TPUG - Toronto PET Users Group/TPUG Users Group CD/TPUG Users Group CD.iso/COMAL/A-COMAL Series/(k)aaq.d64/comal article

Text File | 2007-02-28 | 5KB | 170 lines

╘╚┼ ┬┼╙╘ ╞╔╥╙╘ ╠┴╬╟╒┴╟┼

BY ╙OL ╦ATZ

┴ QUESTION THAT ALWAYS COMES UP WHEN
TALKING WITH NEW COMPUTER OWNERS IS
"╫HAT LANGUAGE SHOULD ╔ LEARN?" ╞OR
THE ├64, THE ANSWER MUST BE ├╧═┴╠.
├╧═┴╠ (├╧═MON ┴LGORITHMIC ╠ANGUAGE)
IS THE MOST USER FRIENDLY LANGUAGE
WRITTEN TO DATE. ╔F YOU READ
├OMPUTE'S ╟AZETTE, EVERY COUPLE OF
ISSUES, THERE ARE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE
┬┴╙╔├. ╔F YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH, SOME
OF THEM WORK TOGETHER. ├╧═┴╠ HAS MANY
OF THESE IMPROVEMENTS BUILT IN.

╘HE MOST USER FRIENDLY FEATURE OF
├╧═┴╠ IS ITS SYNTAX CHECKER. ┴FTER
YOU ENTER A NEWLY TYPED LINE, IT
CHECKS IT FOR MISTAKES. ╔T WILL POINT
TO WHERE IT THINKS YOU MADE THE
MISTAKE AND TELLS YOU WHY IT ISN'T
HAPPY. ═ESSAGES LIKE "┼XPECT A COLON
HERE" OR "╒NBALANCED PARENTHESIS"
HELP YOU FIX YOUR MISTAKE AT THE TIME
YOU TYPE IT. ┴S SOON AS YOU CORRECT
THE MISTAKE ├╧═┴╠ LETS YOU CONTINUE.
╔N OTHER WORDS, ├╧═┴╠ WILL NOT ACCEPT
A LINE WITH A SYNTAX ERROR.

╘HE NEXT REALLY USER FRIENDLY FEATURE
OF ├╧═┴╠ IS AUTOMATIC FORMATTING.
├╧═┴╠ WANTS YOU TO BE ABLE TO READ
YOUR PROGRAMS, SO IT TAKES OUT EXTRA
SPACES IN EACH LINE AND AUTOMATICALLY
INDENTS WHENEVER YOU USE STRUCTURED
PROGRAMMING. ├╧═┴╠ IS A STRUCTURED
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE, JUST AS ╨ASCAL,
├, ╞╧╥╘╥┴╬ 77, AND ├╧┬╧╠ ARE. ╧NCE
YOU LEARN ├╧═┴╠, IT IS ONLY A SMALL
STEP TO PICKING UP OTHER STRUCTURED
LANGUAGES. ┬┴╙╔├ (AND OLDER VERSIONS
OF ╞╧╥╘╥┴╬) DEPEND ON ╟╧╘╧ STATEMENTS
FOR BRANCHING, WHILE STRUCTURED
LANGUAGES ONLY USE ╟╧╘╧ FOR VERY
ADVANCED LEVEL PROGRAMMING, AND
RARELY AT THAT. ╘HE STRUCTURES OF
├╧═┴╠ INCLUDE:

╔╞...╘╚┼╬...┼╠╔╞...┼╠╙┼...┼╬─╔╞
├┴╙┼..╧╞...╫╚┼╬...╧╘╚┼╥╫╔╙┼...┼╬─├┴╙┼
╫╚╔╠┼...─╧...┼╬─╫╚╔╠┼
╥┼╨┼┴╘...╒╬╘╔╠
╞╧╥...╙╘┼╨...┼╬─╞╧╥

├╧═┴╠ INCLUDES ITS OWN DISK OPERATING
SYSTEM SO YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO OPEN
CHANNELS TO THE DISK DRIVE (EG. ╧╨┼╬
15,8,15, ETC.) BEFORE YOU CAN USE
YOUR DRIVE. ┘OU CAN LOOK AT YOUR
DIRECTORY USING ├┴╘ (FOR ├┴╘ALOG)
WITHOUT DESTROYING A PROGRAM IN
MEMORY. ┘OU CAN EASILY ╠╧┴─, ╙┴╓┼, OR
─┼╠┼╘┼ A PROGRAM, ALL WITHOUT THE
",8" SUFFIX, AND/OR WITHOUT OPENING
THE COMMAND CHANNEL.

├╧═┴╠ IS ALSO USER FRIENDLY WHEN
ENTERING OR EDITING A PROGRAM. ╘HE
┴╒╘╧ COMMAND AUTOMATICALLY SUPPLIES
LINE NUMBERS. [┼DITOR ╬OTE: ├╧═┴╠
USES LINE NUMBERS ONLY FOR EDITING
PURPOSES. ╘HEY ARE NOT USED AS
ADDRESSES AS IS THE CASE IN ┬┴╙╔├].
╘HE SYNTAX OF THE ┴╒╘╧ COMMAND TELLS
├╧═┴╠ WHAT LINE NUMBER TO START WITH
AND WHAT NUMBER TO INCREMENT THE LINE
NUMBER WITH. ╙O, IF YOU LIKE YOUR
PROGRAMS TO START WITH 2468 AND TO GO
UP WITH 3'S, YOU CAN DO IT. ╔F YOU
WANT TO DELETE A RANGE OF LINES YOU
DO IT WITH:

─┼╠┼╘┼ LINENUMBER-LINENUMBER.

