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November 1987
EDITORIAL
I've noticed a very subtle change
in ATARI Corporation recently At
the last e-board meeting, a comment
was made about the decided lack of
activity in the ATARI community
lately — how, after nearly eight
weeks, there was really nothing new
to report. Why, just a few short
months ago ATARI was announcing
this or that just about every week
And now, nothing! What's up 1 ?
I know that many ATARI users
are going into withdrawal waiting
for some earth-shattering new
product. But that's what we' re used
to. So, should we be worried,
fearful, or what? I think it may be a
good sign. Just think of all those
announcements which turned out to
be "vaporware." I need only
mention the ATARI Laser Printer to
raise the blood pressure of many
ATARI enthusiasts. It seemed like
ATARI would go right from the
boardroom to the pressroom with
new product ideas, never bothering
to stop off in engineering to see if it
could be done on time, if at all- The
ideas were flowing faster than the
flowcharts in the software
development department
But now ... nothing new to
announce. Could it be that upper
management at ATARI has learned
their lesson? Might they be
actually developing products
BEFORE announcing them? Maybe
they're trying to actually complete
a project and get it ready for
production before committing
themselves in the media. I know.
I’m a dreamer -- unrealistic. But
maybe, just maybe, ATARI found out
that they're the ones being
unrealistic in their goal setting and
scheduling
Let's hope the next
announcement we hear from ATARI
is that this fantastic new product
(whatever it may be) is already
in the distributors' warehouses
reedy for purchase. They have greet
products, lets see their marketing
skills grow to be as good as their
com puters.
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Page 2
TEMPUS FUGIT
an ST program by Chris Scullion
I don't have a battery-backed
clock calendar on my ATARI ST- Oh,
sure, I know they're available, but I
just haven’t gotten one yet. Now,
what would happen if I decided I
really needed to keep track of the
dates of my files'? I’d better be sure
to set that clock from the control
panel accessory. But let me ask you
this: what if I had an IBM PC or
compatible'? Well, then if you don't
have a battery clock, DOS just asks
you for the time and date whenever
you turn on your machine. That's
pretty good, no need to remember
because the computer reminds you to
set it. After all, that's what
computers are for, right?
But I don't have a PC, I have my
ST. TOS doesn't handle this as nicely
as MSDOS does. Dosn't handle it at all,
in fact- As I thought about it, I felt an
educational experience comming on.
I know there must be a dozen utilities
that can sit in your AUTO folder and
do just what I want but ... I thought
I'd try to write the program myself,
and learn a little bit about BIOS and
Personal PASCAL along theway.
So here it is, my clock utility.
The program is very easy to follow,
so no real explanation should be
needed. There are a few tricks which
don’t appear in the listing which you
should be aware of. Personal
PASCAL allows you to compile for
GEM or TOS. If you use any GEM
routines or capabilities, you must
compile with the GEM option. But,
when a program is executed from an
AUTO folder, GEM isn’t awake yet, so
you can't use any GEM stuff. No
sweat — as you can see in the listing,
no GEM, Just a few WRITES and
READS. Now the catch? The system
will run any program in the AUTO
folder that ends in "-PRG", usually,
that means a GEM program?? Now
what -- can't use GEM because it's not
there yet, but it's got to be a GEM
program. First, I compiled with the
TOS option and renamed the “ .TOS"
program file to ".GEM". No go —
crash city. The answer finally
dawned on me: compile with the GEM
option — who cares if you don't call
any GEM stuff, you can still have a
GEM program that does'nt actually
USE GEM. So, we just compile this
suspiciously TOS-looking program as
a GEM program and, viola?, she
works perfectly every time.
If you don't care about any of
this programming garbage, but just
want the utility, you can fjnd it on
Help Key II under the name
" DATESET.PRG ." E n jo y , and watch
out for 'dem bugs.
