Re: ByteStew

On Fri, 22 Oct 1999 17:55:37 GMT, see_URL_in.sig@end.to_mail_to.us (R L
Samuell) wrote:

>Though not strictly an example of ASCII art, "ByteStew" is the title of
>an instance of  a related  class of program-generated animations.   The
>original  twelve-year-old  program  written in  GW-BASIC  randomly  and
>endlessly writes individual bytes  with  different  colored backgrounds
>directly to the DOS screen buffer of a PC fast enough that it gives the
>impression  that  the  screen  is  'boiling'  with bytes--   hence, the
>allusion to a bubbling 'byte stew.'

Here's a tiny Turbo Pascal program which'll do the same thing, and
probably a hell of a lot quicker than GW-BASIC.

program ByteStew;
uses crt;

var
  P : word;

begin
  textmode(c80 + font8x8); {remove this line on 80x25-only screens}
  randomize;
  repeat
    P := random(4000); {change to 4000 on 80x25}
    mem[$B800:P * 2] := random(96) + 32; {only ascii characters :) }
    mem[$B800:(P * 2) + 1] := random(128);
  until keypressed;
end.

I would attach the EXE but I don't think I can in a.a-a. If anyone wants it
I'll upload it someplace.

-- 
Arcain

      |      
______|______
    `\|/'    
     /^\     
   /'   `\   
 /'       `\