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Site URL
http://tbqa.calc.org
http://sicode.ticalc.org/tbqa/
Founders
David Hall
Founding Date
August 1999
Years Active
1999 to 2000
Programmed For
TI-82, TI-83, TI-83+, TI-85
Languages
TI-Basic
Aliases
TBQA
Affiliations
The TI-Basic Quality Alliance (TBQA) was a campaign headed up by SiCoDe Software to release the best TI-Basic programs under one banner to increase their visibility and subsequently to get more downloads. There were both independent programmers and programming groups that were a part of TBQA, including the aforementioned SiCoDe Software, Kevtiva Interactive, and Elcobbola.
They regularly emailed the members to keep them updated on the current workings of the organization. In addition, there were a few TI-Basic collaboration projects that the members were working on together, although none of them ever got released to the public. There was also a TI-Basic webring started to drive traffic between all of the member sites.
Group Significance
The TBQA (TI Basic Quality Alliance) is an alliance of programmers and groups that produce some of the highest quality Basic programs available. While it has not been officially disbanded, it is inactive and it's web site is gone. I guess I should remove the link, but I'm keeping it here for posterity.
(Taken from SiCoDe about page)
TBQA?
The TI-BASIC Quality Alliance was SiCoDe's second attempt at securing a better deal for TI-BASIC programmers. The theory was that the best TI-BASIC groups would join the alliance, and the general public would know that any member of the alliance programmed above-average quality BASIC programs and so perhaps would be more likely to download those groups' programs.
In practice it didn't work quite as well - the alliance was not run directly by SiCoDe, and eventually collapsed. There was also no evidence that it led to more people downloading BASIC programs.
like back in '99 there was a group called the TI-Basic quality alliance (TBQA), affiliated with the now dead sicode programming group. It's URL used to be http://tbqa.calc.org/, but it slowly died out, as the members did nothing at all, and neither did the webmaster of the website. (it was supposed to be a place to get tons of hi quality calc programs, but that never happened…)
Group Staff
- David Hall — founder
- SiCoDe
- Ben Ilegbodu of Basic Guru Online(?)
- Marshall D. Duer-Balkind (MDDB Programs)
- Dave Cobb (Elcobbola)
- Robert Maresh of Kevtiva Interactive
- Ed Fry of Fryed Software
- Ricky Cobb (arcades)
- rabidcow
- Gockies (shiznitg)(?)
- Grant Elliot (Programmers Anonymous)
- Flabberghast software (?)
- Suicidal Psycho Software
- John Taylor (XadeX Software)
- Millennium Advanced Programming
- Ben Miller (Ben Miller's World of Ti-86 Games)
Group Milestones
Site URLs
- http://tbqa.calc.org
- http://sicode.ticalc.org/tbqa/
Site Screenshots
Group History
The TI-BASIC Quality Alliance (TBQA) was started in August 1999 by David Hall of SiCoDe Software (see August 1999 ticalc.org newsletter).
They (SiCoDe) were also responsible for starting the Basmic campaign and the TI-BASIC Quality Alliance (TBQA) (URL: http://tbqa.calc.org). The word Basmic is a combination of "basic" and "asm", and the Basmic campaign lasted from 1999 to 2000 with support from several TI community members. The goal was to get people to recognize that TI-Basic can be used to create quality games and programs that are fun to play.
The general attitude held by many people in the TI community was that TI-Basic programs and games were inferior to and of lower quality than their assembly counterparts. Unfortunately, the campaign was not very effective, as people never seemed to get past the TI-Basic vs. assembly language debates, and it was eventually discontinued.
The TI-BASIC Quality Alliance was started in August 1999 by David Hall of SiCoDe to get the TI-Basic community to release quality TI-Basic programs and games under one banner, so that people would know if a game or program was released by the TBQA then it was worth downloading to your calculator. Unfortunately, the alliance was not run by SiCoDe, and was never very effective in getting programmers and groups to join or getting people to download more TI-Basic programs and games.
Miscellaneous
(Taken from Elcobbola homepage)
Being a basic programmer myself, I know all of the misconceptions about basic programs. Basic programs are believed to be slow, memory wasting ASM counterparts made by unskilled programmers. The TBQA is a alliance of programmers and programming groups that share a philosophy of creating high-quality BASIC programs of a standard to rival ASM programs. All TBQA members share the same high levels of quality in their programs, so where you see the TBQA logo, you will always get top-quality programming.
The TI community often discriminates against TI-BASIC programmers and programs. This campaign's goal (Basmic campaign) is to make people aware that basic programs can be as good as, if not better than their ASM counterparts. I firmly believe this and I treat ASM and basic as equals on my pages.