PROGRAM DATESET;
VAR
MONTH, DA Y .YEAR : LONG-INTEGER;
HOUR, MINUTE .SECOND : LONG. INTEGER;
DATE- TEMPTIME- TEMP : INTEGER;
ANSWER : CHAR;
PROCEDURE SETTIMECDATETIME : INTEGER},
XBIOS(22);
BEGIN
WRITECDO YOU WANT TO SET THE DATE AND
TIME?'};
REA DLN (ANSWER};
IF ANSWER -'y' THEN
BEGIN
WRITEC'ENTER MONTH tl-12}: ');
REA DLN (MONTH);
WRITEC'ENTER DAY (1-31) :’);
READLN(DAY);
WRITEC'ENTER YEAR (0-99) : '};
REA DLN( YEAR);
WRITELN;
WRITECeNTeR HOUR (00*24) :');
READLNCHOUR);
WRITECENTER MINUTE (0-59): ');
READLNfM INUTE);
WRITECENTER SECON D CO-59): ');
DDA r\! M fepr-n N ni-
DATE-TEMP := INT((YEAR-eO)*512 + MONTH*32
+ DAY);
TIME- TEMP : = IN T(HOUR*2048 + MINUTE* 32
+ SECOND);
SETTIME(DATE_TEMP,TIME_TEMP);
WRITELNCDATE AND TIME ARE SET);
END;
END-
Page 3
SOUND PROGRAMMING
i by J .D. C raig
FREE 8 BIT MUSIC - AMS
J
Lee Actor's ADVANCED
M USICS YSTEM (AMS), (01982, was one
of the first, and most used pieces of
disk based software bought by the
Craig family for our 4-8K Atari 400-
Quite a bit of music was created on the
system, and it's proved itself an
interesting and reliable tool- One of
the first software pirates I met had
contacted me to trade song files for
the system, and I was delighted to
learn how much public domain
software had been written and
distributed for the AMS.
Since then, another AMS has been
released, but I stuck with my old one.
(If it works, why fix it? Besides, I‘m
seldom "the first on my block" to get
the " new and improved" versions of
anything. Just cheap, I guess.) And
rumor has it that there have been
other AMS devlopments, including
routines to allow the use of AMS song
files in MIDI protocol.
But the good news to any ABEs
ACE who owns a modem, or has
friends who do, is that on the HELP
KEY II there is a public domain
program that will play any AMS 1 or II
files It's called JUKEBOX.BIN. and
when binary loaded (from DOS 2
without BASIC) presents an operating
screen with options for Directory,
Select individual song, or A u to -PI ay -
which will play through all AMS files
in directory order. While playing the
music, the standard AMS " keyboard" is
displayed, with colors showing which
notes are sound ing. SYSTEM RESET
returns to the operating menu. The
simplicity and reliability of
JUKEBOX.BIN make it one of my
favorite pieces of software. Don't
have any AMS song files? HELP KEY II
does, and none of them is over 200 SD
sectors long. Twenty-one files carry
the AMS extender, and are ready to
load and play. They are:
1STNOEL AMS, BEATIT.AMS,
CHEERS. AMS, DECKHALL.AMS,
FAME. AMS, GH OST BST . A M S,
HOLYNITEAMS, J N G L E BEL . A M S,
KNGTRDR.AMS, LIBERTY. AMS,
MANIAC. AMS, PEN YLANE-AMS,
PR ESSU R E . A M S, SHAKEIT.AMS,
SHERRII.AMS, SILENT. AMS,
STAIRWAY. AMS, ST A R TR EK . A M S,
STARWARS-AMS, TIGER EYE. A MS, and
VIRGIN. AMS- But there may be other
AMS files without the -AMS extender:
JOHNNY, for example, is an excellent
one, a fresh and inventive
arrangement of “When Johnny Comes
Marching Home", uploaded by fellow
musician John Kacmarcik. To find
JOHNNY or the .AMS files, use the
BBS’s Catalog option with appropriate
wildcards (*). But to hunt down other
stuff, use the Listing option, which
includes descriptions. And be careful.
For instance, there are 3 Star Trek files
- STAR TREK, ST A R TR EK -DO C , and
STAR TREK .AMS - only the last is
music for AMS.
AMS uses four "voices" created by
the POKEY chip, and the musically
sensitive might notice that it's slightly
out of tune - some notes more so then
others. But it's tolerable, especially
when the arrangement (like JOHNN Y)
takes advantage of the MusicSystem's
strong points - like controllable
dynamics and nicely rounded
"envelopes" on the notes produced.
But some tunes have serious flaws, for
example, BEATIT.AMS (Michaei
Jackson's BEAT IT), which is seriously
messed up- Either the programmer
goofed, or line transmission has
garbled it. We hope you'll get and try
out these pieces of free software. If
anyone has any further information
on things mentioned here, please
direct your comments to me c/o
HARDCOPY. Next issue - 8 bit MIDI.
Page 4
LDW BASIC Compiler
Version 2.0
a 16 bit review by
The April 1987 edition of the
ABE'S ACES newsletter ( & Delphi)
ran my prior review of version 1.0 &
1.1 of LDW Basic Compiler, therefore I
will provide Just enough information
about these older versions to permit
comparisons with the new version 2.0
and with Atari STBasic.
