💾 Archived View for spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › apple › ADC › adv.890502 captured on 2023-06-16 at 21:09:15.

View Raw

More Information

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

AppleLink
APPLE II DEVELOPMENT FORUM CONFERENCE LOG
May 2, 1989  10:00 p.m. eastern time
Topic:  BASIC Programming
Forum Leader:  Dave Sugar (AFL Dyfet)

AFA Gary J I know that Marty is hot on BASIC.  I know he wouldn't miss this
	   topic :)
AFL Marty  BASIC!
AFL Dyfet  Hello Joe :)
AFL Marty  Gee... are we gonna talk about QuickBasic? :)
AFA Gary J Hi Joe.
JSchober   Hi, Dave, Gary!
AFL Dyfet  No, Bbasic Marty :)
JSchober   Let's rant and rave about BBASIC //... :)
AFL Dyfet  Yeah :)
AFL Dyfet  Hi Parik :)
AFL Marty  BBASIC?
JSchober   Hi, Parik.
AFA Parik  hi
AFA Gary J Sounds good to me.
AFA Gary J Hi Parik.
JSchober   Blankenship Basic, Marty.  Dave co-wrote it.  NIFTY set of
	   additions to ASoft.
AFL Dyfet  Bbasic //...closest you will come to QuickBasic on an Apple, Marty
	   :)
JSchober   I like 'em.  I use 'em for many things... (NOT EBBS, tho -- not
	   enough mem!)
AFL Marty  Okay... yes, I'm familiar with it (sort of)
JSchober   Dave was nice enough to send it to me for no extra charge...
	   good... since I
JSchober   have no extra money.  :)
AFL Dyfet  Hello Edward.
JSchober   So how many of you are going to AFest??  And who's gonna bring me
	   a present??;)
JSchober   Hi, Ed!
AFL Marty  Dave, is BBasic a compiled Basic (I've forgotten)?
EdwardF4   Hello!
JSchober   Nope, Marty.
AFL Marty  I'll being you something Joe (if you're nice)
JSchober   It just patches into ASoft... adds graphics, utility, etc.
	   commands.
AFL Dyfet  No, interpreted, Marty...damn fast because it precompiles line
	   references,
JSchober   I'm always nice... to everyone but you, that is.  :P  :)
EdwardF4   I'm going to AFest.  What do you want?  Lobster?
AFL Dyfet  though :).  Has named subroutines, overlays, and fully
	   structured...
JSchober   No, a GS+.  :)  (Or a TWGS will do...)
JSchober   Yeah... the labels are terrific!!  
AFL Marty  That's too bad Joe.  I was gonna get you HyperStudio, but
	   nevermind now :)
AFA Parik  I want all the paper you get from AppleFest
JSchober   Sheesh.  figures, Marty.. (siiiigh)
AFL Marty  Do you still have the demo available Dave?
AFA Gary J I'll take it, Marty  :)
EdwardF4   I'm definitely getting HyperStudio.
AFL Dyfet  It should be around here somewhere (the demo)...I forget which
	   forum it was
JSchober   ::sulking::
AFL Dyfet  originally uploaded to :)
JSchober   Dave... this thing on my desk is a DEMO??  ... I can't
	   imagine what the
JSchober   REAL THING is, then!!!!!
JSchober   Yo Scott!
AFL Scott  Yo, Everyone... AFK..
AFL Dyfet  The difference between the Demo version of Bbasic and the live
	   version is that
AFL Dyfet  you cannot edit programs with the demo.  You can give it aways as
	   a runtime
AFL Marty  What's the price on BBasic, Dave?
AFL Dyfet  module, though :)
AFL Dyfet  $49.95+$5.00 shipping.
JSchober   That's it?? I guess I've got the live thing.  I LIKE it, too.  :) 
	   (THANKS!,
JSchober   Dave!  :))
JSchober   Hi, Keebo.
AFL Dyfet  Hello Keebo, Scott.
KEEBO      Hello, I'm gonna keep quiet. I'm not a developer by any means.
AFL Marty  Okay... what differences are there between BBasic and AppleSoft?
JSchober   Uhhh... want me to read the manual, or just rant and rave at
	   random?  :)
EdwardF4   I'm not a developer, either.  But some day, when I grow up...
