oaa@houxl.UUCP (12/10/86)
Here is the docs for Turbo Basic, binary will follow in BINHEX format.
Owen Alexander
========= Cut Here ============
TURBO BASIC COMMAND LIST
Compiled and Translated by
Dave and Laura Yearke
This documentation is provided by the Western New York Atari Users
Group and may be reprinted freely provided this credit is included.
In case you've just landed from Mars, or just plain haven't heard
yet, TURBO BASIC is the exciting new Public Domain Basic Interpreter that
we received from the Atari Users Group in Holland. It works on the XL or
XE series of Atari computers. It's almost too good to be true and should
be a definite must for all XE or XL Atari owners.
Turbo BASIC, in addition to offering 42 more commands and 22 more
functions than Atari BASIC, gives the user 1603 more bytes of program
space by "hiding" part of itself under the XL/XE's operating system. It
also runs 3 times faster than Atari BASIC, includes most DOS commands,
has advanced graphics and programming functions, and is insensitive to
lower case or inverse characters for most commands.
TURBO BASIC COMMANDS:
====================
Name Syntax Description
Disk I/O
--------
BLOAD BLOAD "D:name"
Binary loads file name (DOS option L with /N).
BRUN BRUN "D:name"
Binary load and run file name (DOS option L).
DELETE DELETE "D:name"
Deletes the file name (DOS option D).
DIR DIR
Disk directory (DOS option A).
DIR "Dn:*.*"
Directory of drive #n, note that wildcard extenders may be used.
LOCK LOCK "D:name"
Locks the file name (DOS option F).
RENAME RENAME "D:old,new"
Renames the file name (DOS option E).
UNLOCK UNLOCK "D:name"
Unlocks the file name (DOS option G).
Graphics
CIRCLE CIRCLE x,y,r
Plots a circle with center at x,y and radius r.
CIRCLE x,y,r,r2
R2 is an optional "vertical radius" for true circles or ellipses.
CLS CLS
Clears the screen.
CLS #6
Clear screen opened in channel 6.
FCOLOR FCOLOR n
Determines fill color.
FILLTO FILLTO x,y
A fill command analagous to the BASIC commands "POSITION x,y: XIO
18,#6,0,0,"S:"
PAINT PAINT x,y
Another type of fill command, this one is a recursive routine that will
fill any closed object as long as x,y are inside it.
TEXT TEXT x,y,a$
Bit-blocks text in a$ at x,y.
Memory
------
DPOKE DPOKE m,v
Pokes location m,m+1 with 2-byte integer v: (0 <= v <= 65535).
MOVE MOVE m,m1,m2
Block transfer; moves m2 (number of bytes) from starting position m to
new starting position m1.
-MOVE -MOVE m,m1,m2
Same as MOVE but copies starting with the last byte of the block.
BPUT BPUT #n,adr,len
Block Put; same as: FOR I=0 TO len-1:PUT #n,PEEK (adr+I):NEXT I
BGET BGET #n,adr,len
Block Get; same as: FOR I=0 TO len-1:GET #N,A:POKE (adr+I):NEXT I
%PUT %PUT #n,a
Until now, there was no convenient way to put numeric values onto disk
or cassette files other than by using PRINT, which converted them to
strings first, a slow and cumbersome process. %PUT puts the number to
the device "as is," in 6-byte FP format.
%GET %GET #n,A
Get a number stored with %PUT from the device and store it in variable.
Again, this is much faster than using "INPUT #n, A".
Structured Programming
----------------------
REPEAT REPEAT
Start a REPEAT-UNTIL loop.
UNTIL UNTIL <c>
Terminate when condition <c> met.
WHILE WHILE <c>
Start a WHILE-WEND loop to end when condition <c> met.
WEND WEND
Terminate a WHILE-END loop.
ELSE ELSE
Optional extension for IF. The IF condition must not be followed by a
"THEN", but terminated by end-of-line or colon.
ENDIF ENDIF
Ends an IF-ELSE-ENDIF or IF-ELSE condition. Note that this allows an IF
condition to span more than one BASIC line, provided the "IF" statement
is structured as shown in Note 5.
DO DO
Starts an "infinite" DO loop.
LOOP LOOP
Cycle back to the start of a DO loop.
EXIT EXIT
Exit a DO-LOOP loop.
PROC PROC name
Start definition of procedure.
ENDPROC ENDPROC
End definition of procedure.
EXEC EXEC name
Execute procedure name.
General Programming
-------------------
PAUSE PAUSE n
Pause processing for n/50 seconds.
RENUM RENUM n,i,j
Renumber the program starting at line #n, first number is #i, increment
is #j. This function will handle GOTOs, TRAPs, and all other line
references except those which involve variables or computed values.
DEL DEL n,i
Delete lines n-i.
DUMP DUMP
Display all variables and values. For numeric arrays, the numbers are
the DIMed values plus one. For strings, the first number is the current
LENgth of it and the second number is the DIMed size of it. DUMP also
lists procedure names and labels with their line values.
DUMP name
DUMP to device, such as "P:" or "D:DUMP.DAT".
TRACE TRACE
Trace program during execution.
TRACE -
Turns trace mode off (Default).
DSOUND DSOUND n,f,d,v
Form of SOUND which activates channel-pairing for increased frequency
range.
DSOUND
Turns off all sounds.
GO TO GO TO n
Alternate form of GOTO.
*L *L
Turn line-indent on (Default).
*L -
Turns line-indent off.
*F *F (or *F +)
Special mode for FOR..NEXT loops which corrects a bug in Atari BASIC.
Seems that in Atari BASIC, an "illegal" reverse loop like "FOR X=2 TO
1:PRINT X:NEXT X" will execute once even though the condition is met
initially (X is already greater than 1). Turbo BASIC fixes this bug,
but leaves it available for Atari BASIC programs which may take
advantage of it.