Basically "ouch.. .just cant seem
to leave that pun alone" the LDW
Basic Compilers are intended to
allow basic language programmers to
produce " " prg type programs that
run off the Desktop or from a DOS
shell. There is no need for a run-time
module as some pseudo-compilers
require, nor are " ".rsc files needed .
The programs you write are fast,
compact & totally independant
(complete) programs that you may
legally give away as you wish. You
can include as much , or as little,
GEM-ness as you desire up to and
including a full desktop application
with menu bars & the works
Its hard to pick which version 2.0
improvement is the most impressive
so I'll merely list them for you: l.
high level (simple commands) access
to most of GEM including menus,
dialog boxes, buttons, file selectors,
user-defined windows, edit fields,
text & graphics, mouse control,
custom icons etc. 2- block
IF_THEN_ELSE structures (similar to
CASE in other languages) 3. user
defined procedures which use local
or global variables, & parameters or
parameter arrays. 4~. INCLUDE
compiler metacommand ... for
including your own source code
routines shared among many
programs. 5. event
trapping. . possibly the most powerful
enhancement to this package, by
trapping DIALOG, MENU & MOUSE
EVENTS your programs can be
designed to operate very similarly to
professional GEM-Desktop based
programs, simulates the event-multi
call. ..but much easier to do. 6. the
"shell" programming environment 7.
improved & included GEM low level
bindings ... for picky people these
allow complete access to all of GEM
and now utilize syntax similar to C
... you could use almost any book or
magazine for guidance. 8.
compatibility with either the original
STBasic or the new STBasic
interpreter Numbers 2, 3, & 4- allow
you to write modular, structured
programs very similar to the
languages we’ve heard so much
about; Pascal, C, Modula.
The system is provided on two
unprotected single sided disks. A
fantastic GEM-based "shell 1 * is
provided as well as a separate
command-line/batch version for
those who prefer DOS over GEM.
Other provided programs which you
will need include: the fast LDW
linker and its associated utilities
(remove & wait) standard library
math library or the precise math
library (slower but more precise)
Optional provided programs include:
several sample batch files GEM
bindings on disk (usually not
needed. ..but its included now., it was
an $18 extra before) 8 good sample
programs illustrating useful
techniques a batch language
processor (if you donl have a DOS)
Id wbatch .tip a crummy (early)
version of microEMACS text editor
(get version 3-9 from the ST librarian
... its MUCH better)
Page 5
The compiler still allows line
numbers as an option ; to preserve
compatibility with the STBasic
interpreters. You can compile
straight to binary and link up an
executable " " prg Style program or
you can have the compiler produce
assembly language source code.
NOTE: the package no longer includes
the assembler, but it is compatible
with the standard as68 as in the A tari
Developers Kit.
1 ordered the update for $25 and
got about 180 pages of additional
manual which fit right into my
3-ring binder from version 1.1 .
Presumably a new purchaser would
get the whole thing... I didn't check. I
now have about 11/4- inches of useful,
indexed manual.
System equipment
recommendations: ( my list, in order
of preference 3 1. any ST with a
hard disk 2. a 1040ST with a good
public domain ramdisk " 500k 3
any ST with at least one double-sided
drive 4-. any ST with two
single-sided d rives 5. (masochists
special) ... a 520 ST with one
single-sided drive. Option 5 is
possible but requires disk swapping.
The minimum configuration requires
236k of disk space for the batch/DOS
style compiler plus 191k for the
linker, libraries, and required
utilities. Throw in some room for
your source code, intermediate
working file generation and your
favorite editor (microEMACS 3.9,
STedt, ST Writer, or STBasic
Interpreter) and you can quickl y see
it will not all fit on one single sided
disk. Two single sided disks, one
double, or one disk plus a good-sized
ramdisk works nicely. Actually a
500k ramdisk for all "active" files
with only the libraries on a floppy
seems to provide the speediest
overall program creation. The GEM
shell programming environment
(which adds about 37k) allows very
easy customization and designation
of the disk/path locations of all the
needed pieces including the name &
location of your text editor.
This compiled Basic is for
anyone, who like me, has grown
comfortable with basic over a span of
many years and who wants to make
nice, fast, desktop runnable " " prg
type programs w/o the need to learn
C .Pascal, or Modula. The addition of
easy to use GEM features as well as
power programming features
(procedures and block
IF-THEN-ELSE) place this compiler
on an even plane with any other
language available for the ST.
