hoefling@uicsrd.UUCP (12/03/87)
I'm a new Amiga 500 owner and I'm having trouble getting AmigaBasic programs
to work. Specifically, I have gotten none of the *.bas files on Fish disk
#13 to work. According to my listing of PD disks, most of those files are
written in AmigaBasic, yet all of the ones I have tried to run under
AmigaBasic run into "unknown keyword" type problems which seem to stem from
the use of library routine names that are unknown to the interpreter. Examples
of these names are "clrscn", and "narrate". I am guessing that I need to
create .bmap files for some libraries, but the names above are not listed in
the ROM Kernel book on libraries at all.
Could these be references to old library routines that have been superseded
by new ones with new names? I used ConvertFD to convert the graphics.fd
to graphics.bmap, but I wasn't sure where to put the .bmap file.
Also, I noticed a sequence something like:
a$ = translate( . . .)
print narrate(a$)
in the hal9000.bas program (which got flagged with an error under AmigaBasic)
and I noticed that AmigaBasic uses something like:
a$ = translate( . . . )
say(a$)
(from the AmigaBasic manual), but does not mention "narrate" anywhere.
What do I have to do to get AmigaBasic to accept Fish disk #13 programs?
Jay Hoeflinger
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Center for Supercomputing Research and Development
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BITNET: hoefling@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.eduroch@uiucdcsb.cs.uiuc.edu (12/05/87)
/* Written 12:19 pm Dec 3, 1987 by hoefling@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu in uiucdcsb:comp.sys.amiga */ I'm a new Amiga 500 owner and I'm having trouble getting AmigaBasic programs to work. ... Examples of these [function] names are "clrscn", and "narrate". /* End of text from uiucdcsb:comp.sys.amiga */ The problem is that these are not AmigaBasic programs, but ABasic programs. ABasic was the original Basic released with the Amiga, and was later replaced with AmigaBasic. __ __ _ __ / ) / / ) ' ) ) / / / __. , __o __/ /--/ /--' _____. /_ /__/_(_/|_\/ <__(_/_ / ( o / \_(_) (__/ /_ roch@b.uiuc.edu
ewhac@well.UUCP (12/07/87)
In article <42600011@uicsrd> hoefling@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu writes: >I'm a new Amiga 500 owner and I'm having trouble getting AmigaBasic programs >to work. Specifically, I have gotten none of the *.bas files on Fish disk >#13 to work. According to my listing of PD disks, most of those files are >written in AmigaBasic, yet all of the ones I have tried to run under >AmigaBasic run into "unknown keyword" type problems which seem to stem from >the use of library routine names that are unknown to the interpreter. [ ... ] > >Could these be references to old library routines that have been superseded >by new ones with new names? [ ... ] Have a bit more history: SillyMode (ON); /* Yet again */ In the beginning, there was Kickstart 1.0. It was riddled with a multitude of bugs, and did cause consternation among the users. Bundled with the system software was the Extras Disk. And upon this disk was a BASIC interpreter. This BASIC was created by MetaComCo, and it was called ABasiC (I kid you not). And this BASIC was, contrary to what might be expected, good. But Commodore saw that 1.0 was crud, and sought to de-crudify it. And C-A said, "Let there be 1.1" And there was 1.1. And Commodore saw that it was good (well, it was better than 1.0, anyway). And Commodore did bundle with 1.1 a BASIC interpreter. This BASIC was created by MicroSoft, a company that has never produced a decent BASIC interpreter in its entire corporate history. And it was called AmigaBASIC. And it was (and is) incompatible. And Commodore saw that it was good. And the users saw it differently. But the Newcomers did not know of the history, and were satisfied. SillyMode (OFF); The upshot of which is: Fish Disk #13 contains ABasiC programs, which won't work directly under AmigaBASIC. If, however, you can locate a veteran 1000 owner, you can probably get a copy of ABasiC. Whether or not it works under 1.2, I have no idea. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape ihnp4!ptsfa -\ \_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack") "Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (12/08/87)
AmigaBasic?, we don't need no steenking AmigaBasic.
