[Coco] Re: Weird errors

[Leon Howell]

> >Syscalls? Setstats? XMode and TMode? What idiot named this weird half
> >complete language "basic" anyway?
> >
> Ah, you haven't seen nothin' yet.  Under CP/M I can show you some
> true obscenities calling themselves "BASIC".  

You mean like "SBasic" or "CBasic"?
 
> Besides, BASIC-09's complexities are just the result of running under
> a real OS that provides real, complicated services to the user
> programs.

Ok, first, no, "basic"-09 is not basic, it's Fortran. It might have been a 
very good version of fortran if it was an editor/compiler, but it's not, it's 
an editor/interpreter. You don't compile "basic"-09, you compact it or 
something, and still need the runb interpreter to run the program. If it was 
possible to get a compiled machine language program out of it, I wouldn't 
complain exept about it's being called Basic. Basic is basicaly an Imedeiate-
mode interpreter version of Fortran, the first high-level language, exept that 
most Basics don't use so many system calls and fortran uses them constantly.

Second, even primitive versions of Basic have things like sound and graphics 
commands built in if they are available at all. I've seen some pretty weird 
ways of adding new commands to basic, but they really were Basic commands, 
weird or not.

MBasic, for CP/M and TRS-DOS, and MSX-Basic, require a "shell", "sys", 
or "cmd" command to do *anything* with the disk exept load/save & 
delete. "basic"-09 (OS-9 Fortran interpreter) seems to require a similar 
connand for sound, graphics, i/o, or almost anything else.

> >And where can I get a copy of Burke & Burke RSB - The only version of Basic 
> >available for OS-9?
> 
> Try Brother Jeremey.  It's my understanding he inheritied B&B's
> remaining stock.  Or maybe it was the Glenside club?  There was also
> something called "RUSTY" which was supposed to be like RSB, but I
> don't know where you can find that. (Rusty was last seen advertised by
> Northern Xposure.)

How do I contact Brother Jeremy and Northern Xposure?

> It does have its flaws, but as BASICs go it's pretty nice.

As Fortrans go, it's probably one of the best, if it can be compiled.