In this chapter, you will understand what a program is and even write your first one. As usual, start with this screen:

Remember, the black blinking rectangle is called the cursor.

Let’s type a program. It begins with line numbers. Type this:

10 PRINT “HELLO MONA”

Press RETURN.

Then type this:

20 GOTO 10

Press RETURN.

The screen looks like this:

Then type this:

RUN

Press RETURN.

What happens?

Congratulations! You just ran your first program.

Now press RUN/STOP ESC to stop it.

It looks like this:

Type LIST and press RETURN to see your program again.

It looks like this:

You can now use the arrow keys to move the cursor and change the program.

Press UP four times to go to line 10. Then press RIGHT 16 times to put the cursor in front of MONA. The M is now blinking.

It looks like this:

Now type this:

PAPA

Press RETURN.

The 2 is now blinking.

It looks like this:

Now press the DOWN arrow three times. The cursor is blinking under READY.

It looks like this:

Now type RUN again.

Press RETURN.

What happens?

This!

Congratulations! You ran your second program.

You can stop it the same way by pressing RUN STOP/ESC.

Try more things by repeating the steps from the earlier pages.

Type LIST to see your program.

Use the arrow keys, and type new letters to change the program.

Press RETURN to enter it into the computer.

Go below READY, and type RUN and press RETURN to start it again.

If you want to write a new program, type NEW and then press RETURN.

Chapter 14 contains many examples of programs to play with.