[Coco] C VS Basic Coco

[phil pt]

That is good. Why do you help with the project and write the Rs232 pack for
VCC as plugin cartridge? I could use your help with it.

On Tue, Feb 13, 2018 at 9:09 PM, Gene Heskett <gheskett at shentel.net> wrote:

> On Tuesday 13 February 2018 19:59:08 phil pt wrote:
>
> > Let me re-word what I said. There has been a lot of changes that has
> > been done to the basic compilers sine the 80's. In the 90's writing
> > code using Cbasic3 increased the execution speed of the program,
> > Visual basic.Net has come a long way since the 1st version was
> > release, Real Basic runs very fast so it also depends on how to write
> > the code.  Developing code using the basic compilers is only as some
> > people think. For example using one function routine to handle
> > different process saves memory and cpu time. Believe me I have been
> > programming since the Coco1 and I had the changes to use many
> > different basic compilers. since 1985.
> >
> > On Tue, Feb 13, 2018 at 7:16 PM, James Jones <jejones3141 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > I agree, use what gets the job done and is best for you. I also
> > > agree that a large class of BASIC language systems are not suited
> > > for writing programs of any size or complexity. (I recently got a
> > > copy of the 1985 book *Back to BASIC: the History, Corruption, and
> > > Future of the Language* by Kemeny and Kurtz, the creators of BASIC.
> > > It is well worth reading in this regard, especially Chapter 4.)
> > >
> > > BASIC09, though not perfect, is not in that large class.
> > >
> Story time folks, skip if its not of interest.
>
> I have written 2 programs that were in continuous use at the tv station I
> wrote it for, for nearly 15 years each time. The first one I wrote, was
> for an RCA 1802 based Cosmac Super Elf, in '78. I made the video for it,
> and used a large amount of self modifying code. That taught me to keep
> track of the stack, and anytime I modified the behaviour of a
> subroutine, the last thing I did in that subroutine was to restore the
> original value. Once I learned that, it never crashed again that I was
> made aware of. Because video machine ballistics could change, when I
> left I made sure there was instructions on how to modify the code in the
> event newer machines were bought. I checked in 94 when I was 250 miles
> north in Oregon, an vacation and visiting an Aunt I knew I better go see
> before she passed. The CE was then Norman Hoatson, who was the CE when I
> was the ACE in the late '70's. He assured he was dusting it regularly,
> and that it was still in daily use.
>
> That program was written by looking up the assembler nemonic, and
> entering the hexidecimal value using a hex monitor. No assembler except
> me.
>
> Then, at the station in WV where I finally retired from after 18 years,
> one of our earlier purchases was a Grass Valley Group 300-3A/B
> production switcher, which came from the J.C.Penny's NYC production
> studio when they closed it down. But it had spent quite a bit of time in
> NYC's polluted air, and required lots of maintenance keeping ahead of
> chips with black oxidized legs.  But that one did not come with the
> e-disk kit which allowed the tech folks to save the programs they had
> composed, and reload them the next time they were on duty running a
> show.
>
> But it did come with a manual that fully described the protocol. I looked
> at that and said to myself, I can do that with a coco2! So I scrounged
> up a coco2, installed "The forgotten Chip" and wrote that puppy in
> basic09. It wasn't till several years later we had a chance at the same
> switcher from KTLA. It was in somewhat better shape, and it came with an
> e-disk, which I did install, for about 3 days.  The yelling and
> screaming from the troops in the trenches could not be ignored and they
> all said to put mine back in, so I did. The coco's 5" screen gave them
> English filenames instead of 2 digit numbers on a dial wheel, and it
> turned out that mine was at least 4x faster at a restore due to the baud
> rate diffs. And it was used until so many of the custom circuits had
> died in the 300-3A/B that it had to be replaced a year or so after I
> retired. So they gave me back the machine I had sold to the tv station
> for $245 all those years ago. I still have that machine and its disks
> and drives in the basement, its another of those old friends I just
> can't part with.  Because the com protocol used let me reach in and
> tickle this and that parts of the circuit, a logic problem could often
> be identified down to the gate in such and such a chip, which made
> keeping it ticking along a lot easier. I don't think theres much the
> coco's can't do as long as you are willing to do it at the coco's pace.
>
> So that also spans around 15 years. Thats an EON in a tv stations
> physical plant, so I think I am justified in being proud of both efforts
> at the time.
>
> Now, I'm just a retired old fart, whose legs are slowly going away from
> diabetes, playing around with cnc'd machinery. Machinery that was not
> cnc'd when it was drug in the door. That and careing for my wife, who
> broke a hip a year ago, and whose been going steadily downhill from COPD
> since I met her in about 87. We married in '89. Now she is towing an
> oxygen hose, and incapable of doing the exercises needed to put her back
> on her feet. Between all that, it sure keeps me out of the bars. :-)
>
> --
> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> --
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
>
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