"Plotpourri" graphics demos in Basic for Apple II

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Josh Moyer found a 1979 graphics demo and ran it on a IIGS publishing photos of the results:

These isometric 3D plots were computed in ProDOS (née Applesoft) BASIC on an Apple IIGS from source originally titled PLOTPOURRI, provided by Samuel S. Cottrell and as published in Washington Apple Pi in October of 1979

3264×2448 1.45 MB

On stardot I wondered aloud

Maybe this hi res graphics demo program could be ported to BBC Basic?

and indeed it could be! See the thread for details. Scruss says:

It was good learning BBC BASIC again — though those VDU commands must’ve made sense to someone at the time! Matrix Brandy BASIC has really good compatibility with the original, and is much faster for me to develop on. The code pasted into b-em and ran first time.

This is the sort of graphics - with hidden lines removed! - that really attracted me to computers, and eventually to a home computer capable of this kind of graphics.It might not be full colour, shaded, and megapixels, but it was great for me.

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I do believe that the hires graphics is what made the Apple ][ so popular. And the expansion slots.
My first (IBM) PC was the first computer I had with easily-available hi res graphics (CGA – 320 * 200!) One of the first programs I wrote on it was one very similar to this to plot functions in 3d.
It’s probably safe to say that graphics in form or another was what attracted many people to home computers in the late 70s and especially early 80s.
I’m curious. How long did the GS take to plot that function shown in the lead photo? How long on a plain 2?

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