AFL Scott  <--Underdeveloped
JSchober   ;) Scott
AFL Dyfet  Bbasic adds some 50 commands to AppleSoft Basic, including
	   structured
AFL Dyfet  programming loops (like while-wend stuff, repeat-until, etc),
	   named subprogram
JSchober   (It makes it easyPascal, ok??  :)
AFL Scott  <---Whoops... Underdevelopment.
AFL Dyfet  modules that can be called, disk overlay modules (in addition to
	   conventional
AFL Dyfet  chaining), an advanced new file system in place of 'Basic.System'
	   that gives
AFL Dyfet  you full control, hires text, special graphics stuff, and a lot of
	   new
AFL Dyfet  string functions.
AFL Dyfet  In Bbasic //, all the commands are integrated directly into
	   Applesoft.
AFL Dyfet  No wierd flaky &syntax's to remember :)
JSchober   (no &'s!!  YAY!!!)
AFL Marty  That sounds pretty neat.  Structured programming and all...
JSchober   It all makes sense, really.  CIRCLE h,v,color,arc.  Stuff like
	   that.  VERY NICE
AFL Dyfet  The BBASIC list command also does automatic program indentention
	   and it has a
AFL Dyfet  line editor and other hand-holding things :)
AFL Dyfet  Anything I left out Joe? :)
AFL Marty  What kind of fees do you require for the run-time module?
AFL Dyfet  Hello Mark.  Welcome aboard.
AFA Gary J Hi Mark
JSchober   LOL... I don't think so; not other than the specific commands and
	   whatnot.  but
AFL Dyfet  No fee for distributing runtime.
JSchober   it's a NIFTY development system -- it has all the things that
	   AppleSoft ...
MarkLC     Hello all...what's the topic?
JSchober   should've had in the first place.  It's also extremely fast...
JSchober   Fast.  Fast fast.  :)  Mark, we're ranting and raving about
	   Blankenship BASIC,
JSchober   (BBASIC).  :)  Hi, Mike!
AFL Dyfet  Hello Nuzz, welcome aboard.
AFL Marty  Where do I send my money?
AFL Marty  <-- software collector ;)
AFL Dyfet  One of two places, Marty...either HyperDyne Software, PO BOX
	   60664-1156,
AFL Dyfet  Chicago, Il. 60664-1156 (make that PO BOX 641156 :), or to
	   BlankenShip &
AFL Dyfet  Assoc., PO Box 47934, Atlanta, GA. 30362.
AFL Dyfet  Hello Matt :)
AFL Marty  Great!  Thanks Dave!
AFL Dyfet  No problem, I can use the money :).
AFL Dyfet  Hi, Twolfe1
Twolfe1    Hello, what's the topic?
JSchober   We're... uhh... ranting and raving.  :)  Just relax; only Marty
	   bites.
AFL Dyfet  Well, as Joe said...:).  Tonight's topic here is Basic, Twolfe1,
	   though this
Twolfe1    thanks, I'm always here, just not visable.
AFL Dyfet  chat is rather informal tonight, so feel free to speak up...
MarkLC     anything?
JSchober   Anything, sure.  :)
JSchober   Anything on BASIC, that is.
AFL Dyfet  We can take it :)
AFL Marty  Micol Basic?
AFA Gary J Doesn't have to be BASIC at this rate :)
JSchober   Shoot... :)  <tho I know nothing about it, Marty>
AFL Dyfet  True...tonight is informal...
AFL Marty  I hear they're coming out with a new version for the //e.
AFL Marty  version 3.0
AFL Dyfet  Micol?
AFL Marty  yep
AFL Dyfet  I've spoken to those people a couple of times in the past...a
	   little odd in
AFL Dyfet  some ways :)
JSchober   They must be Apple programmers indeed, if they're odd.  :)
AFL Marty  Seems like a fair assessment :)
AFL Dyfet  I remember when they tried getting their own ProDOS 16 load file
	   standard
AFL Dyfet  accepted.
Nuzz       I have a question.. In converting a DOS program to ProDos, the
	   HIMEM command
AFL Marty  Anyhow...
AFA Parik  They're canadian.  :)
AFL Marty  I'm a beta tester :)
Nuzz       failed  HIMEM:28761
AFL Marty  GA with Nuzz's question... I'll wait.
JSchober   Mike... HIMEM under BASIC.SYSTEM =must= be divisible by 256...
	   (ie., it must
JSchober   rest on a page boundary.)
JSchober   Shift it down as needed.  :)
AFA Gary J ...or up.
JSchober   28762 will do.
Nuzz       Ah, well then, that's it
JSchober   No, that can't be right...typo.  Hold.
