[Coco] Happy Birthday BASIC!

[Bill Pierce]

I have worked in DECB, EdtAsm, Basic09 (OS9), Asm (OS9), and now C (Os9). I used DECB for about 3 or 4 years and wrote some really cool stuff, but it just wasn't enough (nor fast enough), so I moved to EdtAsm.

My problem with basic on the Coco (as well as basic09) was the memory use of the interpreter. DECB itself takes almost 32k, leaving only about 24k after direct page is subtracted.
I have a tendency to write large programs and really need the extra ram. The very reason I ventured into EdtAsm was to have 64k available. OS9 L1 was almost as bad, with the system residing in the 64k workspace.

Once the Coco3 and OS9 L2 came out, all of a sudden there was a complete OS with graphics support and about 58k of workspace PER PROCESS, and able to run multiple processes concurrently, and the ability to fork/chain other processes (each in it's own 64k) from the main with communication between them.
In the 80s/90s, I was using Asm to program in OS9, but I finally (in 2012) ventured into learning C and I'm loving it.

 

 

Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Glen Hewlett <glen.hewlett at sympatico.ca>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tue, May 2, 2017 4:54 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] Happy Birthday BASIC!

I don’t know if it’s just me but I had always felt that BASIC was looked down upon by most serious programmers in the 80’s and 90’s.  I always thought it was an awesome language and easy to write programs with.  Super quick development/test/debug times and easy to learn.Maybe because of the name Beginner’s All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code had the name Beginner in it made it so that it was looked down at, I don’t know.  Sure there are more powerful languages but for general purpose programming on an old computer I think BASIC is awesome.I’m still fighting with my Pacman transcode in 100% assembly, but I have written some programs in BASIC on the CoCo to help me convert the ROM graphics from the original hardware into something the CoCo 3 can use and it was a joy.  I also wrote some BASIC code to convert graphic sprites into compiled sprites and enjoyed the experience on the CoCo.FYI - There is a compiler for QB for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android called QB64 that takes your BASIC program and compiles it into a super fast machine language program native to your computer.  I only mention it since Quick Basic is VERY similar to CoCo Basic and someone here might get a kick out of using it.  It can be found here: http://www.qb64.net/Cheers,Glen> On May 2, 2017, at 4:11 PM, Wayne Campbell <asa.rand at gmail.com> wrote:> > It is there, albeit as a brief allusion to the fact:> > History -> Origin> 2nd paragraph> 3rd sentence reads:> > "Wanting use of the language to become widespread, its designers made the> compiler available free of charge."> > Wayne> > On May 2, 2017 11:44 AM, "Salvador Garcia via Coco" <coco at maltedmedia.com>> wrote:> >> Something that I did not locate in that Wiki entry is that the original>> BASIC was a compiled language.>> >> Seeing how many shunned BASIC because it was interpreted, I believe that>> this is an important item.>> >> And if anyone feels nostalgic, you can still program like it is 1964 here:>> >> http://www.vintageisthenewold.com/program-in-basic-like-it-is-1964/>> >> >> >> Salvador>> >> >>      From: Frank Pittel <fpittel at gmail.com>>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 11:10 AM>> Subject: [Coco] Happy Birthday BASIC!>> >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC>> >> -->> Coco mailing list>> Coco at maltedmedia.com>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco>> >> >> >> >> -->> Coco mailing list>> Coco at maltedmedia.com>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco>> > > -- > Coco mailing list> Coco at maltedmedia.com> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco-- Coco mailing listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco