- This article is about the language for Atari 8-bit computers. Not to be confused with Borland's unrelated Turbo Basic.
Turbo-Basic XL is an advanced version of BASIC for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It is a compatible superset of the more common ATARI BASIC whose most important feature is the vastly improved execution speed (three times faster). A Turbo-Basic XL compiler was also made available that created binary executables, further speeding up program performance (ten times faster than Atari Basic). Turbo-Basic XL was developed by Frank Ostrowski and published in the December 1985 issue of German computer magazine Happy Computer.
Among the extra features of Turbo-Basic XL, added to ATARI BASIC, are the following:
- enhanced sound and graphics commands
- more flexible I/O commands, including disk access
- structured programming constructs
- simple debugging facilities
- Atari 8-bit pages – Scans of the Turbo-Basic XL listing and Turbo-Basic XL compiler listing from Happy Computer Magazine. Also lists the new commands added to the language.
- TurboTari – An extended BASIC emulator (based on Turbo-Basic XL) and 6502 emulator/Atari architecture emulator all in one. Currently unfinished.