I agree with Leo. The Metacomco ABasiC sold with the A100 was
(is?) a pretty good interpreter. While, it doesn't have the
the fancy-shmancy windows of AmigaBasic, I don't ever recall ABasiC
visiting the Guru for no particular reason the way AmigaBaic does.
The other thing that makes ABaiC worth the bother is that it
doesn't handle SER: the brain-damaged way AmigaBasic does. Not
having the patience yet to endure the
do {
edit_text();
compile_program();
test_idea();
}
while (1);
loop of developing a recent idea, i decided that it might be
quicker to work out the design in Basic. Being a product of the
Video Genreation, I need to have immediate feedback.
What I was working out was a Midi librarian. Mostly for personal
interest to see how to use wonderful system-exclusive stuff. I
couldn't do it in AmigaBasic, since darn Amigabasic strips off
anything that ain't printable ASCII from strings going to SER:.
AmigaBasic aslo doesn't belive that baud rates higher than 9600
exist either.
ABasiC believes the baud rate set in Preferences. I booted up
ABasic under KS/WB 1.2, and sure enuf, it worked. I didn't try
absolutely everything since all I cared about was the serial port,
and I got my 31.5 Kbaud necessary for dealing with the midi
connection. ABasic also keeps its grubby mits off the stuff you
are sending to the port. The only glitch is that SER: queues up
blocks of 512 characters on incoming data. If I get a chance, I'll
give the recently posted AUX: device a shot, since that is single
character oriented.
Once again, Microsoft proves it can write large buggy language
products :-).
--Billbobb@tekfdi.TEK.COM (Robert Bales) (12/10/87)
In article <4649@well.UUCP> ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes: >If, however, you can locate a veteran 1000 owner, you can probably get a copy >of ABasiC. Whether or not it works under 1.2, I have no idea. When I first got my Amiga, I spent ~ 2 months playing with ABasiC until the C-compiler came in. I spent ~ 10 minutes looking at the Microsoft version when I first got it. So, a few months ago, when I needed to do something quick and dirty, I hauled out ABasic. Worked fine with 1.2 and extra memory. Bob Bales Tektronix, Inc. I help Tektronix make their instruments. They don't help me make my opinions.
page@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) (12/12/87)
Aw, what the heck. I might as well admit that for the little hacking that I did in Basic on the Amiga, I preferred ABasiC to AmigaBasic. Ross Miller (ross@ulowell) even did a D&D character generator in ABasiC, with documentation! Interested parties can grab it from swan.ulowell.edu (hey, the frlom bug also is the .edju bug!) via anonymous FTP. swan is at [129.63.222.1], maybe or maybe not reachable via your hosts table and/or name server, I dunno. Look at ~ftp/amiga/ddgen.shar. Others interested in non-FTP access can send mail to me or Ross. ..Bob -- Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@ulowell.edu ulowell!page "I've never liked reality all that much, but I haven't found a better solution." --Dave Haynie, Commodore-Amiga
ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Ross Miller) (12/16/87)
Abasic does work under 1.2. It still works better than that piece of junk Microsoft basic. Abasic had a hokey editor, but other than that it is a superior product without question. Oh, it didn't handle sprites and Bobs. I tried converting a big program I had written in basic, the Lattice I got as a developer was nearly useless because of the mind blowing compilation speed, there was no facc, vd0: or other such things in Sept. of 85, (boy is this a run on or what), but failed to convert it from abasic to mbasic. There are things in mbasic that don't work as specified. I hate the editor also. I gave up and went back to abasic. Incidentally I haven't offered this to people on the net in a year or so so I guess it is time. It is an on line Rogues Gallarey for AD&D DM's. It works well and doesn't blow up, but I wish it did more. It is about 30k. If anyone wants it just send mail. I do have good documentation with it, but it is written in Abasic. Ross -- csnet: ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu uucp: ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu || ...harvard!ulowell!ross Trust the computer. The computer is your friend.
