CHIP-8

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What Does CHIP-8 Mean?

CHIP-8 is a programming language for 8-bit computers
developed in the 1970s. It is an interpreted language that was intended for
game development. It originally ran on the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800
computers, but interpreters derived from the language were used in some
graphing calculators. CHIP-8 runs in a virtual machine.

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Techopedia Explains CHIP-8

CHIP-8 is an interpreted programming language for kit-based 8-bit microcomputers that were just starting to come onto the market in the 1970s. The language, created by Joseph Weisbacker, was developed to make programming video games easy on these computers. These games included home versions of “Pong,” “Space Invaders,” “Pac-Man” and other games popular in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s for the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 computers. The language runs in a virtual machine. CHIP-8 is still available for most computer platforms today, though the user community is small. Implementations also exist for graphing calculators.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.