JSchober   28672 will do.  :)
JSchober   Well, Gary, if something BLOAD's right to the edge of HIMEM,
	   moving it up is
JSchober   kinda bad... :(
AFA Gary J Depends on how much memory you have to play with.
JSchober   Well, if you're BLOADing non-relocatable m/l code, you CAN'T move
	   it up...
JSchober   unless you have the source, of course...
Nuzz       It was 28671 so that's pretty darn close
AFA Gary J True
JSchober   I thought you said 28761, no?  Well, whatever it is, just make it
	   rest on a
JSchober   page boundary and you're ok.  :)
Nuzz       I made a mistake too :) 28671 it was
JSchober   LOL
JSchober   Anyone have an & or CALL routine that left or right justifies a
	   string??
AFL Dyfet  For printing?
JSchober   Yeah.  I currently use ? LEFT$(STRING$+"<lotsa
	   spaces!>",field_length), but
JSchober   all those spaces eat memory.  :(
AFL Dyfet  Well, Bbasic II does have a formatted 'output' command :)...
JSchober   ;)  I know that, but EBBS is too tight on RAM to use BBasic.  :(
AFA Gary J :)
AFL Marty  Why don't you use SPC ()?
JSchober   I wish I COULD...  Marty: you can't use SPC() in a
	   concatenation... unlike
JSchober   almost every other BASIC.  :(
JSchober   It's a function, but it doesn't act like one...
JSchober   (whatever THAT means)
AFL Dyfet  How about printint with TAB()?
AFL Marty  There must be some work-around.
JSchober   TAB()??  well, TAB or SPC() is the same... it WOULD work, but then
	   you'd need
JSchober   a ? STRING$SPC(field_length-LEN(STRING$)) type thing, which isn't
	   too much
AFL Dyfet  I'm not sure if tab is implimented correctly in Applesoft, but in
	   theory,
AFA Gary J But you could do ? STRING$;SPC( )
JSchober   better than the other way.  I want something TIGHT.
AFL Marty  Buy more memory :)
JSchober   Doesn't help; Applesoft only has a 36K or so core.
AFL Dyfet  you should be able to print string$;tab(field);string$;tab(start
	   of next field)
JSchober   TAB to a column??  Nope.  :(
AFL Marty  (that;s Claris' colution :)
AFL Dyfet  Hmm...in every other basic I use that's what TAB does...
JSchober   That only worked under Integer %) BASIC.
JSchober   Hmmm.  Actually, I just looked at the infamous "A Touch of
	   AppleSoft", and it
JSchober   SAYS the same thing that you say.  But it doesn't WORK for me.  :(
	    Does TAB()
JSchober   use the Z-page htab location??
AFL Dyfet  It might...
AFL Dyfet  It does need to know your current print position, after all...
JSchober   Hmmm.  I MIGHT have a z-page conflict.  I'll have to look into
	   that... (if I
JSchober   DO, I should shoot myself!)
AFA Gary J I just tried it on my //e, Joe.  It works for me.
JSchober   Really??  HMMMM.  I'll take a look.  That could help immensely if
	   it works.
JSchober   But I'd bet all of my $4.14 that I tried that, and it didn't...
  	   :|
AFA Gary J I've had some situations where tab wouldn't do what I wanted, but
	   I don't 
AFA Gary J recall the specifics.
AFL Scott  (I wonder if Joey get's an allowance?)
JSchober   No, Scott.  hmmmm, Gary.  I wonder if they'll have any info on
	   this in the 
JSchober   Tech Reference library here on ALPE...
AFA Gary J I think the problems I had were related to 3rd party 80-column
	   firmware.
AFL Marty  Don't shoot yourself... let me do it :)
JSchober   :P Marty.  Well, I'm using the GS... that should be Apple
	   compatible.  :)
AFL Scott  ROTFL!!!:)
AFL Dyfet  Never do to yourself what someone else is willing to do for you?
JSchober   But I'll take a look, and see if I can get it to work.  Thanks for
	   the hint,
JSchober   Dave and Gary.  :)
Nuzz       Can I ask a non basic question
JSchober   Hi, Dave!
AFL Dyfet  Sure Nuzz, go ahead.
AFL Dyfet  Hi Dave!
Dave Lyons I've been looking over Matt's shoulder, but I thought I'd prove I
	   actually exist (at least as much
Nuzz       Is there a tool call that will allow for inverting text in a
	   window.
