Game 0 Unit 14 of 15 1 hr learning time

Keeping Your Work

A program lives in RAM and vanishes when the power goes off. The disk drive keeps it: SAVE writes your program to disk, LOAD brings it back, and the directory shows what's there. The save-and-reload cycle every C64 session is built on.

93% of Meet C64 BASIC

Everything you've typed so far has lived in one place: RAM, the C64's working memory. It's there while the power's on and gone the moment you switch off. To keep a program, you write it to a disk with the 1541 drive — and read it back another day. Two commands do it: SAVE and LOAD. They're how every real C64 session begins and ends.

Milestone 1 — SAVE your program

Here's a short program worth keeping:

10 PRINT "HELLO FROM DISK"
20 PRINT "I CAME BACK"

Type it in, then save it to the disk with one command:

SAVE"HELLO",8

"HELLO" is the name you're giving it — up to 16 characters — and ,8 means "to device 8", the disk drive. The C64 reports as it works:

A C64 screen showing the program, the SAVE command, then SAVING HELLO and READY.
SAVE"HELLO",8 writes the program to disk under the name HELLO. SAVING HELLO, then READY. — your work is on the disk.

The ,8 matters: leave it off and the C64 tries the tape instead. On the disk drive, every save needs that ,8.

Milestone 2 — see what's on the disk

The disk keeps a directory — a list of its files — and you can read it like a program. LOAD"$",8 loads the directory (the $ is its special name), and LIST shows it:

LOAD"$",8
LIST
A C64 screen showing the disk directory: the disk name, then 1 HELLO PRG, then 663 BLOCKS FREE.
LOAD"$",8 then LIST shows the directory: the disk's name across the top, your HELLO file (a PRG, one block), and how many blocks are still free.

There's HELLO, marked PRG — a program file. The number beside it is its size in blocks (each block holds 254 bytes), and 663 BLOCKS FREE is the room left on the disk. Loading the directory replaces whatever program was in memory, so save your work before you peek.

Milestone 3 — bring it back

Switch off, come back tomorrow, and the program's gone from RAM — but it's safe on the disk. LOAD reads it back:

LOAD"HELLO",8
RUN
A C64 screen showing LOAD HELLO, SEARCHING FOR HELLO, LOADING, READY, then RUN and the program's two lines of output.
LOAD"HELLO",8 finds the file (SEARCHING FOR HELLO), reads it in (LOADING), and it's back — RUN proves it, printing exactly what you saved.

SEARCHING FOR HELLO, LOADING, READY. — the program is back in memory, ready to RUN or edit. That round trip — SAVE it, switch off, LOAD it, carry on — is the rhythm of every project bigger than one sitting.

When it doesn't work

  • ?DEVICE NOT PRESENT ERROR. No ,8, or no drive. Disk commands always end in ,8.
  • ?FILE NOT FOUND ERROR. The name doesn't match. Names are exact — LOAD"$",8 then LIST to see the spelling. A * wildcard loads the first match: LOAD"HE*",8.
  • ?FILE EXISTS ERROR on SAVE. That name's already on the disk. Pick another, or save with @0: in front to overwrite — SAVE"@0:HELLO",8.
  • The directory wiped my program. LOAD"$",8 overwrites memory with the directory. Save first; the directory is a program too.

Before and after

You began with programs that vanished at the switch and finished with work that lasts: saved to disk by name, listed in the directory, and loaded back to run again. The idea underneath: SAVE"NAME",8 writes your program to the disk, LOAD"NAME",8 reads it back — and everything to the drive ends in ,8.

Try this

  • Save two versions. SAVE"HELLO2",8 after a change, so you keep both.
  • Read the directory often. LOAD"$",8 + LIST is how you remember what you named things — disk names get forgotten fast.
  • Overwrite on purpose. Change the program, then SAVE"@0:HELLO",8 to replace the old copy with the new one.

What's next

You can write programs, give them colour and sound, read the stick, and keep your work. One skill is left, and it's the one you'll use most: in Unit 15 we meet the C64's error messages — ?SYNTAX ERROR and friends — and learn to read them as help, not scolding.