ÂÁÓÉÃ ÔÏ ÃÏÍÁÌ ÔÒÁÎÓÌÁÔÏÒ

BY ÓOL ËATZ

ÂREATHES THERE A HACKER
WITH SOUL SO DEAD,
WHO IN HIS OWN HEART HATH NOT SAID,
"ÔHERE HAS GOT TO BE SOME EASY WAY TO
CONVERT ALL THOSE ÂÁÓÉÃ PROGRAMS TO
ÃÏÍÁÌ."

(APOLOGIES TO POETRY LOVERS
EVERYWHERE.)

ÔWO ÃÏÍÁÌ 0.14 PROGRAMS COMPRISE THE
BASIC2COMAL SYSTEM. ÔHIS TWO PART
SYSTEM IS DESIGNED TO HELP
PROGRAMMERS CONVERT Ã64 ÂÁÓÉÃ
PROGRAMS TO ÃÏÍÁÌ. ÂEFORE YOU GET TOO
EXCITED, IT ONLY DOES ABOUT 80% OF
THE TEXT CONVERSION AND NONE OF THE
CONVERSION NECESSARY TO GET RID OF
THE TORTURED LOGIC INHERENT IN ÂÁÓÉÃ
"SPAGHETTI" CODE.

ÔO RUN THE PROGRAMS, THE FOLLOWING
CONDITION MUST BE MET:

ÂOTH ÃÏÍÁÌ PROGRAMS AND THE ÂÁÓÉÃ
PROGRAM TO BE CONVERTED MUST BE ON
THE SAME DISK WITH ENOUGH FREE DISK
SPACE TO WRITE SEVERAL FILES.

ÔHE BASIC2COMAL SYSTEM DOES THE
FOLLOWING:

* CONVERTS ÂÁÓÉÃ TOKENS TO KEYWORDS
* PUTS SPACES AROUND KEYWORDS
* CONVERTS ÇÏÔÏ # TO ÇÏÔÏ ÇÔ# (A
  LABEL) AND THEN PUTS ÇÔ#: IN THE
  RIGHT PLACE;
* CONVERTS ÇÏÓÕÂ # TO ÅØ# (A PROC
  NAME) AND PUTS THE PROC NAME IN THE
  RIGHT PLACE
* STRIPS ÂÁÓÉÃ LINE NUMBERS AND PUTS
  IN SEQUENTIAL ÃÏÍÁÌ LINE NUMBERS
* CONVERTS ÏÎ..ÇÏÔÏ AND ÏÎ..ÇÏÓÕÂ TO
  ÃÁÓÅ STRUCTURE
* INSERTS A ÇÏÔÏ IN ÉÆ EXPRESSION
  ÔÈÅÎ #
* CONVERTS USER DEFINED ÂÁÓÉÃ
  FUNCTIONS (ÄÅÆ ÆÎ) TO ÃÏÍÁÌ FORMAT
* PARTIALLY CONVERTS ÌÅÆÔ$, ÍÉÄ$ AND
  ÒÉÇÈÔ$ TO ÃÏÍÁÌ STRING FORMAT,
  USING THE ÌÅÎ FUNCTION AND A DUMMY
  STRING VARIABLE, ØØ$
* CONVERTS ÒÅÔÕÒÎ TO ÅÎÄÐÒÏÃ
* CONVERTS ALL ÉÆ..ÔÈÅÎ STATEMENTS TO
  ÉÆ..ÔÈÅÎ..ÅÎÄÉÆ BLOCK FORMAT
* INSERTS SOME COMMAS IN SOME ÐÒÉÎÔ
  STATEMENTS (ÂÁÓÉÃ ISN'T AS STRICT
  AS ÃÏÍÁÌ WHEN SEPARATING VARIABLES
  FROM FUNCTIONS LIKE ÔÁÂ AND ÓÐÃ)
* CONVERTS ÒÅÍ TO //
* CONVERTS ÎÅØÔ TO ÅÎÄÆÏÒ
* HIDES ÂÁÓÉÃ KEYWORDS THAT HAVE NO
  ÃÏÍÁÌ EQUIVALENTS
* APPENDS THE STRING "ÏÆ 10" TO ALL
  ÄÉÍ VARIABLE$(NUMBER) STATEMENTS
* SPLITS ALL MULTIPLE STATEMENTS ON
  ONE LINE TO SEPARATE LINES
* SEVERAL OTHER MINOR CONVERSIONS

