Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!van-bc!lpami
From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: RexxArpLib and friends
Message-ID: <2316@van-bc.UUCP>
Date: 12 Mar 89 00:27:59 GMT
Sender: lpami@van-bc.UUCP
Lines: 50

In <6839@super.ORG>, rminnich@super.ORG (Ronald G Minnich) writes:
 >In article <45580@linus.UUCP> sdl@linus.UUCP (Steven D. Litvintchouk) writes:
 >>These things sound super!  Where can I find out more about them?  How
 >>can I obtain them?  (I own ARexx v1.04.)

 >They are super. They are wonderful. Anybody out there who has Arexx and 
 >who doesn't have these libraries is really missing out on a Good Thing. 
 >Since they did come across on the Bob Page version of comp.sources.amiga
 >you can doubtless find them at swan.ulowell.edu, which is right up
 >in sdl's neck of the woods. 
 >   I keep dreaming that 1.4 will see the disappearance of AmigaBasic
 >(crudware) and its replacement with Arexx, somehow. Dream on, dream on ...
 >   Can anyone verify my gut impression that amigabasic is unchanged from
 >1.1 days (i.e. the binaries compare? Hmm, guess I will have to bring
 >'cmp' over and try this out.)

I agree wholeheartedly about ARexx, though i think perhaps there are enough
Basic programmers out there who would be comfortable with a good implementation
of Basic. Certainly Microsloth's pitiful contribution doesn't fit the bill.

I have just been playing with a new basic compiler from Michtron, called
"HiSoft BASIC Professional", and find it amazingly good. I am not a fan of
Basic in general, but this package is very nice. My first test was, what else,
'Hello world', which compiled to a surprisingly small 9276 bytes (not far from
the early Lattice 'hello world' using puts(), and about 5K smaller than the
early Lattice one using printf(). 'hello world' compiles in 3.56 seconds for
the standalone run time code, 2.8 seconds for the 'library' option, which
requires the 'hisoftbasic.library' to run. When compiled to use the library,
the code size is 404 bytes.

I haven't used the 'integrated editor, error, run' facilities at all (I have my
own favourite editor) yet, but it is simplicity itself to use from the CLI. You
can produce, as I mentioned above, code dependent on the library (46K or so for
the library), standalone executable, and you can even produce 'linkable code'
for combining your Basic program with C or assembler. The calling conventions
are the same as for C.

Quite a nice package. If you like Basic, or know anyone who does, check this
one out.

-larry

--
Frisbeetarianism: The belief that when you die, your soul goes up on
                  the roof and gets stuck.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ 
|   //   Larry Phillips                                                |
| \X/    lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca or uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips  |
|        COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322                                        |
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