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From: Felton.PA@XEROX.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.micro.atari
Subject: Re: Action! Programming
Message-ID: <851126-132552-1069@Xerox>
Date: Tue, 26-Nov-85 16:26:09 EST
Article-I.D.: Xerox.851126-132552-1069
Posted: Tue Nov 26 16:26:09 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Nov-85 21:24:39 EST
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Sender: wold@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
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	I have been using ACTION! for large programming projects for two years
now and find it to be far and away the best development environment for
the Atari 8-bit computers. ACTION! is a block structured langauge
similar to Pascal and C. My best guess as to why Clint Parker (the
creator of ACTION!) decided to invent a new language instead of using
Pascal and C is that he had his own ideas about what a programming
environment on an Atari computer should be like and he didn't want to
compromise them for the sake of limited compatability. After all, the
idea was to unleash the power of the Atari (e.g. allow assembly language
control in a high level environment). This could hardly be done by
porting C programs from another environment. The advantage of ACTION!
over BASIC could hardly be enumerated in a short message. The primary
advantages are: run time speed, structured syntax, accessability to
advanced Atari features (DLI's, P/M graphics, etc.).
	
	The indentation in an ACTION! program is used purely for readability of
the source code. The particular spacing for any given program is based
solely on the desires of the programmer that wrote it.
	


John Felton

I have no connection with ACTION! or O.S.S. except as a happy customer.