+nanochess Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Hi all. Today (Feb/27/2024) I started working on a BASIC compiler for Colecovision. So far I've managed to get ready a core set of statements and features with a non-optimized expression compiler. I expect to release an alpha version as soon as I develop the statements for controller handling, displaying numbers, sound, and make some example games. Also I need to write the manual. I'm patterning it after my pretty successful IntyBASIC compiler, but of course, the Z80 is a different beast. I'm so happy with the current result that I wanted to share a screenshot of the development. It was named boingBASIC for a few days, but then I decided with help of friends that CVBasic was better. Two days later (Feb/29/2024) I managed to get out CVBasic v0.1.0, currently only available for Windows. Enjoy it! 😁 Edit: Now there is CVBasic v0.2.0, available here --> https://forums.atariage.com/topic/362604-colecovision-tastic-basic-compiler-cvbasic-v020/ Edit: And now there is CVBasic v0.3.0, available here --> https://forums.atariage.com/topic/362875-colecovision-crunchytasty-basic-compiler-cvbasic-v030-now-with-tmscolor/ example.bas example.asm game.rom cvbasic_v0.1.0.zip 16 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 I am definitely looking forward to this! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodhi Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Me too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youki Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 I imagine it will have a kind of compatibility/similarity in the syntax with the intyBasic? That could easy some port from existing Intellivision game done in Basic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 (edited) This is excellent news! I do have a few questions though: 1) I know this new compiler is very early in its development, but do you have plans to offer a tile/sprite editor, or a sound/music editor? If it's not something you've thought a lot about so far, perhaps you could collaborate with people on AtariAge who have already made such editors (mostly for data import/export functionalities)? 2) While the programming language is a central part of the project, another very important part is the debugger. Do you plan to add a proper debugger (with breakpoints, RAM usage monitor, interrupt monitor and time-to-next-VBLANK monitor) into CoolCV? One thing that is difficult with programming for the ColecoVision is that you don't have any real control over when the VBLANK NMI happens, and if your code tries to do too many operations between VBLANKs, this results in graphic corruption, and perhaps even complete runtime crashes. 3) Your sample Basic code doesn't seem to have any provisions for specifying the compiling setup (i.e. does the game use bankswitching (32K, MegaCart, Activision PCB), does it require the Super Game Module, is it supposed to support (or ignore) interrupts from the Roller Controller, that kind of thing). 4) Will you be offering built-in functions with the language? For example, a standard function to detect the SGM, or a function to clear VRAM at boot/reset, or a function to initialize the sound chip into "silent" mode, so programmers won't need to code their own routines? Those are just questions off the top of my head, I'm sure I could come up with more. Edited February 28 by Pixelboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drfloyd Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 (edited) great news !!!!!!!! Waiting for that since several years !!!!!!!! Edited February 28 by drfloyd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted February 28 Author Share Posted February 28 2 hours ago, Pixelboy said: This is excellent news! I do have a few questions though: 1) I know this new compiler is very early in its development, but do you have plans to offer a tile/sprite editor, or a sound/music editor? If it's not something you've thought a lot about so far, perhaps you could collaborate with people on AtariAge who have already made such editors (mostly for data import/export functionalities)? As with IntyBASIC, the BITMAP statement helps to draw directly in code. But probably I'll include TMSCOLOR for processing BMP files. 2 hours ago, Pixelboy said: 2) While the programming language is a central part of the project, another very important part is the debugger. Do you plan to add a proper debugger (with breakpoints, RAM usage monitor, interrupt monitor and time-to-next-VBLANK monitor) into CoolCV? One thing that is difficult with programming for the ColecoVision is that you don't have any real control over when the VBLANK NMI happens, and if your code tries to do too many operations between VBLANKs, this results in graphic corruption, and perhaps even complete runtime crashes. It would be in CoolCV. I actually wanted to implement a debugger in CoolCV but I was sidetracked by Real-Life(tm) 2 hours ago, Pixelboy said: 3) Your sample Basic code doesn't seem to have any provisions for specifying the compiling setup (i.e. does the game use bankswitching (32K, MegaCart, Activision PCB), does it require the Super Game Module, is it supposed to support (or ignore) interrupts from the Roller Controller, that kind of thing). At a certain point probably it will support bank-switching but first I'll focus in making nice games in 32K and reasonable optimization of the generated code. 2 hours ago, Pixelboy said: 4) Will you be offering built-in functions with the language? For example, a standard function to detect the SGM, or a function to clear VRAM at boot/reset, or a function to initialize the sound chip into "silent" mode, so programmers won't need to code their own routines? It will boot up with everything properly initialized. And yes, I expect to include advanced functions when the core works in my expectations. 