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FESBasic/Readme.doc
CONTENTS
========
1. Introduction
2. System Requirements
3. The Editor
4. Acknowledgments
*****************************************************************************
=============================================================================
1.INTRODUCTION
=============================================================================
*****************************************************************************
What is FES BASIC?
FES Basic is an implementation of the BASIC programming language on the
Amiga Personal Computer. It's Features include:-
* Fully integrated environment: Programs can be run from the editor.
* "Intelligent" editor: your programs are automatically indented,
reserved words made into upper case, and some syntax checks are made
as you type the programs.
* Fast execution, FES basic out performs several every interpreter that
I have managed to test and even a (commercial) compiler.
* On line help. When typing a program pressing HELP gives a description
of the command by the cursor, usually including a brief example.
* No Line Numbers
* Rich selection of control constructs:-
FOR...NEXT
REPEAT...UNTIL
WHILE...WEND
DO...EXIT...LOOP
Block IFs
SELECT...CASE
PROCedures
* Support for AGA chipset. Yup this is probably the first basic with
16 million colours.
* 100% Assembler code for run-time interpreter.
* Small Code, Interpreter only 36K bytes.
* Cheap. You should not have had to pay for this version. Registering
for updates is only £15.
***************************************************************************
===========================================================================
2.INSTALLATION
===========================================================================
***************************************************************************
First the BICL {BIT IN CAPITAL LETTERS} that all .doc files seem to contain:
THIS PROGRAM IS COPYRIGHT (C) 1992/93 FALCON ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS.
IT MAY BE DISTRIBUTED PROVIDED THAT:-
* ALL FILES ARE INCLUDED IN THE DISTRIBUTION. THIS INCLUDES THE
EDITOR, THE INTERPRETER, THE HELP FILE, ALL DEMONSTRATION FILES AND
THIS DOCUMENT.
* NO FILES MAY BE MODIFIED IN ANY WAY. THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS
IS THE COMPLETE PACKAGE MAY BE "PACKED" USING A READILY OBTAINABLE
ARCHIVER TO EASE DISTRIBUTION.
* NO FEE OTHER THAN A REASONABLE COPYING FEE IS CHARGED.
* THE PACKAGE MAY NOT BE INCLUDED ON A MAGAZINE COVERDISK WITHOUT
MY PERMISSION.
DISCLAIMER:
ALL RISKS INVOLVED IN USING THIS PACKAGE ARE ASSUMED BY THE USER. FES CANNOT
BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS CAUSED BY THE USE OF THIS PACKAGE,
WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT OR COINCIDENTAL.
EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO ENSURE THAT THE DOCUMENTATION IS FULL AND ACCURATE
BUT IN THE EVENT OF ANY ERRORS BEING PRESENT IN EITHER THE DOCUMENTATION OR
THE PROGRAM THEN THE USER OF THE PROGRAM AGREES TO ACCEPT ALLRESPONSIBILITY
FOR THESE FAILINGS.
PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO USE THIS PACKAGE IF, AND ONLY IF, THE USER AGREES IN
FULL TO THE ABOVE TERMS.
IF DISCLAIMERS OF THE ABOVE FORM ARE NOT LEGAL IN THE PART OF THE WORLD
WHERE YOU LIVE THEN YOU MAY NOT USE THIS PROGRAM UNTIL YOU TAKE WHATEVER
ACTION IS REQUIRED IN YOUR STATE TO LEGALY ACTIVATE THIS DISCLAIMER.
Sorry about all that, dear user, but I have to cover myself fully. This
program has never done anything nasty to my system, but if due to some
unforeseen circumstances it re-formats your boss's hard-disk then its
your problem not mine. OK.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
===================
FES Basic requires an amiga with at least 512K of memory and Workbench
version 1.3. It is recommended that it is used with 1MB of memory and
Workbench 2.0+.
It is recommended that "reqtools.library" is in your LIBS: directory.
Without it the program will work but many of the requesters will not
appear, this makes editor functions like GOTO line rather useless.
The Menu strip is missing if the program is run using a 1.3 Amiga, this
means that you will have to use keys like AMIGA+L to load, rather than
having the option to use the mouse. Also on a 1.3 based machine reqtools
as mentioned above is neccary.
INSTALLATION
============
FES Basic can be run from the CLI or from workbench. Under Workbench 1.3
you will need to have reqtools.library in your LIBS: directory. There may
be an 'install_library' script enclosed with this distribution to do this
for you. Under WB 2.0 reqtools will be used if available, but if not then
asl.library will be used instead.
RUNNING THE PROGRAM
===================
Either double click on the FES_Editor icon or 'CD' to the correct directory
and type 'FES_Editor'. If everything is OK then an editor window should open.
You can type programs into this window.
*****************************************************************************
=============================================================================
3 USING THE EDITOR
=============================================================================
*****************************************************************************
Once you have got the package running as described in part 2 above you are
ready to start programming.
3.1 EDITING
===========
Program editors are fairly standard things, so if you have used anysort of
text editor you should find everything quite straightforward.
Text can be entered at the cursor by typing. The Cursor can be moved using
the cursor keys. Pressing SHIFT with LEFT or RIGHT moves to the end of the
line. SHIFT + UP or DOWN moves up or down by one page. ALT + UP or DOWN
moves to either end of the program.
Whenever you try to move the cursor off a line that has been modified the
computer will do a syntax check of the line. If any errors are found then a
message will appear at the top of the screen and the computer will not allow
you to move of the line until the error has been corrected.
Reserved words (like PRINT, LEN , AND) etc will be made into capital letters
automatically for you. This allows you to easily see if you have mistakenly
used a reserved word as a variable.