richc@vaxwaller.UUCP (Rich Commins) (12/18/87)
In article <2131@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu>, ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Ross Miller) writes: > > Abasic does work under 1.2. It still works better than that piece of > junk Microsoft basic. Abasic had a hokey editor, but other than that > it is a superior product without question. Oh, it didn't handle Shall we start a "My basic is better that your basic" war? I hope we can all agree their are good features in both. Personally I think AbasiC is a much worse that Amigabasic. It does take getting use to, but I've written programs in excess of 40K with Amigabasic and had no problems. My real love of basics is Microsofts Quickbasic 4.0 which was just released. The best of an interpreter and compilier. I hope it will come out for the amiga someday. It produces a standalone executable that runs faster than anything yet I've used in a compiled basic (including True Basic). -- -- Rich Commins (415)939-2400 \ /\ Varian Instruments, 2700 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 \/--\ {ptsfa,lll-crg,zehntel,dual,amd,fortune,ista,rtech,csi,normac}varian!richc
page@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) (12/19/87)
I wrote:
>swan is at [129.63.222.1]
Make that [129.63.224.1], sorry about that. I had to change it recently.
I've also started an Amiga archive in ~ftp/amiga, including the Badge
Killer Demo Contest stuff, in ~ftp/amiga/bkdc, yours for the taking.
..Bob
--
Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@ulowell.edu ulowell!page
"I've never liked reality all that much, but I haven't found a
better solution." --Dave Haynie, Commodore-Amigaross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Ross Miller) (12/19/87)
In article <1318@vaxwaller.UUCP> richc@vaxwaller.UUCP (Rich Commins) writes: )In article <2131@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu>, ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Ross Miller) writes: )) )) Abasic does work under 1.2. It still works better than that piece of )) junk Microsoft basic. Abasic had a hokey editor, but other than that )) it is a superior product without question. Oh, it didn't handle ) ) Shall we start a "My basic is better that your basic" war? Nope. I dislike all basics in general, just as I dislike FORTRAN. But upon occasion I am forced by circumstance to use both. In the case two years ago it was that there were no C compilers that worked at a reasonable speed off of floppys, and then as today there are no Common Lisps for the Amiga, at least I have found none, and I do not consider the Metacomco lisp to have enough of the features I desire, but I do like the Lisp. ) I hope we can all agree their are good features in both. ) Personally I think AbasiC is a much worse that Amigabasic. ) It does take getting use to, but I've written programs in ) excess of 40K with Amigabasic and had no problems. Basics rot in general, but AbasiC did not Guru, and I had no problems using the system interfaces for graphics and sound that it defined. Mbasic had problems, especially with giving me type errors when there were none. You will have to take my word for it that I understand the concepts of data typeing very well. Further I found other cases, such as labels to be used as targets of gotos not being found, and other specified parts of the language that failed. ) ) My real love of basics is Microsofts Quickbasic 4.0 which ) was just released. The best of an interpreter and compilier. ) I hope it will come out for the amiga someday. It produces ) a standalone executable that runs faster than anything yet ) I've used in a compiled basic (including True Basic). Doesn't that run on of those PC's or something like that? Bet it doesn't have features such as the translators, graphics, sound. These are features that will fail in Mbasic if you try to push those features beyond any but the simple case. True basic? Wasn't that some kind of move to standardize basic? Ha ha ha? Beginners Algorythmic Symbolic Instruction Code. --------- ------- ----- --- - If people actually want to argue about basics I suppose that's their perogative. I think its a waste of space to continue this. But for some reason my fingers just started typing. I'll go chop them off now ... Ross -- csnet: ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu uucp: ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu || ...harvard!ulowell!ross Trust the computer. The computer is your friend.
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (12/21/87)
AmigaBasic, in a word, stinks. MetaComCo ABasiC isn't exactly great either, but it doesn't Guru randomly. One thing that is critical is handling the serial port, and ABasiC does it right, er.. at least acceptibly I suppose. I finally got around to downloading and unpacking Drew's Aux-Handler. Thanks Drew!! Works fine with ABasiC. Now I can finish prototyping my Midi Librarian. Dag-gone AmigaBasic not only won't work at buad rates greater than 9600, but aslo strips any non ascii characters! Grrr. Have a nice holiday season everybody! --Bill