For some reason the magazine
reviewers have given earlier
versions of this compiler some bad
raps; I hope to see updated reviews
for the new version. It seems many
of these writers object to the "speed”
of this basic. What they really mean
is that the compiling time is longer
than some of the C compilers. A
database program I've been writing
had (about 3 months ago) 19010 bytes
of source code.-.this program took 2
minutes and 8 seconds to compile into
a finished program of 54-449 bytes. I
dont think that's too shabby. ..perhaps
these writers could tell me how long
it will take to learn C 4? I can make a
boatload of 2 minute programs in the
time it takes to learn a new language.
Dont get me wrong, I am not against
C or learning new things .1 just dont
like these professional programmers
telling me I just have to switch to C
to save myself some time.
revised article by Cary A - Hilbert
3/23/87, revised asain by Gar y A .
Hilbert 10/10/87
Page 6
ATARIs ATARIs
Everywhere ...
an Editorial comment by
Robert MacGregor
BUT NON IN MY AREA f
After going through a major
move all I need was to put my 130ex
back up on line and find out it did not
work. Well, half of the keys worked
and the other half did not. I then
decided to take the ST plunge. I
started to travel to the local
computer stores and quickly
discovered that those who used to
sell the ST’s did not anymore or else
the one's that did would not push
selling them.
At the Montgomery Mall
Electronics Boutique I approached
the purchase of a new computer as if
1 was a new buyer interested in only
the MIDI aspect of computing. The
salesman initiall y acted as if the ST
did not even exist. His entire talk
was about Commodore and the
Amiga. When I asked him about the
520ST he said he would not
recommend it because Atari has
already stopped supporting it. It
made me wonder why such a good
machine was being badmouthed by
this salesman.
I then travelled upstate to a
computer store which sells the ST
being that they have a good deal on
one. It was near closing time and
since I was the only customer I had a
chance to talk with the dealer. I
asked him why is it that very few
stores will carry the Atari line.
From him I received some very
disturbing news. He began listing
several reason why the Atari
computer is hard to find in the
marketplace. IjAlari's warranty
policy: If you were an Atari dealer
and you receive an defective
computer or a computer would come
back to you under warranty you
would have to repair it at your on
cost. Thus a dealer could stand to
lose money under such conditions
instead of making money. A
businessman can stand to lose only
so much before dropping a computer
line like a hot potato- My question
to Atari would be: why do you expect
your dealers to fix your mistakes'?
They did not make them defective,
did they? 2)Atari’s Marketing
Policy: Because Atari releases their
computer to national distributors
with larger discount to them, the
local dealer has a hard time trying to
beat or even come close to the mail
order prices. Therefore, he becomes
discouraged from marketing them
or, if he carries them, from selling
them. Why push an ST and make a
smell profit when you can push
Apples or Amigas and make a large
profit? Remember, in todays
marketplace the aim ighty dol lar
rules! 3)Atari's Competition Policy:
Atari obviously feels its ok to go
into competition with your own
dealers. They bought out an
electronics chains out in the western
United States. So the first thing their
dealers started doing is to go out to
find other computers to market.
Atari has been able in the past to
put together a very good computer
but their track record in marketing
them probably can be studied by
business schools on how not to
market your product. They better
wise up before the costumer will
need to travel to Sunnyvale
California to by an Atari computer.
Page 7
ARKANOID
^^^^^ji^'eviewbyPatrickSouder,
Arkanoid is basically a really
spruced-up version of the classic
arcade game Breakout These games
are similar in a lot of ways, but
Arkanoid really offers a lot of new
ideas to the old game concept.
Instead of merely batting a ball back
and forth, hoping it does not slip by
your trusty paddle, IMAGINE
software has come to the rescue.
The object of A rkanoid is almost
just like Breakout. You have to
prevent Cor try and prevent) the ball
from whizzing by your paddle, while
also trying to break all of the blocks
and go on to the next screen for some
more punishment. One word of
warning though: This game is
ADDICTIVE?
How many different levels are
there you might ask*? Well, I am told
there are 33 in all. (Believe me, I am
not speaking from experience... ) On
the last level you come face to face
with the master. If you manage to
def eat him you will finish the game,
but be prepared for a tough battle.
Some levels are harder than
others and you may find some higher
levels that are easier than some
lower levels. Most of the A rkanoid
fans I know usually find level 3 to be
a "toughie.''
