Apple II Programs 
Byte-sized delights that are guaranteed to ward off hysteria and melancholy!
12 August 2024
Disorganized Dump
by Lee Fastenau
Well well well… look what the cat dragged in. A small bunch of short programs without their own dedicated pages. Let’s call these orphans until they can get their permanent home.
Ghost Clicker
Began as an experiment to see if easing functions for animation were sufficiently fast in Applesoft, then morphed into an 8-bit portal to the spectral plane.
Versions 1.0
Draws lines on the hi-res screen, but with style and flare.
10 HGR2
20 C=RND(1)*280:D=RND(1)*192:GOSUB 1000:A=C:B=D:GOTO 20
1000 X=A:Y=B:U=C-A:V=D-B:FORN=.2TO1STEP.2:E=1-(1-N)*(1-N):F=A+U*E:G=B+V*E:HCOLOR=3:HPLOTX,YTOF,G:H=X:I=Y:X=F:Y=G:NEXT:RETURN
Version 1.1
Same as v1.0, but erases the tail for added drama.
10 HGR2
20 C=RND(1)*280:D=RND(1)*192:GOSUB 1000:A=C:B=D:GOTO 20
1000 X=A:Y=B:U=C-A:V=D-B:FORN=.2TO1STEP.2:E=1-(1-N)*(1-N):F=A+U*E:G=B+V*E:HCOLOR=3:HPLOTX,YTOF,G:HCOLOR=0:HPLOTH,ITOX,Y:H=X:I=Y:X=F:Y=G:NEXT:RETURN
Version 2.0
Instead of drawing lines, a mouse pointer zips around the screen, clicking randomly… as if guided by an unseen hand.
0P=49200:HGR2:HCOLOR=3:FORN=768TO787:READS:POKEN,S:NEXT:POKE232,0:POKE233,3:ROT=0:SCALE=1:XDRAW1AT0,0:FORC=0TO999:C=RND(1)*271+2:D=RND(1)*180+1:U=C-A:V=D-B:FORN=0TO1STEP.08:E=1-(1-N)^3:X=A+U*E:Y=B+V*E:XDRAW1ATX,Y:XDRAW1ATH,I:H=X:I=Y:NEXT
1A=C:B=D:FORX=A-2TOA+6:HPLOTX,B-1TOX,B+10:NEXT:NEXT:DATA1,0,4,0,46,21,63,46,45,21,63,63,22,44,173,55,53,53,39,0,-1
Adjectives
Did you know that consecutive adjectives have rules that dictate their order? Yeah, uh, me too. Anyway, this is sort of like V2.0 of the silly SYS.DIAG program, but with more variety in component descriptions. It’s also a lot longer.
Note: If your Apple supports 80-column mode, I recommend enabling it by typing PR#3 before running the program.
0Q=8:DIMA$(Q,15),A(Q):FORN=0TOQ:FORM=0TO50:READA$(N,M):A(N)=M:M=M+(A$(N,M)="")*99:NEXTM,N
1HOME:FORP=0TOA(Q)-1:A=RND(1)*A(0):?A$(0,A)" ";:FORN=1TOQ-1:IFRND(1)>.5-RTHEN?A$(N,RND(1)*A(N))" ";:R=(N=2)+INT(RND(1)*(N=1)*2)*2:IFR=2THEN?"AND ";
2NEXT:?A$(Q,P);MID$("S",1,A>=1);".":NEXT:GETA$:?:GOTO1
999 END
1000 DATA "ONE","TWO","THREE","SEVERAL","A NUMBER OF","SOME","A THOUSAND",""
1010 DATA "SAD","SHINY","RUSTY","CREAKY","GLITCHY","SPEEDY","DEAD","LEAKY","MOLDY","CORRODED","WORTHLESS","PRICELESS",""
1015 DATA "STRANGELY","WEIRDLY","UNUSUALLY","ODDLY","TERRIBLY","WONDERFULLY","SURPRISINGLY",""
1020 DATA "LITTLE","BLOATED","TINY","BIG","LARGE","TALL","SHORT",""
1030 DATA "OLD","ANTIQUE","RETRO","MEDIEVAL","CLASSIC","PREHISTORIC","BRAND NEW","AFTERMARKET",""
1040 DATA "RECTANGULAR","BOXY","CYLINDRICAL","FLAT",""
1050 DATA "GREEN","DARK GRAY","YELLOW","BROWN","ORANGE","GUNMETAL","NEON","SICKLY",""
1060 DATA "PLASTIC","ALUMINUM","GLASS","SILICON","CARDBOARD","AMBER",""
1070 DATA "KEYBOARD","MONITOR","MEMORY MODULE","EXPANSION PORT","DISK CONTROLLER","SPEAKER","PROCESSOR","POWER SUPPLY UNIT",""
Quine
Applesoft has a really elegant (too elegant if you ask me) quine program: 10 LIST
When you run the above program, it outputs itself. That’s essentially what a quine program is–a program that, given no other inputs, outputs itself.
Most programming languages require some mental gymnastics and clever coding to achieve this. If 10 LIST didn’t count, what would the next shortest Applesoft quine look like?
Version 1.0
aka “It works!”
10 B$="\10 B$=[Z[\20 FOR N = 1 TO LEN(B$)\30 C$ = MID$(B$,N,1)\40 C = ASC(C$) - 90\50 IF C = 0 THEN C$ = B$\60 IF C = 1 THEN C$ = CHR$(34)\70 IF C = 2 THEN C$ = CHR$(13)\80 PRINT C$;\90 NEXT\"
20 FOR N = 1 TO LEN(B$)
30 C$ = MID$(B$,N,1)
40 C = ASC(C$) - 90
50 IF C = 0 THEN C$ = B$
60 IF C = 1 THEN C$ = CHR$(34)
70 IF C = 2 THEN C$ = CHR$(13)
80 PRINT C$;
90 NEXT
Version 1.1
aka “I smushed it into two lines!”
This one’s similar to v1.0, but it does use the POKE if/else trick which is arguably cheating because it requires the program to live at a very specific memory address.
0A$(0)=CHR$(34):A$(1)=CHR$(13):READB$:FORN=1TOLEN(B$):C$=MID$(B$,N,1):C=ASC(C$):POKE184,82+(C<91)*13:?A$(C-91);:NEXT:POKE184,113+(C<90)*7:?B$;:NEXT:?C$;:NEXT
1DATA"0A$(0)=CHR$(34):A$(1)=CHR$(13):READB$:FORN=1TOLEN(B$):C$=MID$(B$,N,1):C=ASC(C$):POKE184,82+(C<91)*13:?A$(C-91);:NEXT:POKE184,113+(C<90)*7:?B$;:NEXT:?C$;:NEXT\1DATA[Z[,KTHXBYE",KTHXBYE
Version 2.0
aka “(Maybe) the second shortest Applesoft quine ever!”
0READA$:A$=A$+CHR$(34):?A$A$:DATA"0READA$:A$=A$+CHR$(34):?A$A$:DATA"