[Coco] OT: Languages

[Richard E. Crislip]

Hello jdaggett at gate.net

I changed the subjewct to more accuratly reflect the discussion 8=)... BUT
there is an "E" language that is used on the Amiga. Haven't tried it
myselfe, but quite a few others have.

> David 
> 
> The comment about "D" was interesting. I had heard of it but never saw or
> heard of enyone using it. If I remember correctly Unix was first written
> in "B". The predecessor to "C". A Computers in Business class I took in
> 1971 used PLIII and wrote a programs punched out on old IBM cards. Largest
> one I wrote was about 100 cards. Saw a person dropped their deck of about
> 300+ cards. Those were the days. get one card out of order and the whole
> program bombed. Sometimes had to wait an hour to just find out that you
> made a stupid typo. Punch a new card and make sure it was in the right
> order.
> 
> Enough of that. I can state that after learning the Basic09 compiler for
> the CoCo 3 and OS9, it made learning Fortran 77 a breeze. I was amazed as
> how similar the two were in syntax.
> 
> I would not mind having an F77 compiler for OS9. Did a few engineering
> program for filter response and design using F77.
> 
> james
> 
> 
> On 1 Dec 2003 at 23:22, Aaron Banerjee wrote:
> 
>> David,
>>     Speaking on behalf of those whose first computer was a TRS-80
>>     Color
>> Computer (which by the way, is still operational), and now program for
>> a living, I'd have to say that the Coco is an excellent starting
>> point.  For one thing, the computer is relatively simple, and the
>> books are awesome. Since you already know BASIC, you probably don't
>> need "Getting Started With Color Basic", or "Going Ahead With Extended
>> Color BASIC", but if you're into assembly, William Barden's "TRS-80
>> Color Computer Assembly Language Programming" is probably the best ML
>> book I've ever seen.
>>    I was very impressed with the Coco documentation from the start. 
>>    When
>> I worked at the Patent Office, we'd call such references "enabling"
>> (meaning that someone who didn't know anything at all about cocos, but
>> otherwise had a good head on their shoulders could figure out what the
>> book was saying).  For example, the book which came with my coco disk
>> drive starts out by saying how disk is better than cassette, but by
>> the end of the (relatively short) book, you know about the file
>> allocation tables... (which are very similar to the PC -- or were at
>> least).
>>    Currently, I program in a variety of languages (C, C++, Ada,
>>    Fortran,
>> and D {yes, there really is a "language" called D}).  Most computer
>> languages have the same sort of "thinking", which is most easily
>> learned with a simple computer.  The old addage of "Everything I
>> needed to know I learned in kindergarten" sort of applies.  I've found
>> my coco knowledge most useful when doing low-level stuff, like
>> assembly.
>>    I actually used a coco for work purposes in a former job.  I was
>> testing rechargable batteries and used a coco as a "smart" recharger.
>> Battery voltage was measured via the joystick port, and the charging
>> current was controlled via the cassette relay.  Since I'd used up the
>> cassette port, I had to load my program using the DLOAD command (and
>> probably became the only person in history ever to actually use DLOAD)
>> from a PC.
>>    In summary, the coco is a great choice if you really want to
>>    understand
>> the computer you are using.  Get the following books/references if you
>> don't have them already (if anyone else on the list wants to help me
>> out here, please do)..
>> 
>>      1.  Getting Started With Color BASIC
>>      2.  Going Ahead With Extended Color BASIC
>>      3.  TRS-80 Color Computer Technical Reference Manual (use the
>>      memory 
>>          map at the beginning of the book.  POKE around and play with
>>          your computer).
>>      4.  Barden, William.  "TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language
>>          Programming".  Radio Shack.  1983.
>> 
>>    I hope this helps.
>>               - Aaron Banerjee
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 arikboke at yahoo.com wrote:
>> 
>>> Hello Coconuts,
>>> 
>>> I'm David from California, USA.  My first computer experience was
>>> with a "trash80" model III in junior high, and my first home
>>> computer was a Coco2.  I was hunkering for an Atari 800 but my
>>> friend's dad (an electrical engineer) advised me to get a "good"
>>> computer, the kind he had, a Coco1 with chiclet keyboard! (he
>>> actually designed circuits on contract with that machine).
>>> 
>>> Fortunately, Radio Shack didn't sell that model anymore, and so I
>>> found salvation in the form of a Coco2 and my own cassette recorder.
>>>  It was somewhat of a painful experience, as the screen was always
>>> fuzzy due to interference, the machine routinely burned the screens
>>> of all the color tvs in our house and cassette operation was a
>>> nightmare.  But I loved what a few simple commands in BASIC could
>>> make the computer do.  It seemed so empowering ...
>>> 
>>> Well, near two decades later, I've a BS in microbiology and am
>>> planning to get my MS in biostatistics -- not exactly a PhD in CIS
>>> :)  However, I recently ran across Nicolar Marentes' Workshop site
>>> and I began to wonder what my life would have been like if I had
>>> followed my passion back then.
>>> 
>>> I wish to know more about machine coding and digital electronics and
>>> I wonder if learning the (relatively) less complex Coco would help
>>> me in this direction.
>>>  Or perhaps I should just jump on the Intel Inside bandwagon?  I'm
>>>  not sure and
>>> perhaps the old coconuts who have learned both systems can give me
>>> the proper direction.  If the Coco route, what books and tools do I
>>> need to buy?  If the Wintel route, which books and tools should I
>>> purchase?  I should note that I've already taken BASIC, Pascal, C,
>>> Javascript, and HTML.
>>> 
>>> I will not be using this knowledge directly, but as I am going
>>> towards the field of biostats and possibly bioinformatics, having a
>>> decent knowledge of computer systems (and possibly intefacing) would
>>> be very helpful.  I'm sorry this is so long-winded, but I just
>>> didn't expect to be able to communicate with a group of (still alive
>>> and thrashing) coco users.  I would appreciate any and all feedback.
>>>  Thanks.
>>> 
>>> Sincerely,
>>> David
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Coco mailing list
>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> 
> 
> 
Regards
-- 
Cruisen                                                         _|_
              on AutoPilot with an Amiga   ---o-( )-o---   and a CoCo
 
                                             Richard