Now, if you really want to earn
some high scores and finally get to
level 33, catching the colored
capsules that fall down is a MUST?
Each one you catch gives you 1,000
points. The grey capsule gives you a
free man end the pink capsule
awards you 10,000 points and allows
you to warp to the next level pronto.
If you happen to get the red capsule,
your paddle turns into a gun which is
useful for shooting out the rest of
the bricks remaining on the screen.
Green capsules allow you to carry
the ball on your paddle so you can
"aim" and release it. Others like light
blue splits your ball into 3 balls. As
long as you keep your eye on one of
the three, which is not exactly easy,
you'll be alright. Also there is a
"bad" yellow capsule which takes
away your present power capsule
abilities.
Occasionally the ball will fall
into a pattern, not hitting anything.
It will just bounce off a few walls
and back again. To get the ball out of
this pattern, you will have to hit the
ball on the very edge of the paddle,
which is no easy task by any means.
If you really want to see what
the higher levels look like and you' re
going "BONKERS" trying to get there,
a couple of " useful" utilities are in
circulation which "bend the odds in
your favor" while playing Arkanoid.
There is the Arkanoid cheater which
gives you the choice of the number of
lives you get and the beginning level-
Also, there is a "slow-mo" (slow
motion) which slows the speed of the
game.
All of you Arkanoid fans will be
pleased to know that a brand new
version A rkanoid is on the way. It's
called Arkanoid II, what else! From
what I was told, it offers 33 different
screens, with the same game play as
the original. The levels are supposed
to be more interesting, easier and
more colorful than the original. Also
be sure to check out another
Page 8
Arkanoid game called Championship
A rkanoid-
In conclusion I would like to
wish good luck to all of the other
entries submitted for the club contest
and who knows... If you are lucky
enough, you too can play Arkanoid
on your new Atari 520 ST
monochrome system courtesy of
ABE'S ACES!
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\
ST or not ST,
that Is the question! |
To buy an ST or not, that is!
Much has been said lately about the
Atari ST series of computers. Many
good things, to be sure. A nd many
Atari users with the 8 bit computers
are being told they are living in the
Dark Ages for not immediately going
out and purchasing a shiny new ST.
A re they? Should they?
Many Atari 8 bit users are also
putting down the ST. Why? One
reason given is that it is not
compatible with their old software
Not a very good reason. If you want
to use your 8 bit software just use it
on your current computer. There is
really no good reason to look down
on the ST- It is a marvelous
technological achievement.
There is also no reason for the ST
owners to downgrade the 8 bit line
which now Includes the 4-00, 800,
1200XL , 600XL, 800XL, the 65XE and
the 130XE. Quite a long line, each
relatively compatible until now.
Each to his own computer for
whatever reason, be it financial,
sentimental or any other.
I am an Atari 8 bit user. I have
owned the 400, 800, 800XL and now a
130XE- I like my trusty XE and I like
to use it. I use it for word processing -
This newsletter article was written
using Paperclip (from Batteries
Included), one of the finest WP
programs available for ANY
computer. I access remote Bulletin
Board Systems (BBS), to upload and
download public domain programs
Page 9
and use their message bases. I use it
for my mail lists and as a database
(LabelMaster VI. 6). I run my entire
business on it. Invoicing, Purchasing,
General Ledger, everything (the
Small Business System V1.2). 1 like to
program. I wrote the two previously
mentioned programs and market
them nationally. I create awards,
ads, newsletters and more with
graphics programs. My children use
educational programs to make
learning fun. A nd the whole family
like to play games? As far as
hardware goes I use a 130XE
(upgraded to 320K!), 2 1050 disk
drives (both mod ified for true double
density!, a 1200 baud modem, a color
composite monitor and an Epson NLQ
printer. To interface my Atari to the
printer and modem I use the ICD
Multi I/O. This unit also allows me to
interface to a Hard Disk. Imagine 20
Megabytes (or more!) of d isk storage
instead of 70 to 140K. The equivalent
of over 200 singlesided 5 1/ +■" disks
available without swapping disks.
Now the ST comes along. A true
16 bit processor, better graphics,
more speed, more memory and more
money. Hundreds of dollars more to
buy a complete system. Should 1?
Could I? No, not now! I have all the
computing power I need or want.
That is not to say the ST isn't a good
computer It is. I'm sure every ST
owner can give me lots of reasons
why it is a better computer. But will
it be better for me 1 ? I like my 8 bit
Atari and I really don't think an ST
will be right for me just now.
