A developer discovers an Amstrad PCW 8256 in their attic, repairs its perished floppy drive belt, and proceeds to build a terminal hacking minigame using Mallard BASIC. The post walks through the quirks of BASIC programming — line numbers, GOSUB/GOTO control flow, string type indicators, cursor movement via escape sequences, pseudo-random seeding — while incrementally building a Fallout-style password guessing game complete with a likeness mechanic and attempt counter. The experience highlights how modern language features like proper scoping, data structures, and built-in cursor APIs are taken for granted.
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