Li-Chen Wang (born 1935) is an American computer engineer, best known for his ''Palo Alto Tiny BASIC'' for
Intel 8080
The Intel 8080 (''"eighty-eighty"'') is the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. It first appeared in April 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibil ...
-based
microcomputer
A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...
s. He was a member of the
Homebrew Computer Club
The Homebrew Computer Club was an early computer hobbyist group in Menlo Park, California, which met from March 1975 to December 1986. The club had an influential role in the development of the microcomputer revolution and the rise of that asp ...
and made significant contributions to the software for early microcomputer systems from
Tandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tand ...
and
Cromemco. He made early use of the word ''
copyleft
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose ...
'', in Palo Alto
Tiny BASIC
Tiny BASIC is a family of Programming language#Dialects, flavors and implementations, dialects of the BASIC programming language that can fit into 4 or fewer kilobyte, KBs of random-access memory, memory. Tiny BASIC was designed in response to th ...
's distribution notice "@COPYLEFT ALL WRONGS RESERVED" in June 1976.
Homebrew Computer Club
The Homebrew Computer Club was a hotbed of BASIC development, with members excited by
Altair BASIC
Altair BASIC is a discontinued interpreter for the BASIC programming language that ran on the MITS Altair 8800 and subsequent S-100 bus computers. It was Microsoft's first product (as Micro-Soft), distributed by MITS under a contract. Altair BASI ...
. Fellow members
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and entrepreneur, technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve ...
and
Tom Pittman would develop their own BASICs (
Integer BASIC
Integer BASIC is a BASIC interpreter written by Steve Wozniak for the Apple I and Apple II computers. Originally available on cassette for the Apple I in 1976, then included in ROM on the Apple II from its release in 1977, it was the first versi ...
and 6800 Tiny BASIC respectively). Wang analyzed the Altair BASIC code and contributed edits to Tiny BASIC Extended.
Wang published in the newsletter a loader for the 8080, commenting on the
Open Letter to Hobbyists:
Palo Alto Tiny BASIC
Palo Alto Tiny BASIC was the fourth version of a Tiny BASIC
interpreter that appeared in ''
Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics & Orthodontia'', but probably the most influential. It appeared in the May 1976 Vol 1, No. 5 issue, and distinguished itself from other versions of Tiny BASIC through a novel means of abbreviating commands to save memory, and the inclusion of an array variable ("@"). The interpreter occupied 1.77
kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information.
The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix '' kilo'' as 1000 (103); per this definition, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes.International Standard IEC 80000-13 Quant ...
s of memory and assumed the use of a
Teletype Machine (TTY) for user
input/output
In computing, input/output (I/O, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world, possibly a human or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals ...
. An erratum to the original article appeared in the June/July issue of ''Dr. Dobb's'' (Vol. 1, No 6). This article also included information on adding additional I/O devices, using code for the ''VDM'' video display by
Processor Technology
Processor Technology Corporation was a personal computer company founded in April 1975 by Gary Ingram and Bob Marsh in Berkeley, California. Their first product was a 4K byte RAM board that was compatible with the MITS Altair 8800 computer but mo ...
as an example.
Wang was one of the first to use word ''
copyleft
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose ...
'', in June 1976. In Palo Alto Tiny BASIC's distribution notice, he had written "@COPYLEFT ALL WRONGS RESERVED". Tiny BASIC was not distributed under any formal form of copyleft distribution terms but was presented in a context where source code was being shared and modified. In fact, Wang had earlier contributed edits to Tiny BASIC Extended before writing his own interpreter. He encouraged others to adapt his source code and publish their adaptions, as with Roger Rauskolb's version published in ''
Interface Age
''Interface Age'', "published for the home computerist", was a computer magazine aimed at the early microcomputer and home computer market. Its first issue was published in August 1976 and the last one in September 1984. It had a technical focus ...
''.
Wang also wrote a ''
STARTREK
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vario ...
'' program in his Tiny BASIC that appeared in the July 1976 issue of the ''
People's Computer Company Newsletter
People's Computer Company (PCC) was an organization, a newsletter (the ''People's Computer Company Newsletter'') and, later, a quasiperiodical called the ''Dragonsmoke''. PCC was founded and produced by Dennis Allison, Bob Albrecht and George Fir ...
''.
Tandy Corporation
The original prototype
TRS-80
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of ' ...
Model I that was demonstrated for
Charles Tandy to sell the idea ran Li-Chen's BASIC.
Wang's mark also shows up in and on the
Exatron Stringy Floppy
An Exatron Stringy Floppy (cover removed) designed for use with the TRS-80 Model 1
The Exatron Stringy Floppy (or ESF) is a continuous-loop tape drive developed by Exatron.
History
The company introduced an S-100 stringy floppy drive at th ...
ROM for the TRS-80 Model I. Embedded Systems columnist Jack Crenshaw calls Wang's Manchester encoding code, achieving 14K read/write speeds, a "work of art."
Cromemco
The first color graphics interface for microcomputers, developed by
Cromemco and called the
Dazzler, was introduced in 1976 with a demonstration program called "Kaleidoscope" written by Wang. According to
BYTE Magazine
''Byte'' (stylized as ''BYTE'') was a microcomputer magazine, influential in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s because of its wide-ranging editorial coverage. "''Byte'' magazine, the leading publication serving the homebrew market ..."
'' ...
the program, written in 8080 assembly code, was only 127 bytes long. But this short program stopped traffic on
5th Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Stan Veit
Stan Veit (25 December 1919 - 29 July 2010) was an entrepreneur and publisher. He ran "Computer Mart", the first computer store in New York City, was the personal computer editor of ''Popular Electronics'' magazine, and then Editor-in-Chief of '' ...
was the owner of The Computer Mart in New York City. He placed a color television in his store window displaying the colorful, ever-changing kaleidoscopic patterns generated by the Dazzler and Wang's software. According to Veit: “People driving by began to stop and look – they had never seen anything like it before. In a short time the Dazzler had caused a traffic jam on 5th Avenue!” The police had to contact the building landlord and make him disconnect the television.
Wang also developed "3K Control Basic" for Cromemco.
Other contributions
Wang also created
WSFN
WSFN (790 AM) is a sports radio station in Brunswick, Georgia. WSFN programming is simulcast on WFNS 1350 AM and W279BC 103.7 FM. Southern Media Interactive LLC also owns WSEG at Savannah and WFNS at Blackshear.
The station lineup includes Ke ...
("Which Stands for Nothing"), a
programming language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
The description of a programming ...
for controlling
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...
s and published by
Dr. Dobb's Journal in September 1977.
In 2001 Wang was re-elected for a second term as chair of the
Infrared Data Association's Technical and Test committee. In 2004 Wang was employed as Chief Technical Officer at ACTiSYS in Fremont, California, focused on
IR/
mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
products.
References
External links
Li-Chen Wang's Tiny Basic Source Code for Intel 8080 Version 1.0Kaleidoscope demonstration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Li-Chen
1935 births
Living people
American computer programmers
Computer graphics professionals
American digital artists
American roboticists
Infrared Data Association
1976 in computing