BASIC?

[AuroraMSX]

Hello all,

Since I'm kinda off-line-ish lately , I'm not completely up to par regarding the latest C-BIOS development. My question is: does C-BIOS already include (some parts of) the MSX BASIC interpreter? If not, is someone working on it?

If not, I think I'll have a go at it

[AuroraMSX]

Oh, the subject of including MSX-BASIC into C-BIOS has of course been discussed before, and a number of questions kept popping up. I'll give my 2 cts of rationales here...


* Why MSX-BASIC and not perl/php/python/ruby/intercal/brainfuck/...?

A number of reasons actually - in rnd(-time) order:
- the BIOS provides entries for MSX-BASIC, not for any other language.
- a user expects to get an MSX-BASIC environment and not a perl/php/python/ruby/intercal/brainfuck/... .
- a user will want to run his/her fav MSX-BASIC programs. That won't work in an perl,php,intercal,etc environment - even if it's an other BASIC dialect
- any programming language other than MSX-BASIC can be provided as ROM or .COM. No need to put it into the C-BIOS.


* Why not create an extended BASIC, with support for eg. MBM replay, or screen 0 windowing?

That's all cool and fun. But I see that as an extension to the standard MSX-BASIC interpreter. And again: those extensions can be provided as TSR, as ROM or any other conventional way of extending the MSX-BASIC interpreter.

Cheers!

[Vampier]

php would be nice to be honest powerful and not so damn limited as basic...

as far as I know cbios has come to a standstil after the release of 0.20... a few improvements have been done but overal the project is pretty much idle (python would be nice to, but we have no space for that many spaces )

[Manuel]

I think the first main goal of this interpreter would be the enabling of loader programs in basic, when we have disk support working.

The goal of C-BIOS is compatibility, so any other language doesn't seem to be the target of this project, because they will not be compatible with MSX-BASIC

[Vampier]

so for now the main things would be

-line numbers
-autoexec.bas detection
-loading of files

screen
width
print
color
load
bload
poke
def usr and usr(X)

this is what most loaders are made off.

Maybe then we could do the graphical stuff.... the msx basic isn't that big, but it sure is very powerfull.

[mars2000you]

MSX-BASIC is the most extended BASIC, especially when you come in the graphic area !

So, I guess that it will be a very hard work to support all the Basic instructions in C-BIOS ....

I say "all" and I think also about the FM-BASIC (and his variant MSX-AUDIO-BASIC) because music is part of the real MSX experience

But as Vampier has said, there must be a beginning, with the 'basic' BASIC ( ) instructions

[AuroraMSX]

MSX BASIC is rather extended, compared to other BASICs of its era. Take a look at e.g C-64 BASIC, which has no means at all (besides POKE and SYS) to accomplish anything regarding graphics or sound. MSX BASIC is not ht emost extended BASIC I've seen, tho. The Acorn BBC has a very nice and even more extended BASIC.

Anyway. I think I'll actually start with the screen editor routines PINLIN and INLIN, since those are the main routines for entering BASIC programs. I think even the LOAD routines use those to enter BASIC code.

The next step will be the expression evaluator, so you can do fun stuff like
10 A=3: B=A-2

After that, it's a matter of adding support for program control (IF/THEN/ELSE, FOR/NEXT, GOTO/GOSUB/RETURN), followed by the various BASIC commands: LOAD and SAVE will be the first on the list, I guess.

[Vampier]

Aurora basic has a nice ring to it

[AuroraMSX]

Been there, done that. I'm "Aurora advanced" now

[Vampier]

I am ready to test so bring it on!

How's GermanY treating you?

[AuroraMSX]

I am ready to test so bring it on!

Hold your horses - I haven't started yet

How's Germant treating you?

Beer- and f00d-wise: perfect
Regarding work: slow - but as long as I get paid, I ain't complaining too loud
On the topic of connectivity: coming up next week, I hope (Yeay!)

[andete]

If I'd start on BASIC support for C-BIOS I'd probably start with a basic tokenizer, and a very simple executer. Once that works a basic set of commands can be implemented.

Another thing which might be interesting as a sort of standalone thing is all the DAC calculation routines, and stuff like COS, SIN, TAN...

I know they're prolly not the most "urgent" but I think they might be relatively easy things to start with.

[Guest]

Implementing a clone of MSX-BASIC will be a real trick. I wish you luck.

[Guest]

Maybe the very first goal could be to get the ROMS that use basic to start up to work?
I guess most graphic commands could just be stubbed.

[Vampier]

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