Every Atari user will have to
decide for themselves what is best.
The temptation to buy a new
computer is hard to resist but think
before you act. Consider what you
want a computer for. What you
would like to do with it. Then ask
yourself if your present computer
fulfills your needs. Maybe a new
computer is in your future.
We are all Atari owners and
users, be it an XE or an ST, and
brothers as such. There is no reason
to be prejudiced or biased against
any computer or it’s owner. Instead
let us band together as Atarians!
o
j O
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EPSON EX800
529
i o
EPSON EX 1 000
759
o
j o
MISC.
o
DATALIFE 5 1/4" DISKS
10
j o
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DATALIFE 3 1/2" DISKS
18
\ o
o
MEM0REX SS/DD FLIP'N FILE
W/20
20
! o
o
MEM0REX DS/DD FLIP'N FILE
W/20
22
i O
o
MODEMS
I o
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ATARI XM 301
39
1 o
o
AVATEX 1 200hc
135
j o
o
j o
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Page 10
Tenth Frame Bowling
^^^^^^l^ji^evie^^j^Jo^Soude^^
I like bowling and I like my ST.
Finally the combination has come
together and I REALLY like IT* It is
Tenth Frame Bowling from Access
Software. Here is my review of what
I think to be a very good game. See
what you think of it.
Game Flay
The game starts off by asking
you if you want to Open bowl or
League bowl. In open bowling, you
can have up to eight people bowling
right in a row. In league bowling,
there are two teams with up to four
players on each. You then can set up
each bowler as a Kid, Amateur, or Pro
bowler. The kid level being the
easiest. Then you are off to the lanes.
Screens
The screen on which you bowl
has 7 lanes on it, with your lane lit
up. On the lane, as in real bowling,
there are seven spotter arrows. The
programmers also went to the detail
of putting a picture of the pin rack
above the pins to show what pins are
left up. At the top of the screen is the
person bowling's section of the score
sheet. After every bowler has
completed his frame, the whole score
sheet pops up until the left mouse
button is hit, upon which you bowl
another frame.
The Roll
To roll the ball down the lane, a
few things must be done:
II Set bowler on approach (Done by
dragging with right mouse button); 2)
Drag pointer on lane to desired spot
(Done, again, by dragging with right
mouse button); 3) Hit left button to
start bowler down lane; 4-) On the
right of the bowler is a chart with
two bar graphs on it to set the speed
and hook of the ball. The bars start
to fill until you press the button
again, in this way, you can set the
speed and hook of the ball.
So Good you Can hear a Pin Drop
One of the best features of the
game isthesound- Allthesoundin
the game sounds just like real
bowling. For instance, when the ball
rolls, you hear the ball roll as if you
were at the lanes! When you hit the
pins, you hear them fall. When you
get a strike or spare, people clap in
the background , also. There is even
the Marshall Holman 'yah*' type yell
on the strike. And again, all the
sounds sound real and very clear.
Complaints?**?*
Well, the best games have
SOMETHING wrong with them, and
there is just ONE complaint 1 have. 1
am a lefty and well. ..actually what I
am getting at is that the settings for
each bowler is not varied enough.
For instance, there are no settings
for bail weight, handedness, or
slickness of the lanes.
In Closing. ..
All in all, it is a very good game,
and I recommend it highly as a fun
and entertaining game. If you want a
"Pro Bowling Simulator" for the ST,
this is the one. (It's also the ONLY
one...)
Page 11
Personal Pascal
Version t
an ST review by Chris Scullion
I have a confession to make.
Yes, 1 am forced to admit it — I hate
C. The language of choice for most
ST users, the one used by ATARI
itself, the Great Language of UNIX --
I don't like it. I will often go out of
my way to avoid using it. Now,
understand that just a couple of
years ago I had the exact opposite
opinion — I loved the language and
all its promises of portability and
ease of use. But now, after having
programmed with it for a couple of
years, after having written several
very large applications with it. I've
come to the conclusion that it can't
live up to all those promises.
