Hidden stuff in the C128

Here is some of the hidden stuff in my favorite computer, the Commodore 128.

There is a bug in the Basic interpretation that shows up when you tries to do an arithmetic calculation using a string. This is what’s supposed to happen:

When you add an integer to a string, the interpretator should say that you have mismatching types.

PRINT "10" + 3

The code above should result in an error, not 13 or “103”. So far so good. If you add a negative number to a string, you should get the same error, but instead, the Basic interpretator crashes. The first time, I don’t get any result at all, and when I move the operators together (which is perfectly alright according to the Commodore Basic 7 specification) the CPU goes mental.

You can see from the word BREAK that the Basic interpretator has stopped.

Bare with me, there is more fun to the C128. More posts to come.