Deep Blue C is a compiler for a subset of the C programming language for the Atari 8-bit family distributed by the Atari Program Exchange (APX). The compiler is a version of Ron Cain's public domain Small-C^[1] modified by John Howard Palevich to run on the Atari computer hardware. Palevich also wrote the Atari 8-bit game Dandy for APX.^[2] The syntax supported by Deep Blue C is close to that of ANSI C with significant limitations. The compiler creates binary code for Intel 8080 processor which is then executed by an 8080 virtual machine.^[3]

The source code to the compiler was sold by APX as Deep Blue Secrets.^[1]

Limitations

The following language constructs are not supported:^[4]

• structs
• unions
• multidimensional arrays
• floating point numbers
• sizeof operator
• type casting
• functions returning types other than integer

Other non-standard properties of Deep Blue C:

• The last part of switch clause must end with: break, continue, or return.
• The maximum length of a source code line has to be less than 80 characters.
• The number of arguments for functions cannot exceed 126.
• $( and $) are used instead of { and }, because the Atari keyboard and standard character set does not include braces.

Sample program

This program prints "Hello World!":^[5]

 main()
 $(
   printf("Hello World!");
 $)