But all of this is Just by way of
introduction -- my hate of C could
fill volumes Now, I know what
you're thinking; "If he hates C, what
DOES he use*?" Well, as you can tell
from the title, I like PASCAL. I've
also used PASCAL for lots of big
programming projects and it has yet
to cause me any difficulty. In fact,
it has does nothing but helped the
style, readability, and
“ debu ggabilit y " of ever y th i ng I
write And so the question is,
"What's good in PASCAL for the
ATARI ST?" I've seen and used
Personal PASCAL from Optimized
Systems Software (OSS), and it's just
great*
Let's start with the important
stuff for you ST and C lovers. It
completely supports the GEM
operating system and the
programming environment is
GEM-based- That is, the compiler
and linker make full use of the
familiar GEM goodies such as menus,
alert boxes, d ialog boxes, etc. The
language itself is a very standard
PASCAL — nothing is missing, no
surprises. It fully supports all of
the data types you expect; char,
integer, real, enumerated types,
sets, long integers, records, arrays,
pointers, etc. Even variant records
are there, something often omitted
from small PASCAL compilers. OSS
has added the type "string" (along
with the appropriate string
handling procedures) to make text
processing easier. On top of all of
this, it sells for less than $60.00?
Personal PASCAL also, as stated,
completely supports GEM . There are
all kinds of predefined procedures
and functions that make the use of
GEM'S tricks trivially easy. Alert
boxes are performed with a simple
call as follows;
result := do_alert(’[3][Press ok to
conti nuel ok I cancel J, 2);
In the above example, the [3] means
that a GEM "stop sign" should appear
in the alert box. The next [] is the
text for the box, and the last group
are the buttons which will appear at
the bottom of the box. The last
number indicates which of the two
buttons is the default (that is, which
one will be selected if you hit return).
Dialog boxes are also easy to do
with the built in procedure and
functions, as are menu bars and
windows.
I must also mention that not
EVERY possible GEM function is
predefined for you. However,
ninety percent of them are, and there
is a standard routine set up for you
to add the rest if you need them. You
Page 12
can call any VD1, AES, BIOS, XBIOS,
or GEMDOS function with a few
simple lines of code. It's a VERY
programmer-friendly system.
The manual provided with the
disk is well organized and helps the
GEM novice step through creating
GEM-oriented programs. There are
also examples of how to write a desk
accessory, access the system clock,
and handle all GEM events. The
manual is very thorough and
accurate. There are a few
corrections listed on the disk, and
only one information error that I
have d iscovered. For those of you
using Personal PASCAL, or
thinking of getting it, please be
aware that the do_dialog and
redo-dialog functions return
INTEGERS, not TREE_INDEXs as the
manual states. Using the wrong
type will not give a compilation
error, but if you double-click in
certain boxes within the dialog, the
system will crash- OSS seems to
have fallen victim to their own error
since doubleclicking on a box in
any of their dialog boxes will also
cause a system crash — so be aware
of this minor documentation
problem .
The compiler supports several
nice options, including run-time
stack checking, array bounds
checking, and pointer bounds
checking, all of which can be
disabled with the click of a mouse.
Probably the most powerful
extension added by OSS is modular
compilation. This is essentially
equivalent to C in that the program
can be broken down into multiple
files for separate compilation. This
greatly enhances the modularity of
any program and is a necessity for
large programming projects. The
only thing I've found lacking in the
compiler is the ability to "batch"
compilations so that you don’t have
to manually recompile all the
separate modules.
The linker is fairly nondescript.
It does its job flawlessly and they
claim it is compatible with the
linker supplied by ATARI. The
only enhancement I'd like to see is
more space to list object files to be
linked together. This is necessary
for anyone who makes extensive use
of the modular compilation option
of the compiler.
The editor is the only part of
the system which may prove
controversial- I like it, but it's not
what you'd expect from a GEM based
product. Others may complain about
the lack of GEM features such as
menus and dialogs, but I’ve found it
to be very intuitive, easy to use,
and quite functional- It is entirely
keyboard-bound (the mouse is not
used), which is just as well for
writing a program. It uses a
workable copy buffer system to
allow cutting and pasting within and
between files, although I've found
block copying to be a bit cumbersome
for large numbers of lines. It is a
good enough editor that I have not
even been tempted to haul out a
word processor as a substitute. But
then, word processors can often
prove awkward for program
development.
When you think about what
you really want in a GEM
programming environment.
Personal PASCAL is a programmer’s
dream come true Even a novice
GEM programmer will have dialogs,
windows, menus and the like up and
about the screen in no time. So kick
the C habit -- start programming
without fear and with a powerful
Page 13
and easy lo use sel of tools by your
side. OSS's Personal PASCAL is a real
winner*
(A note of explanation is in order
now. After writing this review, I
pieced a call to OSS and found that
Version 2 is now available. Over the
phone, I described the problem
regarding double-clicking in an exit
box. Version 2 DOES NOT have this
bug- The documentation on this point
has apparently been corrected, as
well as the boxes in the compiler and
linker options menus. Version 2 is on
its way to me now, and 1 will follow
up with a review of its enhancements
as soon as possible.)
