📄️ Introduction
Learning how to program the Altair 8800 emulator is a great way to learn about the history of computing and the fundamentals of computer programming.
📄️ Manuals
The following is a list of the relevant manuals to start programming on the Altair.
📄️ Editing files
The Altair emulator includes the MicroPro Word-Master text editor for editing documents and source code. Word-Master was advanced for its day, but by today's standards, not the most user-friendly.
📄️ Intel 8080 IO Ports
The Intel 8080 CPU can address up to 256 input ports and 256 output ports; allowing for virtually unlimited system expansion. Access to the ports is via the IN and OUT Intel 8080 CPU instructions, see page 38.
📄️ Microsoft BASIC
Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote Altair BASIC. It was Microsoft's first product. Later, Microsoft released Microsoft BASIC for CP/M, see the Microsoft BASIC-80 reference manual.
📄️ C programming
The BD Software C compiler is included on drive A if you have the CP/M filesystem loaded on the Micro SD card. The following text is an exert from the BDS C Wikipedia article.
📄️ Intel 8080 Assembler
The following text is an exert from the Assembly language article.
📄️ Altair BASIC programming
Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote Altair BASIC. It was Microsoft's first product. At the time, Altair BASIC was a huge step forward as it allowed people to write programs using a high-level programming language. For more information about Altair BASIC, see the Altair BASIC reference manual.
📄️ Front panel programming
The original Altair 8800 was programmed directly on the front panel. It was a painstaking, error-prone process to load and run a program. The Altair 8800 had a series of LEDs and switches for loading apps and determining the state of the machine.