CHIP-8

CHIP-8 is an interpreted programming language, developed by Joseph Weisbecker made on his 1802 Microprocessor.

It was initially used on the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers in the mid-1970s.

CHIP-8 programs are run on a CHIP-8 virtual machine.

It was made to allow video games to be more easily programmed for these computers.

The simplicity of CHIP-8, and its long history and popularity, has ensured that CHIP-8 emulators and programs are still being made to this day.

It also gave inspiration to similar systems with certain limitations and compatibility independent of hardware called fantasy consoles.

Roughly fifteen years after CHIP-8 was introduced, derived interpreters appeared for some models of graphing calculators (from the late 1980s onward, these handheld devices in many ways have more computing power than most mid-1970s microcomputers for hobbyists).

An active community of users and developers existed in the late 1970s, beginning with ARESCO’s “VIPer” newsletter whose first three issues revealed the machine code behind the CHIP-8 interpreter.