# De Re Atari

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***De Re Atari*** (Latin for "All About Atari"), subtitled *A Guide to Effective Programming*, is a book written by [Atari, Inc.](/source/Atari,_Inc.) employees in 1981 and published by the [Atari Program Exchange](/source/Atari_Program_Exchange) in 1982 as an unbound, shrink-wrapped set of [three-holed punched](/source/Hole_punch) pages. It was one of the few non-software products sold by APX. Targeted at developers, it documents the advanced features of the [Atari 8-bit computers](/source/Atari_8-bit_computers) and includes ideas for how to use them in applications. The information in the book was not available in a single, collected source at the time of publication.

The content of *De Re Atari* was serialized in *[BYTE](/source/Byte_(magazine))* beginning in 1981, prior to the book's publication. The release of Atari 8-bit technical details through the magazine and book quickly resulted in other sources being published, such as *COMPUTE!'s First Book of Atari Graphics* (1982).[1]

Atari published official documentation for the hardware and a source listing of the operating system the same year, 1982, but they were not as easily obtainable as *De Re Atari* and tutorials in magazines such as *[COMPUTE!](/source/Compute!)*. Following the closure of the Atari Program Exchange in late 1984, *De Re Atari* went out of print.[2]

## Background

Atari at first did not disclose technical information on its computers, except to software developers who [agreed to keep it secret](/source/Non-disclosure_agreement).[3] *De Re Atari* ("All About Atari") was sold through the [Atari Program Exchange](/source/Atari_Program_Exchange) mail-order catalog, which described the book as "everything you want to know about the Atari ... but were afraid to ask" and a resource for "professional programmers" and "advanced hobbyists who understand [Atari BASIC](/source/Atari_BASIC) and [assembly language](/source/Assembly_language)".[4]

An article on [Player/Missile Graphics](/source/ANTIC#Player/Missile_Graphics) by *De Re Atari* coauthor [Chris Crawford](/source/Chris_Crawford_(game_designer)) appeared in *[Compute!](/source/Compute!)* in 1981[5] Another article by Crawford and Lane Winner appeared in the same month in *[BYTE](/source/BYTE)*.[6] *De Re Atari* was serialized in *BYTE* in 1981 and 1982[7] in ten articles.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

*De Re Atari*, and its 1981-82 serialization in *[BYTE](/source/Byte_(magazine))*, were the first public, official publication of Atari 8-bit technical information. It was based on Atari's documentation written in 1979-80 for third-party developers under non-disclosure agreements. Individual chapters are devoted to making use of the features of the platform: [ANTIC](/source/ANTIC) and [display lists](/source/Display_list), color registers, redefined [character sets](/source/Character_set), player/missile graphics, the [vertical blank interrupt](/source/Vertical_blank_interrupt) and display list interrupts (a.k.a. [raster interrupts](/source/Raster_interrupt)), fine scrolling, and sound. Additional chapters cover the [operating system](/source/Operating_system), [Atari DOS](/source/Atari_DOS), [Atari BASIC](/source/Atari_BASIC), and designing intuitive human interfaces.

Lead author Chris Crawford used many of these features in the [computer wargame](/source/Computer_wargame) *[Eastern Front (1941)](/source/Eastern_Front_(1941))* released in 1981. Another of the book's authors, Jim Dunion, used custom display lists in the DDT [6502](/source/MOS_Technology_6502) [debugger](/source/Debugger) to produce a partitioned, IDE-like display. DDT was later incorporated into the [MAC/65](/source/MAC/65) assembler.

## Reception

*De Re Atari* was successful; the manager of APX later said that it and *Eastern Front* "paid the bills, i.e. were our biggest sellers".[18] *[Mapping the Atari](/source/Mapping_the_Atari)* described *De Re Atari* as "an arcane, but indispensable reference to the Atari's operations and some of its most impressive aspects".[7] *The [Addison-Wesley](/source/Addison-Wesley) Book of Atari Software 1984* stated that the book had "a wealth of information, but tends to be obscure and includes numerous errors".[19] Hardware designer [Joe Decuir](/source/Joe_Decuir) recommended *De Re Atari* to those writing Atari software.[20]

## References

1. [*COMPUTE!'s First Book of Atari Graphics*](https://www.atariarchives.org/c1bag/). 1982.

