Editing Action! (programming language) (section)

==Reception==
[[Brian Moriarty]], in a February 1984 review for ''[[ANALOG Computing]]'', concluded that Action! was "one of the most valuable development tools ever published for the Atari." He cited the manual as the only weak point of the package, claiming it "suffers from lack of confidence, uncertain organization and a shortage of good, hard technical data."{{sfn|Moriarty|1984|p=60}}

[[Leo Laporte]] reviewed Action in the May/June 1984 edition of ''[[Hi-Res (magazine)|Hi-Res]]''. He began the review, "This is the best thing to happen to Atari since [[Nolan Bushnell]] figured out people would play [[Pong|ping-pong on a TV screen]]." Laporte praised the editor, noting its split-screen and cut and paste capabilities and describing it as a "complete word processing system that's very responsive." He said that Action! ran about 200 times as fast as [[Atari BASIC]], concluding that "This language is like a finely tuned racing car."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/hi-res/v1n4/action.php |title=Lights, Camera, ACTION! |first=Leo |last=Laport |magazine=Hi-Res |date= May–June 1984 |page=72}}</ref>

''[[BYTE]]'' in 1985 praised the compilation and execution speed of software written in Action!. Using the [[Byte Sieve]] benchmark as a test, ten iterations of the sieve completed in 18 seconds in Action!, compared to 10 seconds for assembly and 38 minutes in BASIC. The magazine also lauded the language's editor. ''BYTE'' reported that the language resembled C closely enough to "routinely convert programs between the two", and approved of its pointer support. The magazine concluded that "Action! is easy to use, quick, and efficient. It can exploit the Atari's full power. Action! puts programming for the Atari in a whole new dimension".<ref name="schneeflock198503">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1985-03-rescan/1985_03_BYTE_10-03_Bargain_Computing#page/n283/mode/2up | title=Action! A Poor Man's C? | work=BYTE | date=March 1985 | access-date=19 March 2016 | author=Schneeflock, Ed | pages=273}}</ref>

Ian Chadwick wrote in ''[[Mapping the Atari]]'' that "Action! is probably the best language yet for the Atari; it's a bit like C and Pascal, with a dash of Forth. I recommend it."<ref name="chadwick1985">{{Cite book |title=Mapping the Atari |last=Chadwick |first=Ian |publisher=Compute! Publications, Inc. |year=1985 |isbn=0-87455-004-1 |location=Greensboro, North Carolina |pages=v-vi |chapter=Author's Preface To The Revised Edition |chapter-url=http://www.atariarchives.org/mapping/revisedpreface.php}}</ref>