╱╱╱╱╱╱╱╱╲╲╲╱╲╱╱╱╱╲╲╲╱╲╲╲╱╱╱╱╲╱╱╱╱╱╲╲╱╱╲╱╱╲╱╱╲╲╲╲╱╱╱╲╲╱╲╲╲╱╲╱╲╱╱╱╲╲╲╲╲╲╱╱╲╱╲╲╲╱╱╲╲

10PRINT.js

This is a program I wrote in Node.js that recreates the terse single line program 10PRINT using a single statement.

10PRINT is a 30-some year old program written in BASIC on the Commodore 64. It randomly writes forward- and back-slashes to the screen one at a time until the user stops the program. 10PRINT is typically shown in this form:

10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10

My port of this program to Node.js looks like this:

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(9585.5+Math.random()))}

Getting Started

You'll need a terminal with git and node.js installed

Clone this repository to your local environment.
In the project directory use the following command:

node .

The program will write characters to the screen until you stop the program by pressing 'Control-C' in the terminal. Depending on your terminal you'll have other options to stop the program, but 'Control-C' is pretty universal.

A previous version of my program printed a finite number of characters to the screen and then stopped. Previous versions also printed the entire sequence of characters at once. In the spirit of 10PRINT I revised it to the unbounded loop you see above which prints characters one at a time.

Here is one previous version, scrapped because it printed all 10,000 characters at once:

s='';while(s.length<1e4){s+=Math.round(Math.random())?'/':'\\'}console.log(s)

This was an improvement but I scrapped it in favor of writing the characters using their charCode instead of string literals:

while(1){process.stdout.write(Math.round(Math.random())?'╱':'╲')}

Making it Look Good

The output of this program may look better if you can change your font. In my terminal it looked best when I chose the font Futura, though there were several almost identical choices.

Picking a font that displays the slashes at 45 degrees is ideal.

Other Neato Burrito Variations

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(9585.95+Math.random()*1))}

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(9585+Math.random()*3))}

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(9487+Math.round(Math.random()*56)))}

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(9138+Math.random()*2))}

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(9144+Math.random()*4))}

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(5177+Math.random()*16))}

while(1){process.stdout.write(String.fromCharCode(10548+Math.random()*4))}

Like to Read?

There is a book written by Nick Montfort and others and is available to read online and on paper. It covers the back-ground, variations, ports to other languages (kinda like mine!), influences of 10PRINT and topics like randomness, art, other one-line-programs, and other esoterica.

Enjoy!

╲╲╱╲╱╲╱╱╱╱╲╱╱╲╱╲╱╱╲╲╲╲╱╱╲╲╱╱╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╲╱╱╲╲╱╱╱╲╲╱╱╱╲╲╲╱╲╲╲╱╲╱╲╲╱╱╱╱╱╲╱╲╲╱╱╱╲╲╱╲╱╱╲╱