Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!bbn!bbn.com!cosell
From: cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Having trouble with the Execute() dos call
Keywords: AmigaBasic
Message-ID: <24869@bbn.COM>
Date: 23 May 88 13:32:01 GMT
Sender: news@bbn.COM
Reply-To: cosell@BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Lines: 28

Hi-
  In the unlikely event that there's an AmigaBasic wizard out there some
place, I thought I'd push my luck and try another inquiry about the mysteries
of using the "real" libraries out of Basic.  This time, I'm doing battle
with Execute&().  As I read the description of that call, it _seems_
benign enough, but when I try to call it, my Amiga goes up in flames in
all kinds of exciting ways -- of course, making it impossible to figure out
what went wrong.  I tried something REAL simple like:
   library "dos.library"
   declare function Execute&() library
   Execute& (sadd ("date > ram:junk"), 0&, 0&)
Guru-central.  If I try the above with the "> ram:junk" left out, I
assumed (with my eternal naivete) that date would inherit the "current"
screen, which I hoped would be the basic screen.  No such luck, of
course -- this time, I think it just made the machine stop dead in its
tracks: no guru, nothing (wouldn't track the mouse or do ANYTHING).

  This and my previous inquiry (that about Examine()) all clearly come
from a lack of understanding about what is REALLY going on in the
underpinnings of amigabasic -- is there someone out there who is
willing to enlighten me a bit?  Or perhaps, is there some "official"
place I could ask questions like this -- can I call Microsoft and try
to find "amigabasic support"?  How about trying to find someone at CATS
tasked with being wizard-of-basic?  Thanks
   __
  /  )                              Bernie Cosell
 /--<  _  __  __   o _              BBN Labs, Cambridge, MA 02238
/___/_(<_/ (_/) )_(_(<_             cosell@bbn.com