Programing in Basic

[melott]

While risking all the 'Hiss'ing and 'Boo'ing.
Are there any other hobbiests (Non-Serious :-D)
programers interested in 'ACE / Cursor' (AmigaBasic)
basic??
I just like to play around, I'm not serious enough
to want to try to get my head around 'C'.
I've started a secret group on YahooGroups called,
what else but "AmigaBasic".
Your name will be keeped secret so as not to be
subjected to the 'CatCalls' from those other more
serious programers.
'Cursor' really is quite easy to work with.

[TheMagicM]

sure... give me a url so I can download/check it out.  sign me up.

[melott]

@ The MagicM

CURSOR and ACE (latest versions) are available
on Aminet.
And the group can be found on Yahoo Groups in the
Basic programing groups section.
I've set up the group so as to keep out the 'Spammers'
(I hope).
You have to go to the Yahoo groups and request to join
and be approved.
This will keep out the Spammers I hope.

[TheMagicM]

ok..I'll download it and install it.  I read up on ACE and it sounds pretty powerful.  Time will be my constraint as I'm spending alot of time w/C.

[SamuraiCrow]

ACE Basic produces some bloated code due to it not using a shared runtime library (like Amos.library for AmosPro) but doesn't produce fast code either (like AmiBlitz) so I have abandoned all hope in ACE Basic.  I am helping Sidewinder write a new basic compiler that uses C as a backend for maximum portability and speed.  It's designed with Amos Basic compatability in mind but as an extended new version with features that AmosPro lacks.  Our Yahoo group is  here if you want to get involved with the development of it...

[melott]

@SamuraiCrow

Yes... I know of SideWinder's project, it will be great
if it will run on AROS.

As to ACE's compiler, I haven't really used it yet.
I've been using CURSOR. It has a fair editor that runs
on OS 2.xx and above.
The ACE compiler looks like it should be pretty good.
It have IIRC 3 levels of optimization.
CURSOR also has 3 levels of optimization.
I've used CURSOR on a few examples of basic prgs.
from the FISH disks and I though it did quite well.
As I said before, I'm just a hobbiest.
I don't want work that hard learning 'C'.

[Jose]

@melott

C is not hard, what is hard is learning all the system stuff you have to learn (or C's standard library or whatever it's called), and learning to control the compiler.
But once I've read a couple of chapters of the RKM Libraries it made all the difference, not only you know how to use the OS directly but you can much better appreciate it and kinda know how it works. It's a whole lot of stuff though to be honest and after about reading 6 or 7 chapters of it I noticed that there's no way I'm gonna remind all that stuff, so when coding I allways have the book on my side to use AmigaOS calls  :-D . When you have some doubt, post something on the forums there's a whole load of cool Amiga coders that like to chat and help.