Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!ee.rochester.edu!seah From: seah@ee.rochester.edu (David Seah) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: GS Sound (was:Re: Stellar 7 re-release) Message-ID: <1990Dec18.195755.2385@ee.rochester.edu> Date: 18 Dec 90 19:57:55 GMT References: <10128@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Organization: University of Rochester Department of Electrical Engineering Lines: 39 In article <10128@darkstar.ucsc.edu> unknown@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (The Unknown User) writes: >In article NOWAKO09@SNYBUFVA.BITNET (APPLE //GS - THE POWER TO BE YOUR BEST) writes: >} The big BIG diffeculty is in programming the damn 5505 chip! I thought >}when I bought my GS that I could get great stuff out of Basic. Donkey chips! > > I think that is a VERY VERY VERY unfair complaint saying you want >to do things from BASIC! >[Mass speculation follows] I believe, though, that the original poster has a valid wish. Not everybody is interested in sinking 800 dollars in development tools and investing the time to learn them. One really cool thing about the old Apple II line was that you could turn it on and program simple HIRES graphics in Applesoft. Sure, you're not going to write today's hot arcade game in Applesoft, but not everyone wants that. It's sort of sad that the IIGS moved away from that kind of readily accessible power. If the IIGS had been bundled with a simple animation and sound program with a little enhanced BASIC thrown in for control, more teachers and computer neophytes could have written their own personal applications. Not quick, but THEIRS...letting the computer be the media for personal expression. Remember, Applesoft was the common base of exploration for ALL new Apple II users way back in the 70s. Now there is no common base for the IIGS...just applications. > To do anything reasonably complicated on most computers, you have to >do it in assembly language or some high level language.. (other than BASIC). Now that's a tightly focused guideline to live by! :) I love assembly language and C, but my first love was Applesoft. You don't have to boot GS/OS to get it running, it almost never destroys the machine state no matter how many mistakes you make, and it's interpreted. It used nearly the entire feature-set of the Apple II Plus. It made just about every Apple owner a potential programmer right out of the box. --- Dave Seah | Omnidyne Systems-M | INET: seah@ee.rochester.edu | | "User-Friendly Killing Machines" | America Online: AFC DaveS | ^..^ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ yargh! | University of Rochester, Department of Electrical Engineering |