ÔHE PROGRAM LEAVES THE FOLLOWING FOR
THE USER TO DO:

* ÄÉÍ STRING VARIABLES THAT ARE NOT
  ÂÁÓÉÃ ARRAYS
* CONVERT ÏÐÅÎ STATEMENTS TO ÃÏÍÁÌ
  FORMAT
* INITIALIZE NUMERIC VARIABLES BEFORE
  THEY ARE USED IN LOGIC STATEMENTS
* INSERT OCCASIONAL COMMAS IN PRINT
  STATEMENTS
* SUBSTITUTE THE CORRECT STRING
  VARIABLE IN THE CONVERTED ÌÅÆÔ$,
  ÍÉÄ$ AND ÒÉÇÈÔ$ FUNCTIONS
* FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THE ÓÐÃ
  FUNCTION (CONVERTED TO ÓÐÃÓ) TO
  WORK
* FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET ÓÙÓ #,# TO
  WORK IN ÃÏÍÁÌ (AN UNDOCUMENTED
  ÂÁÓÉÃ FEATURE THAT SHOWED UP IN
  SOME PUBLIC DOMAIN PROGRAMS FROM
  ÃOMMODORE)
* CONVERT ÔÉ, ÔÉ$, ÖÁÌ, ÇÅÔ AND OTHER
  FUNCTIONS TO ÃÏÍÁÌ FUNCTIONS (THIS
  WILL BE MUCH EASIER IN ÃÏÍÁÌ 2.0
  THEN IN ÃÏÍÁÌ 0.14)
* CHANGE ÐÅÅË AND ÐÏËÅ TO WORK WITH
  ÃÏÍÁÌ ADDRESSES
* PUT QUOTES AROUND STRINGS IN SOME
  ÄÁÔÁ STATEMENTS
* AND LAST BUT MOST IMPORTANT,
  UNTANGLE THE LOGIC THAT USES
  SUBROUTINE LINE NUMBERS AS TARGETS
  FOR ÇÏÔÏ STATEMENTS

ÂASIC2COMAL ASKS FOR THE NAME OF THE
ÂÁÓÉÃ PROGRAM FILE TO BE TRANSLATED.
ÉT WRITES OUTPUT TO TWO FILES AFTER
DELETING OLDER VERSIONS. ÔHE FIRST IS
CALLED STRUCTURED'BASIC. ÉT CONTAINS
AN ÁÓÃÉÉ FILE OF THE CONVERTED ÂÁÓÉÃ
PROGRAM (INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL ÂÁÓÉÃ
LINE NUMBERS AS COMMENTS). ÔHE SECOND
FILE (CALLED GOTOS'AND'PROCS)
CONTAINS THE LINE NUMBERS THAT WERE
PART OF ÇÏÔÏ AND ÇÏÓÕÂ STATEMENTS.
ÔHE ÇÏÓÕÂ LINE NUMBERS WERE MADE
NEGATIVE TO OVERCOME THE Ã64
LIMITATION OF ALLOWING A MAXIMUM OF 3
FILES OPEN AT ONCE (THE ÂÁÓÉÃ FILE,
STRUCTURED'BASIC, AND
GOTOS'AND'PROCS). É HAD TO STORE THE
LINE NUMBERS IN A FILE AND SPLIT THE
PROGRAM INTO 2 PARTS TO OVERCOME THE
12Ë AVAILABLE MEMORY LIMIT IN ÃÏÍÁÌ
0.14.

