Mapping the Atari
Instructional publication
title: "Mapping the Atari" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1983-non-fiction-books", "atari-8-bit-computers", "computer-books"] description: "Instructional publication" topic_path: "general/1983-non-fiction-books" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapping_the_Atari" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Instructional publication ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox book"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | Mapping the Atari.jpg |
| caption | First edition |
| name | Mapping the Atari |
| author | Ian Chadwick |
| border | yes |
| country | United States |
| language | English |
| subject | Atari 8-bit |
| publisher | COMPUTE! Books |
| release_date | 1983, 1985 |
| isbn | 0-87455-004-1 |
| dewey | 005.265 19 |
| congress | QA76.8.A82 C424 1985 |
| oclc | 13271042 |
| :: |
| image = Mapping the Atari.jpg | caption = First edition | name = Mapping the Atari | author = Ian Chadwick | border = yes | illustrator = | country = United States | language = English | subject = Atari 8-bit | publisher = COMPUTE! Books | release_date = 1983, 1985 | pages = | isbn = 0-87455-004-1 | dewey= 005.265 19 | congress= QA76.8.A82 C424 1985 | oclc= 13271042 | followed_by =
Mapping the Atari, written by Ian Chadwick and published by COMPUTE! Books in 1983, is an address-by-address explanation of the memory layout of the Atari 8-bit computers. The introduction is by Optimized Systems Software co-founder Bill Wilkinson.
The book covers the 64K address space of the system's 6502 processor from low to high, including addresses used by the operating system or mapped to hardware registers, as well as how to use them. For example, location 756 (2F4) CHBAS contains the starting memory address that tells ANTIC where to find the character set. The author explains how to use this feature to build custom character sets.
An updated version covering changes to the operating system and newer machines like the 130XE followed in 1985. Antic magazine serialized the book in 1989 and 1990.
Reception
The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 recommended Mapping the Atari, calling it "the most valuable reference book for machine language programmers". Antic introduced the serialized version of the book as follows:
References
References
- Chadwick, Ian. (September 1989). "Mapping the Atari, Part 2".
- Chadwick, Ian. (October 1989). "Mapping the Atari, Part 3".
- Chadwick, Ian. (December 1989 – January 1990). "Mapping the Atari, Part 4".
- (1984). "The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software". Addison-Wesley.
- Chadwick, Ian. (August 1989). "Mapping the Atari".
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