Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!rochester!PT.CS.CMU.EDU!andrew.cmu.edu!mw22+
From: mw22+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Alan Wertheim)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Continuation of the Apple II line
Message-ID: <IVT0=zy00Xo8JPo08i@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Tue, 20-Oct-87 20:42:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: andrew.IVT0=zy00Xo8JPo08i
Posted: Tue Oct 20 20:42:39 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 22-Oct-87 03:27:56 EDT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University
Lines: 29
In-Reply-To: <865@cod.NOSC.MIL>


Re: Comments about Applesoft's shortcomings

	Normally, when I have to write a program on my Apple //c, the only
language around is Applesoft.  (I wouldn't touch Apple Pascal with a 10-foot
pole.)
	A good alternative to Applesoft -- more like "enhancement" -- is the
Software Touch's "ProBasic."  It is fully Applesoft-compatible.  It lets you
write procedures and functions either in Applesoft (with local variables) or
machine language.  Procedures and functions can have either value or variable
parameters.  Even recursion is possible.  Procedures and functions can be
saved and loaded indpendent of the main program.  (Also, local variables mean
you can declare an array in a procedure, and when the procedure exits, the
array is forgotten.)
	An "else" statement has been added to the if/then construct, but
"while" and "repeat" loops are still missing.  Abstract data types are also
missing.
	The neat thing: true random access files.  You can declare an array
to exist on disk (ramdisk unless you have a lot of time).  Then a statement
like "A(1) = 0" will write to the file, and "PRINT A(1)" will read from the
file.


Michael Wertheim
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA

Arpa: mw22@andrew.cmu.edu
Bitnet: mw22@cmuccvma
UUCP: ...!{seismo, ucbvax, harvard}!andrew.cmu.edu!mw22#