Statements (words like PRINT STOP SCREEN , that always come at the start of
a line) can often be abbreviated. The computer will fill in the abbreviation
when you try to leave a line. DO NOT PUT A DOT TO INDICATE AN ABBREVIATION as
you would on a certain computer. You abbreviate PRINT to P not to P.
At the second and subsequent uses of a variable name the name will be
converted to the same case as when it was first used. So if you firsttype
'Count' then later type 'count' or 'COUNT' then they will be changed to
'Count'. An exception is names with 1 or 2 characters are always lower
case.
Multi line statements like FOR...NEXT loops or block IFs are automatically
indented for you. You cannot change the amount of indentation on a line.
Text can be deleted using BACKSPACE or DEL. Backspace deletes the character
to the left of the cursor, DEL deletes the character inside the cursor.
Backspacing beyond the beginning of a line can be used to delete blank
lines.
3.2 DISK OPERATIONS
===================
Programs can be saved to disk by pressing AMIGA+S ( or use the menus if you
have WB 2.0 or later). A file requester should appear. Choose the name and
the file can be stored.
The editor can save files in 3 different formats :- ASCII , FES and
Fes_Prot.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) format allows the
programs to programs to be easily loaded into word-processors or other
versions of basic etc, but tends to be rather slower to load and save
than FES format. Use AMIGA+A (or menu) to save a file in ASCII format.
FES format programs cannot be loaded into other programs. But they load
faster and can be loaded directly by the stand-alone interpreter. This is
the normal format for saving. Use AMIGA+S to save in this format. Use
AMIGA+SHIFT+S to save with the same name as the file was loaded.
FES_Prot format is shorter than FES Format. It can ONLY be used with the
stand-alone interpreter, a program saved in this format cannot be loaded back
into the editor. Use this format when giving copies of your programs to
other people when you don't want them to be able to see your listings. Make
sure you always keep a copy of the program in a non FES_Prot format so
you can make changes. This option is only available from the menus.
Programs can be loaded with AMIGA+L (or menu). The editor automatically
detects which format the program is in when loading. Loading a FES_Prot file
will crash the machine.
3.3 RUNNING PROGRAMS
====================
Once a program has been entered or loaded it can be executed.
To start a program press AMIGA+X (or menu). There may be a burst of disk
access while the interpreter is loaded. Then the screen should blank and the
program should start executing.
Once the program has finished press any key to return to the editor.
If a program becomes faulty and needs to be stopped press CTRL+C.
Once a program has stopped you can examine the variable contents from the
editor. Press AMIGA+V (or you guessed it the meun) and a list of all your
int variables and their contents should appear. Press '2' for a list of
longs or '3' for strings, any other key to return to the editor.
Pressing ESCape will take you into 'immediate' mode. The screen should
switch to the programs screen and a ">" prompt appears. Type BASIC
commands here and they will be executed immediately. This mode is usually
used to see the contents of arrays or expressions.
Note there is a known bug in the immediate mode. If you type a literal string
(eg PRINT "hello") then the string will often become corrupted. Sorry
about that.
3.4 OTHER EDITOR FUNCTIONS
==========================
The current program can be cleared using AIMIA+Z (new in the menu)
The line containing the cursor can be cleared using CTRL+Y, the last
deleted line can be pasted back using CTRL+U. These two commands can be used
to swap the order of two lines,or to duplicate a line.
Any changes made to a line can be removed by pressing CTRL-Z.
The editor can be quitted with AMIGA+Q.
Simple analysis of the program can be performed using AMIGA+T. This
checks for multiply defined labels/procedures/functions and mismatched
control constructs (eg FOR without NEXT).
Blocks of text can be marked using F1 for start and F2 for end. Then
press F3 to delete the block, F4 to copy a block and SHIFT+F4 to move the
block.
3.5 SUMMARY OF EDITOR FUNCTIONS
===============================
UP Move up 1 line
SHIFT UP Move up 1 screen
ALT UP Move to top of file
DOWN Move down 1 line
SHIFT DN Move down 1 screen
ALT DOWN Move to bottom of file
LEFT Move left 1 space
SHIFT LT Move to start of line
RIGHT Move right 1 space
SHFT RGT Move to end of line
Esc Goto Immediate mode
CTRL+Y Delete current line
CTRL+U Undelete line
CTRL+Z Undo changes on line
F1 Mark Start of Block
F2 Mark end of Block
F3 Delete Block
F4 Copy Block to cursor
SHIFT F4 Move Block to cursor
AMIGA A Save ASCII
AMIGA F Find Text...
AMIGA G Goto Line number...
AMIGA I Iconify Window
AMIGA L Load File
AMIGA N Find Next Text
AMIGA Q Quit editor
AMIGA S Save File
SH+AM S Save File with same name
AMIGA T Check Program for Errors.
AMIGA V View variables
AMIGA X eXecute program
AMIGA Z New program
****************************************************************************
============================================================================
4.Acknolegements
============================================================================
****************************************************************************
This program was written using DEVPAC 3 on an Amiga A500 fitted with
3Mb of ram and a GVP 52Mb hard disk. The editor was written using DICE, a
most excellent 'C' compiler.
I would like to thank:-
* DAX of ASTRASOFT, for help with the lex'er and plenty of other
Invaluable suggestions.If you know anyone with an Atari ST
advise them to get hold of DESKTRACKER or MONOTRIS.
* StepPJ for helping me with maths tutorials, and plenty of tea.
* Shorne for being a miserable bugger.
* Guy for letting me beat him at SuperCars II.
* Oli for bug testing.
* Paul from Saundersoft for many, many, phone calls.
* Nico François for reqtools.library and many other excellent
contributions to the world of Amiga PD.
* Mum and Dad.
And finaly thank you for taking the time to read this waffle.
=SDF=