porter@inuxd.UUCP (10/14/83)
To: inuxc!ihnp4!zehntel!tektronix!tekecs!shark!sdb Subject: Re: Question about SIMON'S BASIC References: <24@shark.UUCP> Yes, the Commodore 64 does have Microsoft BASIC. It's the same BASIC that has been in PETs since 1977. By saying you have Microsoft BASIC is only implying that your computer can do IF-THEN, PRINT, GOTO, GOSUB, REM, DATA, INPUT, and all the usual basics. What SIMON's BASIC had that I thought was nice was structured stuff like REPEAT-UNTIL, PROCs with local or global variables, plus all the graphics stuff like windowing and rectangles and painting, plus programming aids like disk merge, renumber and find, not to mention aids for sprites and sound. Correct me if I am wrong, but don't you have to get Extended Basic to get this on your Coco? Jeff Porter (inuxd!porter) AT&T Consumer Products Indianapolis
sdb@shark.UUCP (Steven Den Beste) (10/20/83)
Yes, to get rectangles, lines, circles and painting on the COCO you have to get extended BASIC - but these days the term "extended" is a misnomer - it has become the standard. Radio Shack hasn't sold a COCO without the extended ROM for quite a while and almost everyone I know with a COCO has the extended ROM. Also, from the sound of it your SIMON's BASIC loads into RAM, thus cutting down on the memory available for your BASIC program, while those features for the COCO are in ROM (don't need to be loaded and don't steal RAM space). I don't remember your list too well, but some of the block constructions you described are not available while others are. IF-THEN-ELSE is with multiple commands per clause, as long as the whole thing fits onto a single line (254 characters). I think you mentioned tracing and some string disection functions as well which the COCO either has explicitly or in other forms. I could try to find a copy of your article and make an explicit list if you want... Steve Den Beste