CEEMAC is a programming language developed in the 1980s for the Apple II family of computers. It was authored by Brooke Boering and published by Vagabondo Enterprises,[1]
A programming language is a formal language, which comprises a set of instructions that produce various kinds of output. Programming languages are used in computer programming to implement algorithms.
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak. It was introduced in 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire by Jobs and was the first consumer product sold by Apple Computer, Inc. It is the first model in a series of computers which were produced until Apple IIe production ceased in November 1993. The Apple II marks Apple's first launch of a personal computer aimed at a consumer market – branded towards American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists.
CEEMAC was designed to be a visual composition language in which the programmer designed dynamic "scores" by programatically controlling color, shape, sound and movement. Additionally, a programmer could then "perform" their score through use of the Apple II keyboard or paddle input devices to introduce additional variation.[2]
CEEMAC syntax loosely resembled a combination of BASIC and Pascal and include control commands such as GOTO, GOSUB, DO, AGAIN, FOR, SKIP, EXIT and loop control structures such as IF/WHILE and TIL/UNLESS. Additionally, 30 predefined macros were included in CEEMAC to aid in score composition.[2]
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use. In 1964, John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz designed the original BASIC language at Dartmouth College. They wanted to enable students in fields other than science and mathematics to use computers. At the time, nearly all use of computers required writing custom software, which was something only scientists and mathematicians tended to learn.
Pascal is an imperative and procedural programming language, which Niklaus Wirth designed in 1968–69 and published in 1970, as a small, efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring. It is named in honor of the French mathematician, philosopher and physicist Blaise Pascal.
In most computer programming languages, a while loop is a control flow statement that allows code to be executed repeatedly based on a given Boolean condition. The while loop can be thought of as a repeating if statement.
SCORE: KT :FIRE ORGAN KEY T SPEED [0,0] : - BUT 0 0 CLEAR [0,0] XY1 = $80;$80 : MAIN LOOP F :FORGND SYMMETRY 0-3 VC = RND3 ORA 3 : SAVE FORGND ROTATION VD = ROTEZ :FORGND COLOR COLOR = NXTCOL
CEEMAC was originally marketed through distribution of a free demonstration program entitled Fire Organ. This program contained several scores create by Boering and other programmers to demonstrate some of the capabilities of the language.[1]
Sources
1 2 A structured graphics language: Ceemac, CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 9, NO. 1 / JANUARY 1983
1 2 Ceemac, A Visual Composition System for the Apple, InfoWorld, July 19, 1982
↑ The Apple II Programmer's Catalog of Languages and Toolkits, 1993
A structured graphics language: Ceemac, CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 9, NO. 1 / JANUARY 1983
Ceemac, A Visual Composition System for the Apple, InfoWorld, July 19, 1982
The Apple II Programmer's Catalog of Languages and Toolkits, 1993
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