 126.
• $( and $) are used instead of { and }, because the Atari keyboard and standard character set does not include braces.

The p-code that the compiler produces is slower than native binary. It is smaller than binary, however, and faster than Atari BASIC.{{r|striepe198401}}

Antic thought that Deep Blue C's use of p-code was acceptable given Atari's hardware limitations. The magazine praised Palevich for publishing the source code, and recommended purchasing it with the compiler for study and customization alongside The C Programming Language.{{Cite magazine |last=Striepe |first=Harald E. |date=January 1984 |title=Deep Blue C & Deep Blue Secrets |url=https://archive.org/details/1984-01-anticmagazine/page/108/mode/2up?view=theater |access-date=2024-11-27 |magazine=Antic |page=109}}

This program prints "Hello World!":

main()

$(

printf("Hello World!");

$)

{{Reflist|refs=

[http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/showinfo.php?cat=20166 Deep Blue C documentation at Atari Archives]

W. Zientara, "Jezyki programowania Atari cz.2", SOETO, Warsaw, 1989

[http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/ Atari 8-bit FAQ]

}}

Category:C (programming language) compilers

Category:Atari 8-bit computer software

Category:Atari Program Exchange software