Synthpopalooza Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Also, on the POKEY notes: You forgot to mention that distortion 0 can also be used (storing $00 to $0F in AUDCx) ... Distortion 0 is a pink noise distortion, similar to Distortion 8, but a little rougher sounding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted April 19, 2014 Author Share Posted April 19, 2014 Ok, I added that to the table. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 beta 0.1 20140423 is now in the first post, replacing the old version. Here's the complete change log... added indirect arrays. added CARRY to if...then implementation. fixed a bug where incgraphic would refuse to import 256 byte-wide non-160A graphics. fixed a bug where "return:rem comment" would cause a compile error. extended the number of constants to accommodate large numbers of color constants. ...I ditched the pokey ipoke/ipeek concept in favor of implementing "indirect arrays", which is a general solution to using indirect addressing from within 7800basic. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambler172 Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Hi RevEng great,will check at weekend greetings Walter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Indirect arrays.. is that like when you DIM the playfield RAM as an array in bB? dim vidmem = $a4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Hey, you have a complete character set for both the regular and doublewide modes? Does it match up with ASCII, or how does that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 Indirect arrays.. is that like when you DIM the playfield RAM as an array in bB? dim vidmem = $a4 Nope. Those are RAM arrays, and function the same as in bB. Indirect arrays are covered in the guide. The executive summary is they're like regular arrays, except you can change the location of the array at any time. They're mostly handy for advanced pokey manipulation, though you could use them for heavily data driven game code where the data varies greatly. E.g. A point-and-click adventure room interaction engine. Hey, you have a complete character set for both the regular and doublewide modes? Does it match up with ASCII, or how does that work?The "atascii" one lines up with ascii, the others don't. Check out alphachars entry in the guide for usage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Okay, just one more thing. /columbo How would you display characters that aren't on a keyboard? Is there a chr$ command or something to that effect? Also, which characters are off-limits to use? (Return seems like a candidate.) I did look through the alphachars section but didn't find an answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 There's no chr$ command. So far as valid characters in alphadata or as direct plotchar strings, you can use any alphanumeric or punctuation character except for the single quote, since it's used as the string delimiter. If you want to display control/non-printable characters, like return, there are a few options... 1. If using a non-ascii graphic, just substitute an unused printable character and graphic for the non-printable one you want to display. 2. Use a regular data statement to define the characters by # instead of letter. To do this, the character graphic should be the first graphic you "incgraphic". If you use the atascii graphic, the # would correspond to the ASCII character code. 3. If you're using RAM based character maps/strings, you can use peekchar to set a non-printable character code at a given location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcprs1 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 I just installed this and got it to compile the sample programs. Now on to figuring out how to get GIMP working for images. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BioForceApe Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 When this is good enough, someone will need to make a " Visual 7B"... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Iacovelli Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 When this is good enough, someone will need to make a " Visual 7B"... I agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 The synax doesn't stray too far from standard bB. Perhaps if we asked jwierer nicely something could be done to VisualbB. Also, I have no idea how this would be done, but.. what about Sega Genesis pad support? Is there any way to access those extra buttons and/or ignore the "stuck" button effect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 The synax doesn't stray too far from standard bB. Perhaps if we asked jwierer nicely something could be done to VisualbB. I was waiting until the language is closer to being finished before asking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Iacovelli Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 I was waiting until the language is closer to being finished before asking. yeah I think it would be best to wait until most of the bugs are out before moning to VB ide like vbbbasic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted May 20, 2014 Author Share Posted May 20, 2014 I know it wasn't anybody's intent, but this talk of theoretical bugs and the language not being finished dissuades people from actually using it. I spent a good chunk of last year swatting down outstanding bB bugs, and 90% of the 7800basic codebase is bB. No large codebase is bug free, but we're standing pretty good right now. 7800basic is finished in the sense you can create a commercial quality game in it right now. If anyone is waiting to start a project - be it an IDE or their own game - until the language doesn't have additions, they're waiting until I abandon the language. That would be a very poor choice. