ANTIC Interview 111 - Clinton Parker, Action!

Published: Dec. 31, 2015, 8 a.m.

Clinton Parker, Action!

\n

Welcome to this special interview edition of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast. \xa0All of our interviews are special in some way and we appreciate the time that the interviewees donate to the Atari 8-bit community at large. \xa0This interview is a much-anticipated one due to the beloved nature of the software provided by the interviewee and due to the fact that the he has been away from the Atari 8-bit community for some time. \xa0The software I\u2019m talking about is the Action! programming language and the author is Clinton Parker. \xa0Action! was released in 1983 by Optimized Systems Software (better known as OSS). \xa0It quickly became one of the favorite programming languages ever produced for the Atari 8-bits and was used in the development of some commercial products. \xa0The 6502 source code for Action! was made available under the GNU General Public License by the author in 2015.

\n

This interview took place on September 6, 2015 via Skype.

\n

Teaser Quotes

\n

\u201cIt was an opportunity for me having a platform, which is what the Atari was to me. \xa0It provided a platform where I could sit down and literally design a language that I liked and that had the features I liked.\u201d

\n

\u201cIt was selling well enough that I was able to for several years to pretty much make a living off the royalties of the sales of it.\u201d

\n

Links

\n

Action! Review in ANALOG - http://www.cyberroach.com/analog/an16/action.htm

\n

HI-RES VOL. 1, NO. 4 / MAY/JUNE 1984 / PAGE 72 - http://www.atarimagazines.com/hi-res/v1n4/action.php \xa0

\n

Action! at SourceForge - http://sourceforge.net/projects/atari-action/ \xa0

\n

Action! Source at Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/ActionVersion36_SourceCode