nfs1675@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil ( Michael S Figg) (03/22/90)
Does anyone know/remember if True Basics' Calculus requires True Basic? A friend thought it did, but after thinking about it I doubt it. The package (at a local dealer), says nothing about requiring True Basic, and if I remember correctly True Basic is/was a compiler (not interpreter), making it easy to sell an executable instead of a Basic script. It doesn't look like True Basic is available anymore, so if Calculus was source, it wouldn't be much good. Any comments on how 'Calculus', Dougs Math Aquarium, or any others are for learning Calculus? Thanks, Mike -- "Could we be the bellwether | Michael Figg DSAC-FSD of major societal shifts?" | DLA Systems Automation Center - Columbus,Oh mfigg@dsacg2.dsac.dla.mil CIS: 73777,360
phoenix@ms.uky.edu (R'ykandar Korra'ti) (03/24/90)
In article <1965@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil> nfs1675@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil ( Michael S Figg) writes: >Does anyone know/remember if True Basics' Calculus requires True Basic? As I recall, it does. It's described as an extension to True Basic. >If I >remember correctly True Basic is/was a compiler (not interpreter) Nope, it's an interpreter "sort of." It "compiles" to a P-code which it then interprets. They call this "compiling," but it's not; you need their run-time package (which was, when I got True Basic, an extra $100) to use "compiled" code if you don't already own True Basic. >It doesn't look like >True Basic is available anymore, so if Calculus was source, it wouldn't be >much good. If it's like True Basic, it won't be much good even if you get a copy of True Basic. I really recommend that you do not waste your time with True Basic. It's astoundingly slow, scraps many Amiga features (such as sound beyond one channel) in favour of "system to system portability" (which doesn't exist anyway - I had to write a convertion programme to port code to the PC), doesn't work on 68010 processors or up (the 04 GURU, of course; DeciGel fixes it), and locks up at random, even on a 68000. (I quickly learned to save my code after each major change...) I was required to buy it for a graphics clas I took in my undergraduate days - they dropped this requirement after only one semester because of all the problems with TrueBasic both on the Amiga and on the PC. - R'ykandar. -- | R'ykandar Korra'ti | Editor, LOW ORBIT | PLink: Skywise | CIS 72406,370 | | Elfinkind, Unite! | phoenix@ms.uky.edu | phoenix%ms.uky.edu@ukcc.bitnet | | "Careful, mom, the toys are loose!" - from The Wizard of Speed and Time |
cmcmanis@stpeter.Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (03/27/90)
I don't think you could *learn* calculus by using Doug's Math Aquarium (DMA)
but it is a wonderful tool for visualizing things. The complexity of the
types of equations it can graph is suffient for a couple of semesters of
college calculus. Of course it only works in three dimensions so you
are on your own when it comes time to figure out the curl of a 4D vector
function.
I only have three gripes with it, all of which are actually enhancement
requests.
1) It would be nice if it took ARexx calls because one of the neat
things one can do with it is repeatedly plot an X,Y function with
slight variations in the parameters and then save them as IFF files.
Using the IFF files make an Anim out of them and then play it back
in "real" time. This can give a better understanding of the dynamics
of an equation.
2) The other gripe is that it won't save an HPGL plot file in leiu
of an IFF file. That way I could use PLT: to generate a very
high resolution output of interesting equations.
3) And finally it only does x/y plots where essentially calculating
f(x, y) for (p0 < x < p1 with y constant) and then similarly with
y with x constant. The gives you nice one form of plot but I would
like to generate 3D topological plots. The program includes a
"gradient" mode where one could extract the topological information
and then use that for the 3D plot but it doesn't.
All in all I've been happy with my investment in it.
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: <none> Internet: cmcmanis@Eng.Sun.COM
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
"If it didn't have bones in it, it wouldn't be crunchy now would it?!"wfh58@leah.Albany.Edu (William F. Hammond) (03/27/90)
One of the very nice things about the Amiga environment is the
availability of so much first-rate freely distributable software.
Unless Commodore-Amiga has plans for upgrading AmigaBasic, the Amiga
environment would stand to gain from the release of the source so
that hackers could go to work on it.
Maybe they could even float a contest for the best hack-up completed
within a year of its release.
-- Billchrisl@caen.engin.umich.edu (Chris Lang) (03/28/90)
In article <2775@leah.Albany.Edu> wfh58@leah.albany.edu.UUCP (William F. Hammond) writes: >Unless Commodore-Amiga has plans for upgrading AmigaBasic, the Amiga >environment would stand to gain from the release of the source so >that hackers could go to work on it. I imagine Microsoft would have a cow. (Which is as good a reason to do it as any, I suppose.) -Chris -- Chris Lang, University of Michigan, College of Engineering +1 313 763 1832 4622 Bursley, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109 chrisl@caen.engin.umich.edu WORK: National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, 900 Victors Way, Suite 226, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108 +1 313 995 0300 "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
FelineGrace@cup.portal.com (Dana B Bourgeois) (03/28/90)
HEY COMMODORE!!! Listen to Bill!! He has a GREAT idea here. How about a contest? The smallest, fastest, bestest 1.4 version of Amiga Basic. Maybe an A3000?? Dana Bourgeois @ Cup.Portal.Com "I like it, I *like* it"