ÔHE FIRST PROGRAM THEN CHAINS THE
SECOND. ÉT READS THE LINE NUMBERS
INTO 2 ARRAYS, THE POSITIVE NUMBERS
INTO THE GOTO ARRAY AND THE NEGATIVE
NUMBERS, AFTER CONVERTION TO
POSITIVE, INTO THE PROC ARRAY. ÔHE
ARRAYS ARE THEN SORTED. ÉT THEN OPENS
STRUCTURED'BASIC, COMPARES THE SORTED
ÇÏÔÏ #S AND ÇÏÓÕÂ #S WITH THE ÂÁÓÉÃ
LINE NUMBERS AND INSERTS THEM AS
ÌÁÂÅÌS OR ÐÒÏÃ NAMES IN THE CORRECT
ORDER. ×HEN ÌÁÂÅÌS AND ÐÒÏÃ NAMES
OCCUR AT THE SAME ÂÁÓÉÃ LINE NUMBER,
THE ÐÒÏÃ NAME IS ENTERED FIRST. ÔHE
ÂÁÓÉÃ LINE NUMBERS ARE STRIPED OFF
AND NEW LINE NUMBERS ADDED. ÔHEN EACH
LINE IS WRITTEN TO A FILE CALLED
ALMOST'COMAL.

ÔHE LAST STEP IN THE AUTOMATED
CONVERSION IS TO FIND (AND HOPEFULLY
CORRECT) THE REMAINING SYNTAX ERRORS.
É USED THE DYNAMIC KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE
TO PUT THE COMMANDS:

NEW
ENTER "ALMOST'COMAL"

ON THE SCREEN, AND ÐÏËÅD RETURNS
(ÃÈÒ$(13)) INTO THE KEYBOARD BUFFER.
ÔHIS AUTOMATICALLY CLEARS MEMORY AND
FEEDS EACH LINE OF ÁÓÃÉÉ CODE TO
ÃÏÍÁÌ'S SYNTAX CHECKING ROUTINES. ÉT
IS AS IF YOU ENTERED THE LINE
INVISIBLY AT THE KEYBOARD. ÉF THE
LINE IS CORRECT IT GOES ON TO THE
NEXT LINE. ÉF THE LINE HAS AN ERROR,
THE LINE AND STANDARD ÃÏÍÁÌ ERROR
MESSAGE WILL BE DISPLAYED. ÙOU MUST
DEAL WITH THE SYNTAX ERROR. ÉF YOU
DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG, MAKE THE
WHOLE LINE A COMMENT BY PUTTING A !
RIGHT AFTER THE LINE NUMBER (A ! IS
COVERTED TO // BY ÃÏÍÁÌ FOR YOU). ÉF
YOU USE THE UP OR DOWN CURSOR KEYS,
THE PROGRAM WILL STOP BEING ENTERED
AT THE PREVIOUS LINE. ÉF YOU
ACCIDENTALLY STOP THE AUTOMATIC
ENTERING, YOU CAN START OVER BY
TYPING:

ENTER "ALMOST'COMAL"

ÁFTER THE LAST LINE HAS BEEN
AUTOMATICALLY ENTERED FROM THE FILE,
YOU HAVE A ÃÏÍÁÌ PROGRAM THAT IS
READY FOR DEBUGGING. É SUGGEST YOU
SAVE IT UNDER A NEW NAME SINCE THE
FILE ALMOST'COMAL IS DELETED WHEN
BASIC2COMAL IS RUN AGAIN.

ÔHE REST IS UP TO YOU. ÇOOD LUCK AND
DON'T FORGET TO SEND COPIES OF YOUR
CONVERTED PROGRAMS TO ÃÏÍÁÌ ÕSERS
ÇROUP, Õ.Ó.Á., ÌIMITED SO THAT WE CAN
ALL SHARE THEM.

[ÔHIS SYSTEM PROVIDES AN EXCELLENT
STARTING POINT FOR ANYONE WISHING TO
IMPROVE ON IT. ÐLEASE LET US KNOW IF
YOU DO!]