1. ["I/O Board"](https://archive.org/stream/1985-03-anticmagazine/Antic_Vol_3-11_1985-03_Ultimate_Printer_Guide#page/n5/mode/2up). *Antic*. March 1985. p. 6. Retrieved 15 January 2015.

1. Nelson, Ted (1983). ["The Atari Machine"](http://www.atariarchives.org/creativeatari/The_Atari_Machine.php). *The Creative Atari*. Small, David; Small, Sandy; Blank, George (eds.). Creative Computing Press. ISBN 0916688348.

1. ["The quarterly APX contest / APX: Programs by our users...for our users / Publications / Hardware"](https://archive.org/stream/Atari_Program_Exchange_catalog_Fall_1983#page/n35/mode/2up). *APX Product Catalog*. Fall 1983. pp. 34, 72. Retrieved 29 July 2014.

1. Crawford, Chris (January 1981). ["Player-Missile Graphics with the ATARI Personal Computer System"](https://archive.org/stream/1981-01-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_008_1981_Jan#page/n67/mode/2up). *Compute!*. p. 66.

1. Crawford, Chris & Winner, Lane (January 1981). ["An Introduction to Atari Graphics"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-01/1981_01_BYTE_06-01_Hand-held_Computers#page/n19/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 18.

1. Chadwick, Ian (1985). [*Mapping the Atari - Revised Edition*](http://www.atariarchives.org/mapping/preface.php). Compute! Press. pp. Preface. ISBN 0-87455-004-1.

1. Crawford, Chris (September 1981). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 1: The Display List"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-09/BYTE_Vol_06-09_1981-09_Artifical_Intelligence#page/n285/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 284.

1. Crawford, Chris (October 1981). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 2: Graphics Indirection"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-10/1981_10_BYTE_06-10_Local_Networks#page/n71/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 70.

1. Crawford, Chris (November 1981). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 3: Player-Missile Graphics"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-11/1981_11_BYTE_06-11_Data_Base_Management_Systems#page/n313/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 312.

1. Crawford, Chris (December 1981). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 4: Display-List Interrupts"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-12/1981_12_BYTE_06-12_Computer_Games#page/n167/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 166.

1. Crawford, Chris (January 1982). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 5: Scrolling"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-01/1982_01_BYTE_07-01_The_IBM_Personal_Computer#page/n27/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 26.

1. Winner, Lane (February 1982). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 6: Atari BASIC"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-02/1982_02_BYTE_07-02_Winter_Computing#page/n91/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 91.

1. Fraser, Bob (March 1982). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 7: Sound"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-03/1982_03_BYTE_07-03_Printers#page/n81/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 80.

1. Fraser, Bob (April 1982). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 8: Generating Sound with Software"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-04/1982_04_BYTE_07-04_Human_Factors_Engineering#page/n135/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 134.

1. Pitta, Kathleen & Winner, Lane (May 1982). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 9: Even More Colors!"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-05/1982_05_BYTE_07-05_Japanese_Computers#page/n147/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 148.

1. Crawford, Chris (June 1982). ["The Atari Tutorial / Part 10: Human Engineering"](https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-06/1982_06_BYTE_07-06_Interactive_Videodiscs#page/n303/mode/2up). *BYTE*. p. 302.

1. Kevin Savetz, ["Fred Thorlin: The Big Boss at Atari Program Exchange"](http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/thorlininterview.php), April 2000

1. Stanton, Jeffrey; Wells, Robert P.; Rochowansky, Sandra; Mellid, Michael (eds.) (1984). [*The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software*](https://archive.org/stream/Atari_Software_1984#page/n417/mode/2up). Addison-Wesley. p. 418. ISBN 0-201-16454-X.

1. [*VCF East 2019 -- Joe Decuir -- Atari 800 Series Computers: 40 Years*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlVpu_QSHyw). Vintage Computer Federation. May 6, 2019. pp. 28:30. Retrieved 2026-05-24. – via YouTube.

## External links

- [*De Re Atari* online](http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/)

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