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 It does come across poorly, does anybody realize that no high-level language is ever done? Do you think C++ is finished? Java? Not so much. And who cares about the IDE? Use your own IDE, I use Visual Studio for 7800 code, setup a makefile project and point at your command line batch file. Done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 And who cares about the IDE? Use your own IDE, I use Visual Studio for 7800 code, setup a makefile project and point at your command line batch file. Done. I'd have to respectfully disagree about the IDE. Even though I knew about bB for years it took VisualbB to get me comfortable enough to code. *now* I'm OK without a dedicated IDE. Just a few years ago? Fumbling through configuring a separate IDE would have been a showstopper. Just sayin' from an (especially BASIC) newbies perspective: it's a big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Iacovelli Posted May 20, 2014 Share Posted May 20, 2014 VbB is god send for those who don't wan't type up code after code RevEng, not putting 78basic down, I thinks it great if I had the time to type up the commands I would work on a 7800 version of laserman 88 (I still have to rework on my 2600 version) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I think as users of these wonderful gifts (7800BAS, bB, Stella, etc..) it's easy to over-generalize and demand much without realizing it. Our very benefactors are also valued AtariAge members and are right here. It's an awesome thing! No need to wait. The more we use 7800BAS the more constructive feedback we can contribute. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I know it wasn't anybody's intent, but this talk of theoretical bugs and the language not being finished dissuades people from actually using it. I spent a good chunk of last year swatting down outstanding bB bugs, and 90% of the 7800basic codebase is bB. No large codebase is bug free, but we're standing pretty good right now. 7800basic is finished in the sense you can create a commercial quality game in it right now. If anyone is waiting to start a project - be it an IDE or their own game - until the language doesn't have additions, they're waiting until I abandon the language. That would be a very poor choice. It does come across poorly, does anybody realize that no high-level language is ever done? Do you think C++ is finished? Java? Not so much. I should have said "closer to version 1.0" instead of "closer to being finished." More commands will be added after 1.0, just like regular bB, but the language won't be changing as much in a short time. I didn't want to bother jwierer about it until RevEng was done adjusting things during this time when things are more likely to change from day to day. And who cares about the IDE? Use your own IDE, I use Visual Studio for 7800 code, setup a makefile project and point at your command line batch file. Done. So I'd have to teach Visual Studio Express how to do everything that Visual batari Basic already knows how to do? Is that even possible? I couldn't have made Seaweed Assault without VbB and all of its useful features, especially the Bookmarks Tab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Probably not, but in all fairness, I never looked at it. I setup a batch file for multiple assembly calls (most of the time), some calls to sign the ROM (if needed), maybe a call to pad or process graphics, whatever). I have a project file, which has dependencies (VS knows when it needs to re-assemble) and I get all the output from the command line batch file, piped back into the output window. All I need to do is change a line of code, hit F7 and then TAB over to my DevOS control program, hit Re-Load ROM and Program. At a maximum, this process takes 45 seconds until it appears on real hardware on my TV, so I am not sure what Dan is babbling about "if I had the time to type up the commands I would". Type what more than once? Shirley, if it works with ASM code, it works the same with 7800BASIC. Just ignore my opinion, it really isn't fair for me to assume this crap is easy for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Type what more than once? Maybe he's talking about the Commands Tab? I usually copy and paste stuff from the bB page or from example programs on the bB page. I hardly ever type anything, except fill in the blanks stuff. Just ignore my opinion, it really isn't fair for me to assume this crap is easy for everyone. Yeah, I have learning disabilities on top of being a dumbass, so I need all of the features and tools I can get my hands on to keep me as far away as possible from things like the command line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Maybe he's talking about the Commands Tab? I usually copy and paste stuff from the bB page or from example programs on the bB page. I hardly ever type anything, except fill in the blanks stuff. Perhaps, I wonder why he called it that, in my world that is called a macro. You write it once, forget about it, and stick it in a header file. I need to get back to RLP (real life programming) and work on some SSE4 code. @RevEng: Rename the thread to "Atari 7800 BASIC - Gold Master Candidate", it's the same as a "forever beta", like PlayStation HOME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loktar Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 This is absolutely amazing, thanks for doing it! Definitely will be making something, hard part is choosing which idea to try first. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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