┘OU CAN ALSO LIST A RANGE OF LINES
THE SAME WAY, AND TO BE USER
FRIENDLY, ├╧═┴╠ ALSO LETS YOU STOP
AND START THE LISTING BY HITTING THE
SPACE BAR. ├╧═┴╠ ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO
USE THE EXISTING ├OMMODORE SCREEN
EDITING CAPABILITIES.

╞OR ADVANCED USERS, ├╧═┴╠ HAS USER
DEFINED FUNCTIONS ALLOWING FOR
MULTIPLE STATEMENTS AND MULTIPLE
RETURNS, DEPENDING ON THE CALCULATED
VALUES. ├OMPARE THAT WITH ┬┴╙╔├ WHICH
ALLOWS ONLY ONE STATEMENT. ├╧═┴╠
PROCEDURES ALLOW LOCAL AND GLOBAL
VARIABLES, AND ALSO ALLOW PASSING OF
ARRAYS AS PARAMENTERS. ╔F YOU DON'T
KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, THAT'S ╧╦ SINCE
┬┴╙╔├ DOESN'T ALLOW IT ANYWAY, BUT
╞╧╥╘╥┴╬, ├, AND ╨ASCAL USE PROCEDURES
EXTENSIVELY. ├╧═┴╠ ALLOWS YOU TO
CREATE NEW COMMANDS USING PROCEDURES.

╘HEN TOO, ├╧═┴╠ HAS ╠OGO-LIKE ╘URTLE
╟RAPHICS. ╔F YOU'VE READ ABOUT ╠OGO
AND WANT TO TRY IT (OR WANT YOUR KIDS
TO TRY IT) YOU CAN HAVE IT WITHOUT
GETTING STILL ANOTHER LANGUAGE DISK.
╔N ADDITION, ALL THE ╠OGO COMMANDS
CAN BE USED WITHIN ANY ├╧═┴╠ PROGRAM.

├╧═┴╠ FREES YOU FROM DEALING WITH
MANY OF THE ╨┼┼╦S AND ╨╧╦┼S THAT
┬┴╙╔├ REQUIRES. ╔F YOU WANT TO CHANGE
THE BACKGROUND, BORDER, OR TEXT
COLOR, ├╧═┴╠ HAS COMMANDS TO DO IT.
╔F YOU WANT TO USE REGULAR OR HIGH
RESOLUTION GRAPHICS, ├╧═┴╠ HAS THE
COMMANDS TO DO IT, AND IF YOU WANT TO
USE THE TREMENDOUS GRAPHICS
CAPABILITIES OF THE ├64, ├╧═┴╠ HAS
SPRITE COMMANDS.

╘HESE COMMANDS LET YOU DEFINE,
IDENTIFY, MOVE, AND HIDE SPRITES. ╔F
YOU WANT TO WRITE GAMES, ├╧═┴╠ HAS
COMMANDS TO DETECT COLLISIONS BETWEEN
SPRITES, AND COLLISIONS OF SPRITES
WITH TEXT.

╬OW WE COME TO USER SUPPORT. ├╧═┴╠
HAS A NATIONAL USERS GROUP, AND SMALL
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ATTACHED TO
MOST ├OMMODORE CLUBS. ├╧═┴╠ ╒╙┴
PUBLISHES A MAGAZINE THAT DEALS ONLY
WITH ├╧═┴╠. ╘HEY ALSO DISTRIBUTE
PUBLIC DOMAIN ├╧═┴╠ PROGRAMS ON DISK.
╘O THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, THERE
ARE NO NATIONAL SUPPORT GROUPS FOR
├64 ╨ASCAL, ├, ╞╧╥╘╥┴╬, ├╧┬╧╠, OR
╙IMON'S ┬┴╙╔├.

╙INCE ├╧═┴╠ IS A "STANDARDIZED"
LANGUAGE, PROGRAMS WRITTEN ON ANY
COMPUTER WILL WORK ON ANY OTHER
COMPUTER THAT SUPPORTS ├╧═┴╠,
INCLUDING THE ╔┬═ ╨├, ├╨/═ SYSTEMS,
┴PPLE ╔╔E/╔╔C, AND THE ═ACINTOSH.

├╧═┴╠ IS AVAILABLE ON THE ├64 IN TWO
WAYS. ╘HE DISK LOADED VERSION 0.14 IS
ON THIS ┴HOY DISK. ┴ MORE POWERFUL
VERSION OF ├╧═┴╠ 2.0 IS AVAILABLE IN
A CARTRIDGE, WHICH WORKS WITH THE ├64
AND THE ├128. ┘OU CAN OBTAIN THESE
ITEMS ALONG WITH 18 OTHER ├╧═┴╠ BOOKS
FROM ├╧═┴╠ ╒╙┴.

╙O, TO ANSWER THE ORIGINAL QUESTION,
├╧═┴╠ IS THE BEST FIRST COMPUTER
LANGUAGE, BUT IT MAY BE THE ONLY
COMPUTER LANGUAGE THAT YOU'LL EVER
NEED TO LEARN.