Editing Shape table (section)

{{Short description|Apple II graphics feature}}
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'''Shape tables''' are a feature of the [[Apple II]] ROMs which allows for manipulation of small images encoded as a series of vectors. An image (or ''shape'') can be drawn in the high-resolution graphics mode—with scaling and rotation—via software routines in the ROM. Shape tables are supported via [[Applesoft BASIC]] and from [[machine code]] in the "Programmer's Aid" package that was bundled with the original [[Integer BASIC]] ROMs for that computer.

Applesoft's high-resolution graphics routines were not optimized for speed,<ref name="simoni198308">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-08/1983_08_BYTE_08-08_The_C_Language#page/n291/mode/2up | title=A New Shape Subroutine for the Apple | work=BYTE | date=August 1983 | accessdate=9 February 2015 | author=Simoni, Richard T. Jr. | pages=292}}</ref> so shape tables were not typically used for performance-critical software such as games, which were typically written in [[assembly language]] and used pre-shifted bitmap shapes. Shape tables were used primarily for static shapes and sometimes for fancy text; Beagle Bros offered a number of fonts in ''Font Mechanic'' as Applesoft shape tables.