SpeedScript: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:24, 18 February 2017

Revision as of 18:48, 23 February 2017

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|status = Abandonware

|platform = [[VIC-20]], [[Commodore 64]], [[Commodore 128]], [[Apple II]], [[Atari 8-bit family]], [[MS-DOS|DOS]]

|programming language = 6502 [[assembly language]],<ref name="brannon198401" />, [[Turbo Pascal]]<ref name="thompson1989" /> (DOS)

|genre = [[Word processor]]

}}

'''SpeedScript''' is a [[word processor]] for various [[8-bit]] [[home computer|home computers]]s. It was originally printed as a [[type-in program|type-in]] machine language listing in 1984 issues of ''[[Compute!]]'' and ''[[Compute!'s Gazette]]'' magazines. Approximately 5&nbsp;[[Kilobyte|KB]] in length, it provided many of the same features as commercial word processing packages of the early 8-bit era, such as [[PaperClip]] and [[Bank Street Writer]].

==Versions==

In April 1983 ''[[Compute!]]'' published '''Scriptor''', a word processor written by staff writer Charles Brannon in [[BASIC]] and [[assembly language]], as a [[type-in program]] for the [[Atari 8-bit family]].<ref name="brannon198304" /> In January 1984 version 1.0 of his new word processor SpeedScript appeared in ''[[Compute!'s Gazette]]'' for the [[Commodore 64]] and [[Commodore VIC-20|VIC-20]].<ref name="brannon198401" /> 1.1 appeared in ''Compute!'s Second Book of Commodore 64'',{{cncitation needed|date=March 2015}} 2.0 on ''Gazette Disk'' in May 1984,{{cncitation needed|date=March 2015}} and 3.0 in ''Compute!'' in March and April 1985.<ref name="Brannon198503" /><ref name="Brannon198504" /> Corrections that updated 3.0 to 3.1 appeared in May 1985,<ref name="capute198505" /> and the full version appeared in a book published by Compute!, ''SpeedScript: The Word Processor for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20''.<ref name="Brannon1985commodore" /> A 3.2 update appeared in the December 1985 ''Compute!''<ref name="Brannon198512" /> and January 1986 ''Compute! Disk''<ref name="mitchener198606" /> and again later in the May 1987 ''Compute!'s Gazette'' issue with three additional utilities.<ref name="Brannon198705" />

SpeedScript was later [[Porting|ported]] to the Atari and the [[Apple II family]] in ''Compute!'' in May<ref name="Brannon198505" /> and June 1985 respectively.<ref name="Brannon198506" /><ref name="mitchener198606" /> SpeedScript was written entirely in assembly language, and Compute! Publications later released book/disk combinations that contained the complete commented source code (as well as the machine language in [[MLX (software)|MLX]] format) for each platform.<ref name="Brannon1985commodore" /><ref name="Brannon1985atari" /><ref name="Brannon1985apple" />

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==80-column updates==

The original versions of SpeedScript were designed for the 40-column Commodore 64 and the 22-column VIC-20. When the [[Commodore 128]] was released, featuring an 80-column display, many users requested an updated version of SpeedScript to take advantage of this new capability. In June 1986, ''Compute!'s Gazette'' published SpeedScript-80, a short [[Patch (computing)|patch]] for SpeedScript 3.0 or higher, which enabled the use of the [[MOS Technology VDC|VDC]]'s new 80-column capabilities on a Commodore 128 running in 64 mode.<ref name="heimarck198606" /> However, this did not take advantage of the C128's expanded memory, and a few minor commands were eliminated due to the alterations to the existing code. SpeedScript-80 was enhanced soon after with SpeedScript-80 Revisited, by Bob Kodadek.{{cncitation needed|date=March 2015}}

[[File:SpeedScript 128 in action.png|thumb|right|SpeedScript 128]]

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==Reception==

In a review of four word processors, ''[[The Transactor]]'' in May 1986 praised SpeedScript as "extremely sophisticated", citing its large text buffer, logical cursor navigation, and [[undo]] command. While criticizing its lack of [[typographic alignment|right justification]], the magazine concluded that SpeedScript was not only "an easy winner" among budget-priced word processors, but also "a serious contender even when compared with the higher priced programs".<ref name="bose" />