SpeedScript: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:59, 10 May 2020

Revision as of 02:53, 12 June 2020

Line 4:

|developer = [[Compute!]] Publishing

|screenshot = Speedscript_3.2_for_Commodore_64.png

|caption = SpeedScript 3.2 running on a Commodore 64

|released = {{Start date and age|1984|01}}<ref name="brannon198401" />

|latest release version = 3.2

|latest release date = {{Start date and age|1987|5}}<ref name="mitchener198606" />

|platform = [[Commodore VIC-20|VIC-20]], [[Commodore 64|C64]] [[Commodore 128| / 128]], [[Apple II]], [[Atari 8-bit family|Atari 8-bit]], [[MS-DOS]]

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

|genre = [[Word processor]]

}}

'''SpeedScript''' is a [[word processor]] originally printed as a [[type-in program|type-in]] machine language listing in 1984-85 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 were published for the [[Apple II]], [[Commodore 64]] and 128, [[Atari 8-bit family]], [[Commodore VIC-20|VIC-20]], and for [[MS-DOS]].

==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'',{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} 2.0 on ''Gazette Disk'' in May 1984,{{citation 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]]Ports to the Atari and the [[Apple II family]] were printed 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" />

A version of SpeedScript for [[MS-DOS]] was created in 1988 by Randy Thompson and published in book form by Compute! Books.<ref name="thompson1989" /> This version was written in [[Turbo Pascal]] with portions written in assembly language, and added incremental new features to the word processor such as additional printer commands, full cursor-control (to take advantage of the PC's Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys), and a native 80-column mode.

Line 40:

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" />

SpeedScript was sufficiently popular to receive coverage in reference works, such as the "Wordprocessing Reference Guide" of [[Karl Hildon]]'s popular ''Inner Space Anthology''<ref name="inner" /> and [[Mitchell Waite]]'s ''The Official Book for the Commodore 128''.<ref name="128book">{{cite book | chapterurl=https://archive.org/stream/The_Official_Book_for_the_Commodore_128#page/n87/mode/2up | title=The Official Book for the Commodore 128 Personal Computer | publisher=Howard W. Sams & Co. |author1=Waite, Mitchell |author2=Lafore, Robert |author3=Volpe, Jerry | year=1985 | pages=76 | isbn=0-672-22456-9 | chapter=The C64 Mode}}</ref> [[Columbia University]]'s [[Kermit (protocol)|Kermit]] software for Commodore computers supported transferring SpeedScript files.<ref name="c64ker">{{cite web | url=http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftp/c64cross/c64ker.txt | title=File Transfers: Transferring Files | publisher=Kermit Project, Columbia University | work=Commodore 64/128 Kermit User's Guide | date=1 January 1992 | accessdate=23 February 2016 | author=Sullivan, Kent | pages=18}}</ref>

==Gallery==

Line 204:

|title=PC SpeedScript

|date=1989

|publisher=[[COMPUTE! Books]]

|___location=Radnor, Pennsylvania

|isbn=0-87455-166-8}}