*F -
Turns off the special FOR..NEXT mode to make Turbo BASIC act like Atari
BASIC.
*B *B (or *B +)
Command which allows the break key to be trapped via the "TRAP" command
within a program.
*B -
Turns off the special BREAK key mode.
-- --
Special form of REM which puts 30 dashes in a program listing.
Line Labels
-----------
# # name
Assigns the current line number to the label name. This is a convenient
way to get around the problem of renumbering when using variables as line
numbers. Labels can be thought of as a special form of variable, as they
occupy the variable name table along with the "regular" variables. We
also believe that the number of variables allowed has been increased from
128 to 256 to allow for the addition of these labels.
GO# GO# name
Analagous to the GOTO command.
Modifications
-------------
CLOSE CLOSE
Close channels 1-7.
DIM DIM a(n)
Will automatically assign a value of zero to all elements of the numeric
array being dimensioned, and null characters to all elements of a string
(The LEN is still variable, however, and initially zero).
GET GET name
Wait for a key press, assign the value to name. Same as "OPEN
#7,4,0,"K:":GET #7,name:CLOSE #7".
INPUT INPUT "text";a,b...
Prints text as a prompt before asking for variable(s), same as
Microsoft-BASIC.
LIST LIST n,
List program from line #n to end.
ON ON a EXEC n1,n2,...
Variation of ON...GOSUB for procedures. N1, n2 and so on are names of
procedures to be run. ON a GO# n1,n2,... Similar to ON...GOTO except
that line labels are used instead of line numbers.
POP POP
This command now pops the runtime stack for all four types of loops.
PUT PUT n
Same as "PRINT CHR$(n)";
RESTORE RESTORE #name
Restores the data line indicated by the label name.
RND RND
Parentheses are no longer needed at the end of this command, but it will
still work if they are there.
SOUND SOUND
Turn off all sounds.
TRAP TRAP #name
TRAPs to the line referenced by the label name.
TURBO BASIC FUNCTIONS:
=====================
Arithmetic/Logic
----------------
HEX$ HEX$(n)
Convert n to hex string.
DEC DEC(a$)
Convert hex string A$ to decimal.
DIV n DIV i
Integer quotient of n/i.
MOD n MOD i
Integer remainder of n/i.
FRAC FRAC(a)
Fractional part of a.
TRUNC TRUNC(a)
Truncates fractional part of a.
RAND RAND(n)
Generates random number 0-n.
$ $nnnn
Allows input of hexidecimal numbers, but they are converted to decimal.
Ex: "FOR I=$0600 to $067F" => "FOR I=1536 to 1663".
& n & i
8-bit boolean AND.
! n ! i
8-bit boolean OR.
EXOR n EXOR i
8-bit Exclusive-OR.
Memory
------
DPEEK DPEEK(m)
Double-PEEK of m,m+1.
TIME TIME
Time of day (numeric).
TIME$ TIME$
Time of day string, HHMMSS. Unfortunately, the time commands don't work
properly because they were written for European Ataris which operate at
50 Hz, instead of 60 Hz like American ones, the net result being that
they gain 12 minutes each hour.
INKEY$ INKEY$
Returns last character typed.
INSTR INSTR(x$,a$)
Returns relative location of start of string A$ within X$ (returns 0 if not found). The match must be exact; strings with the same letters but differences in case or type (normal or inverse) will not be found.
INSTR(x$,a$,i)
i specifies the starting point of the search.
UINSTR UINSTR(x$,a$)
Same as INSTR, does not distinguish between case or inverse characters.
Ex: UINSTR("HeLlO","hello") returns 1.
UINSTR(x$,a$,i)
Specifies optional starting point.
ERR ERR
Value of last error number.
ERL ERL
Line last error occurred at.
Constants
---------
%0
%1
%2
%3
These four constants simply stand for the numbers 0-3, respectively.
The difference with using these in a program is that "X=1" requires 10
bytes, whereas "X=%1" only needs 4. (Numbers require 7 bytes, 6 for the
number plus an identifier preceding it. It is always a good practice to
make variables for numbers that are used more than three times in a
program).
NOTES:
=====
1. Variable, Procedure and Label names may contain the underscore (_)
character.
2. To print a double-quote (") in a text string, use two of them
together, instead of the Atari BASIC method of using CHR$(34). Ex:
"TEST";CHR$(34);"TEXT" becomes "TEST""TEXT" in Turbo-BASIC, both of
which produce the output => TEST"TEXT.
3. Upon initial boot-up, TURBO-BASIC looks for a BASIC file named
AUTORUN.BAS. If it finds an AUTORUN.BAS file, it will automatically
load and run this file.
4. Turbo-BASIC also prints out English descriptions of all errors,
including several new ones for errors involving the new commands:
Error - 22 ?NEST = Loops not properly nested.
Error - 23 ?WHILE = WEND with no corresponding WHILE.
Error - 24 ?REPEAT = UNTIL with no corresponding REPEAT.
Error - 25 ?DO = LOOP with no corresponding DO.
Error - 26 ?EXIT = EXIT is outside a loop.
Error - 27 ?XPROC = Error executing PROC.
Error - 28 ?EXEC = ENDPROC with no corresponding EXEC.
Error - 29 ?PROC = Procedure does not exist.
Error - 30 ?# = Label does not exist.
Also, Error 15 has been expanded to include an UNTIL which relates
to a REPEAT which has been deleted.
5. A multiline IF is constructed like this:
10 IF X > 10
20 PRINT X-10
30 GO# TOO_BIG
40 ELSE
50 PRINT X
60 GO# X_IS_OK
70 ENDIF
Note also the use of line labels in the GOTO statements.
---Dave & Laura Yearke