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- COMAL PlayNOTES - June 1985
- ===== ========= ==== ====
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- by: Joel Ellis Rea
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- When using PLAYNET, users are
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- identified by their first name plus
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- their last initial. If two or more
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- users wind up with the same ID, then
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- numbers are tacked onto the last
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- initial (ex. BILL T1 and BILL T2) to
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- help avoid confusion.
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- ------------- June 6 -----------------
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- I shared my discovery that COMAL
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- does not use true integer math, even
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- with integer (#) variables, except in
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- a FOR-loop index. For speed, use REAL
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- variables except for FOR indices.
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- For more memory, use INTEGERS.
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- Amiga is to be released shortly!
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- There is already a magazine in the
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- works called Amiga World! Each Amiga
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- will come with a subscription card.
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- We had a BIG discussion on the need
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- for an Apple COMAL. Jim V is so
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- desperate, he wants to form a
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- company to write it!
-
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- -------------- June 13 ---------------
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- The Captain wowed Playnet users with
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- a super, short-term bargain for 'COMAL
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- Today' subscribers. The offer is over
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- now. Sorry! Part of it, though, was a
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- new CBM-64 COMAL-80 2.01 Tutorial
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- Binder and Disk set, written by Frank
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- Bason and Leo Hojsholt-Poulsen.
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- William B1 says it is the best
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- tutorial he has ever seen, for any
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- language on any computer! The chapter
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- titles are:
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- 1. Setting Up Your Computer
- 2. Let's Get Started
- 3. COMAL Programming
- 4. COMAL Overview
- 5. COMAL Packages
- 6. COMAL File Handling
- 7. Peripheral Equipment
- 8. COMAL and Machine Language
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- Sounds pretty complete to me!
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- William B1 asked about the use of
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- WRITE FILE & READ FILE statement with
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- arrays. He wanted to know if an array
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- can be written in its entirety to a
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- RANDOM FILE with a single WRITE FILE
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- statement, and if individual elements
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- of the array can then be accessed via
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- READ FILE statements later. After much
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- debate and experimentation, the answer
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- we all came up with was NO, due to the
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- way the 1541 handles relative (RANDOM)
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- files.
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- Proposed: A 'Borge' night on Play-
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- NET when Borge Christensen comes to
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- the U. S. of A. for the MARCA
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- convention.
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- Larry P2 found an anomaly in the
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- TURTLE package involving its INQ
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- function. It seems that INQ(17) which
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- returns the X-coordinate of the
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- Turtle, and INQ(18) which returns the
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- Y-coordinate, return these
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- coordinates based on actual pixels
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- with (0,0) in the lower left corner,
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- without taking any WINDOW or VIEWPORT
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- settings into account. Indeed, since
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- TURTLE defaults (0,0) in the CENTER
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- of the screen, this must be taken
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- into account even without WINDOW or
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- VIEWPORT settings when using TURTLE!
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- Proto-C is NOT a version of the 'C'
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- programming language. It is an expert
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- system written entirely in COMAL 2.0!
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- It supports up to 4000 records per
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- disk and handles multi-disks. It
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- solves problems by algebraic set
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- theory, such as classification
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- problems. It runs in only 14K.
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- Michael E wrote it, and Len Lindsay
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- (Captain COMAL) may publish it.
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- More later!
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- We discussed the Oberon Omni-Reader,
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- a $599 optical character reader. It
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- can actually read typewritten text
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- into the C-64 via the user port!
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- --------------- June 20 --------------
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- CUGUSA (COMAL User's Group, USA) has
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- instituted a PRICE PROTECTION PLAN!
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- If any item purchased from them drops
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- in price within one month of purchase,
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- CUGUSA will credit the difference
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- toward future purchases!
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- Cap requests that COMALites that
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- read the Ahoy magazine, particularly
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- their 'COMMODARES' column, send in
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- solutions to the COMMODARES written in
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- COMAL. A great way to spread COMAL
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- around! There was much talk, all very
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- speculative, on the Amiga.
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- Cap informed us that, with the
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- COMAL 2 cartridge, you can do a
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- SELECT INPUT "sp:" (Serial Port),
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- then run COMAL from a remote
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- terminal! Likewise, LIST "sp:" sends
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- current program as a LISTing over the
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- modem!
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- He also announced that at MARCA,
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- CUGUSA would officially announce:
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- 'COMAL QUICK', a version of COMAL 0.14
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- with a 1541 & MSD compatible fast load
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- routine built-in, which loads in only
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- 20 seconds, and remains active to beef
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- up loading speed from within COMAL;
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- plus 'QUICK CHIP', an EPROM that plugs
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- into the new Commodore-distributed
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- COMAL 2.01 cartridge that provides a
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- similar fast-loader for loading COMAL
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- 2.0 programs! Both are by the amazing
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- Jesse Knight, author of 'COMAL 2.0
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- Packages' book and disk set!
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-
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- ------ Continued in Next Article -----
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