rcarter@WSMR02.ARPA (Raymond Carter STEWS-NR-AS 678-1376) (06/26/87)
Available now are both MS-DOS and CP/M demo versions of the COMAL programming language. These are full implementations except that the SAVE function has been disabled. There are several sample programs included. Feel free to make copies and pass them around! List price of the real thing is $69.95 + $5 shipping from: COMAL Users Group USA 6041 Monona Drive Madison WI 53716 Price is $49.95 plus shipping for COMAL Today subscribers - CP/M version is now shipping, MS-DOS should be ready soon. WHAT IS COMAL? Briefly, it is a programming language designed to combine the best features of BASIC and Pascal. It was designed by a professor in Denmark, and is now the official first programming language taught in several European countries. Until recently, available here only for COMMODORE computers, and an expensive($500) IBM version; it is the most often purchased language for the C64. The language offers an interactive environment like BASIC, but offers logn variable names, named procedures and functions, parameter passing, local and global variables, and four loop structures (FOR, REPEAT-UNTIL, WHILE-ENDWHILE, and LOOP-ENDLOOP). It is the only structured language I know of with system forced indents - your structures are all properly indented by the system! You'll appreciate that if you ever have to modify your programs. It also provides three easy methods for interfacing ML routines - I already have written an RGB graphics package (640X200) for C128 CP/M+. Look for DEMCOMAL.LBR on GEnie or on SIMTEL. Try it, you'll like it!