2 hours ago, Pixelboy said: Those are just questions off the top of my head, I'm sure I could come up with more. Anytime 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Hot damn. Yes, I would like this very much. What's the ETA on its completion? (I guess I should keep my expectations in check, as you seem to be working on a dozen projects at any given moment.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 11 hours ago, Jess Ragan said: Hot damn. Yes, I would like this very much. What's the ETA on its completion? (I guess I should keep my expectations in check, as you seem to be working on a dozen projects at any given moment.) I hope to release an alpha version in one week. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 Lookin' forward to it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 Almost there. I've added a lot of BASIC statements to the compiler, and I ported my game Viboritas in order to determine essential functions for game development. I'm only missing sound in the compiler for a nice alpha release. Arrays can wait 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 I just managed to cobble together a Coleco ADAM. BASIC has arrived for the Coleco. LET'S GOOOOooo!!! Will have to keep refreshing Oscars storefront until the first few tutorial books come out 😃 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmadruga Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Very interested! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 Just uploaded CVBasic v0.1.0, see the first post. It includes the executable for the compiler, the manual, the prologue/epilogue files, and several examples including two minigames: Viboritas, and Space Attack. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Awesome! Thanks Oscar! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Thanks Oscar, I did a quick program, just a bouncing animated bug. I need to play with is some more, but I wanted to give it a try. I need to slow down the animation of the bug and speed up the bug traveling across the screen. So far it seems fun! BUG.BAS bug.rom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 20 minutes ago, evg2000 said: Thanks Oscar, I did a quick program, just a bouncing animated bug. I need to play with is some more, but I wanted to give it a try. I need to slow down the animation of the bug and speed up the bug traveling across the screen. So far it seems fun! BUG.BAS 2.26 kB · 1 download bug.rom 1.31 kB · 0 downloads Cool! I would suggest to replace GOSUB PAUSE with the WAIT statement. The example.bas file included with CVBasic shows how to make a figure to bounce in the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 I used the gosub pause to: I wanted to try the gosub , is this the closest we will have to a function/method? I wanted to be able to do multiple waits without having to inline them. Will we be able to chain multiple .bas files through the assembly process? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 17 minutes ago, evg2000 said: I used the gosub pause to: I wanted to try the gosub , is this the closest we will have to a function/method? I wanted to be able to do multiple waits without having to inline them. Will we be able to chain multiple .bas files through the assembly process? Ok. You can put WAIT inside your subroutine (PROCEDURE) Yes, it is the only type of function. If you need to pass arguments, you need to use global variables, and same for the result. I forgot completely about INCLUDE. I hope a next version will have INCLUDE so you can have larger CVBasic programs neatly organized. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 4 hours ago, nanochess said: I forgot completely about INCLUDE. I hope a next version will have INCLUDE so you can have larger CVBasic programs neatly organized. Probably want to add either RAW or RLE/Pletter/bitbuster decompressor library to import graphics from source code since there are several program that generate graphics tiles. Some output in C like Amy's tool ICVGM. I like making tile graphics using that tool and follows graphic mode 2 format. The Mode 1 version of ICVGM 2.02 is great to make graphic mode 1 games. Make sure to limit the INCLUDE to 50 for some reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyOasys Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Will there be plans for importing .VGMs in the future? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 3 hours ago, ZippyOasys said: Will there be plans for importing .VGMs in the future? sorry, noobie to cv programming. what is a .VGM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 34 minutes ago, evg2000 said: sorry, noobie to cv programming. what is a .VGM? Not an expert answer. It's a music file format used for playing back classic console tunes. I use it currently for sega genesis music in my genesis games. But, Coleco compatible .VGM files may not fly on a Genesis. My hunch is that you still have to compose songs for a specific platform. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OriginalJohn Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Very exciting stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamshaft Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 (edited) As freaky as this may sound, ChatGPT might be able to get most people started. All it has to learn is the syntax and logic, then it will be able to explain it too. We'll see! Can't wait! Edited March 2 by Kamshaft 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.