Matt DTS   There's Dave "Niftier than what??" Lyons...
Dave Lyons as I existed before, anyway).
JSchober   LOL
Dave Lyons Inverting text in a window?
Nuzz       ALA a word proc.
Dave Lyons Yeah, and there's Matt "You about done?" Deatherage.
JSchober   Uhhh... selecting stuff, you mean.  Hmmm...
Nuzz       right Joe
Dave Lyons If you want to make a rectangular area inversed, use InvertRect. 
	   For a more complicated shape,
Dave Lyons InvertRgn will come in more handy.
Dave Lyons Anybody want a warped mousepad?  I have 2.  (Actually I can't give
	   them away, but feel free to
Dave Lyons tell me how to unwarp them.)
AFA Parik  wash 'em
DaviesDoug rub cheese on em'
JSchober   Put a dictionary on 'em overnight... (or maybe a fat mouse)
AFA Parik  it shrunk one of mine down and it turned it into a coffee holder
AFL Dyfet  You into heavy handed mousing, Dave?
JSchober   LOL
Nuzz       Use a big mouse on them
Dave Lyons Oh, how 'bout Inside Mac I-III?  I've got one of those....
AFA Parik  grab the Information Exchange
JSchober   That'll do... :)
AFL Dyfet  I knew it!  He's being conditioned to program for the Mac!
JSchober   Ugh... :(
AFA Gary J Oh no!
AFL Dyfet  It starts with the books...subliminal stuff in the margins...
AFA Gary J All the rumors are true!
AFA Parik  ack
AFL Dyfet  Next he will have AppleShare up...
AFA Gary J Coming soon.... "Nifty McList"
JSchober   And then.. the Apple II will be replaced by a Mac II.  Chaos from
	   there on. :(
JSchober   LOL Gary
AFL Scott  Floppies, Parik?
AFA Gary J ...or is it McNifty List?
AFA Parik  ;)
DaviesDoug it's McLifty Nist
AFA Parik  Mac The Nifty
AFL Dyfet  No words, Gary...just Icons for machine code instructions on a Mac
	   desktop...:)
JSchober   Nah, Nifty McList sounds better.  Just hit OA/Ctrl/ESC on the Mac,
	   and up it
AFA Gary J Ooooh.
JSchober   comes... (of course, not compatible with older Mac keyboards)
AFA Parik  nah, dave's a good II dude.  He'd take any macs he gets and shred
	   em.
DaviesDoug (:   alright, who turned my monitor on backwards?
JSchober   Parik's been watching Guts and Glory... :)
AFA Parik  (oh yeah, remember to get fawn hall as your secretary)
JSchober   LOL
Dave Lyons Nope, no McNifty List yet, but I must admit I moved the source
	   code over to MPW & used MPW IIgs
AFA Parik  MPW!?!?!?!
JSchober   UGHHH!!!  :(((
Dave Lyons assembler to build version 2.70p.
JSchober   And look at that... "no McNifty List **YET**"?!?!?!  :(
JSchober   There was 2.6p, too, if memory serves... or 2.5p, or along those
	   lines.
Matt DTS   Look at it this way - if Apple's going to throw a 16 MHz machine
	   and lots of storage at Dave...
AFL Marty  ---===[} Dave
Meathook   I offer a service converting Mac into Fish tanks, If you're
	   interested.
JSchober   LOL
Matt DTS   ...he might as well use it to build better Nifty Lists, dont'cha
	   think?  (any better ideas?)
AFA Parik  does it involve intense pain for the macintosh?
AFL Marty  How about paperweights?
DaviesDoug sure couldn't use a IIGS
AFL Marty  or doorstops?
AFL Dyfet  Yeah, throw a 16mhz GS at him instead :)
Dave Lyons Nope, 2.70p isn't available yet.  One of these days I'll have time
	   to polish it off into something
JSchober   YEAH!!! ()()()()()
Dave Lyons nice.  No fancy promised-for-3.0 features yet, either.
DaviesDoug i'm impressed
AFL Marty  Macs make nice targets on the shooting range :)
AFA Parik  so it won't replicate money yet, huh
JSchober   It's already polished, Dave.  Lookit that, those Macs are
	   corrupting you
AFL Marty  (ready on the left... ready... pull!)
JSchober   already... they're UNPOLISHING YOUR PROGRAM!!!
DaviesDoug Yah, the new debugger does a lot that Nifty List does now,
	   yipeee!!!
AFA Parik  Hi pal!
Paladin13  Wow! this place has really picked up?? Hello all.
AFL Dyfet  Hello Paladin.
Dave Lyons Joe, there's still GOBS of room for improvement--I have a two-page
	   to-do list, including stuff like
Dave Lyons a command language for letting you do toolbox calls in real
	   time.
AFA Gary J Nice idea
JSchober   Wow, Dave.  :)  But... I thought that was 3.0.  The Mac is still
	   corrupting
JSchober   you.  :(
Dave Lyons Howdy, Paladin.
DaviesDoug good
Paladin13  Boy I've been a couple night up all night copying disks
Paladin13  gota fix the last bug in my program though the printing had any
	   luck
AFA Parik  :)  which program Paladin?
Paladin13  I just made an educational program about animals for kids
Paladin13  Its called ANIMAL TRACKER
Nuzz       Speaking of printing... Has anyone come up witha way to set a page
	   size smaller
Paladin13  Dave any luck on my printing problem
Paladin13  ?
Nuzz       than 11 in.
JSchober   I'm gonna run for tonight, folks... take care, all, and may your
	   Macs shrivel
JSchober   up and die!  :)
AFA Parik  :)
AFL Dyfet  Gnight Joe.
Paladin13  Dave?
AFL Dyfet  I think Dave is busy raiding Matt's fridge :)_
Matt DTS   Dave's in here, not over there with his computer.  (We're at work)
	   Printing true (not QD) text?
Dave Lyons Explain your prob again for everybody, Paladin...I don't have any
	   breakthroughs for you.
DaviesDoug fridge? matt?
Dave Lyons Whoops, Matt will be right back....
AFL Marty  after these messages :)
Dave Lyons Whoops, he was back before I even said it.
Paladin13  Ok problem is
Paladin13  at start up the printer will print the text fine I use the code
	   very in
Paladin13  TML pascal print a text file
Paladin13  Works fine except after I print a graphic
AFL Marty  Bye all
Dave Lyons Okay, when you say "...will print the text fine," how are you
	   printing the text?  Toolbox calls will
Dave Lyons explain it to me best.
Paladin13  Then Once I have printed a graphic I try to print text...And now
	   it cannot
Paladin13  print regular... I've tryed to reset the printer, Set it in a
	   different mode
Paladin13  just about everything
Paladin13  Draft mode
Paladin13  It prints in draft mode that is why it think it must have
	   something
DaviesDoug solution : don't print graphics :)  wow, wonder if DTS would hire
	   me?
DaviesDoug nope, couldn't pay enough
Paladin13  Uses the Texttools to initialize the printer port
Dave Lyons We'd pay you in Hex addresses...$117745, etc.
Paladin13  Boy alot of people on tonight A-link is really slow
DaviesDoug that much, 1,144,645 per year, wow, maybe it would be worth giving
	   up.....
DaviesDoug $82,000 per year
Paladin13  to do with the printrecord being set
AFL Dyfet  One catch, the money is not in decimal currency...:)  and has a
	   smiling WOZ
Nuzz       Maybe you could do both Doug
AFL Dyfet  on the bills :)
DaviesDoug yah, I could fly to cupertion in the morning, and back to Orem at
	   lunch time..
Paladin13  It works fine but for some reason PrPixelMap is leaveing the
	   printer
Paladin13  in a state that is not draft or something wrong
Paladin13  The correct information comes out it just doesn't line feed
Paladin13  Any IDeas ??????
Dave Lyons Paladin, do you have the Firmware Reference manual?
Paladin13  <------Need to fix his problem so he can whip out 500 copies
	   before friday
Paladin13  IMPORTANT  WORKS FINE ONLY AT START UP...
Paladin13  Isn't there a field in the Printer record for line feed and draft
	   modes???
Dave Lyons Looking up some info in my Firmware ref, Paladin...may or may not
	   help.
Paladin13  Dave ...Matt ...  Are you still with me?
Paladin13  I have to get this fixed before applefest...Any suggestions.. I
	   have to
Paladin13  have to leave out that feature because of line feeds
Dave Lyons Paladin, did you say that turning the printer off and on after
	   printing graphics did not solve the
Dave Lyons problem?  (I think you did.)
DaviesDoug acting.........
Paladin13  Hate to have to leave that feature out
Dave Lyons Try sending Ctrl-I L E to the printer port.
Dave Lyons Be sure to do this only for a direct-connect port, though...don't
	   go sending that to any driver that
Dave Lyons happens to be selected.