TIME IS RUNNING OUT! ;
The Club’s contest is almost over,
and so far competition is not very
stiff. With the number of entries
we currently have, the odds of
winning look pretty good* Don't
forget what's at stake here:
First Prize: a 520 ST monochrome
system !
Second Prize: an Avatex 1200 baud
modem
Third Prize: a Gemini gift certificate
All you need to do is attend the
meetings and write an article for
the newsletter- S imple* (A ttend
three out of four general
meetings between September 198?
and December 1987, inclusive, and
submit an original 500 to 1000
word article.) j
\
PRESIDENT S
COLUMN
Here's the latest status report on
club activity Cor, in some cases, lack
of same).
Leon Bonam managed to get
Micro League to our October 10th
meeting. They showed us the ST
wrestling program and the baseball
program which is available for both
Atari systems. I found the talk a
little depressing. It seems sales of
Micro League's Atari software are
not what had been hoped for. In fact,
ST sales in the U S. are not what
Micro League had thought they
would be. For that reason, no
additional 8-bit software is planned
and the new football game may or
may not be released for the ST. To be
honest, I don't find either of the
programs M icro League has released
to date worth buying. With all of the
other "extras" disks that are needed
to complete the programs, the stuff
seems way over priced. My first
thought was that might be why sales
aren't so hot. We were told , however,
that sales for other computer brands
has been much better.
In any case, becauseof Micro
League's visit, the presentation on
Geneology has been moved back to
our November 14-th meeting.
December's meeting will be our
annual holiday get together.
On October 15th our BBS went
24-00 baud. It now supports
300/1200/2400 baud operation.
Last but not least: 8-bit/16-bit.
Page 14-
I
No sugar coating this time. From all
indications, 8-bit support is dead in
ABE’S ACEsf We've got lots of 8-bit
users, but I can only think of two or
three that actually support other
8-bit users. What do I mean and how
did it come about?
When this year's E-Board was
elected, two of the seven members
were 8-bit users. When two board
members had to resign a couple
months ago, we lost one of the
8-bitters. Since that time, the last
8-bit owner on the board has sold his
system and purchased an ST. All
seven board members now own ST
computers-
Over the years, an important
area of support for our club members
has been our public domain disk
library, jim Mueller, Clay Wagner,
John Slaby and Robert Macgregor
have all served as 8-bit librarians
over the past five and a half years.
When Chris Andrews, an ST owner,
was elected head librarian in June,
Robert MacGregor offered to help out
by putting together 8-bit disks for
the club. A few weeks ago, Robert’s
8-bit system died and he replaced it
with an ST. He can no longer
assemble 8-bit program disk masters
for John Douglas to duplicate.
What can the club offer to ANY
Atari owner? Demos from members
and outside guests, public domain
software, a newsletter with reviews
and articles of interest, Special
Interest Groups on topics that are of
use to you, a BBS with programs and
information to help you and an
opportunity for you to meet and talk
with other Atari owners and to share
in their collective pool of knowledge.
I think ABE'S ACEs does each and
every one of the above IF you're an
ST owner. If you own an 8-bit A tari,
the club now falls very very short.
The only way this is going to change,
is if a number of 8-bit users take the
plunge and support the club- There
will be no 8-bit reviews or articles in
HARDCOPY unless you write them.
There will be no 8-bit demos at
meetings unless you do them. There
will be no 8-bit activity on HELP KEY
II unless you create it. There will be
no new 8-bit library disks unless an
8-bit owner takes the position and
there will be no 8-bit representation
on the E-Board unless an 8-bit user
runs for office in June.
N ewsletter
Advertising Rates
1/4 Page — *■ $15
1/2 Page — ► $25
Full Page — $40
Page 15
ABE'S ACEs
Allentown Bethlehem Easton’s
Atari Computer Enthusiasts is an
independent user group organized and
run by owners of Aari Computers. Atari
Is a trademark or Atari Corp.; all
references should he so noted.
If you would like more
information shout ABE'S ACEs, write us
at the club's address or call the club
Hotline at the number listed below.
N © w§Q ©(Uen 0
This newsletter Is published by
ABE'S ACEs on a bi-monthly basts (six
issues per year). Opinions expressed in
this newsletter are those of the author
and not ABE'S ACEs. All unsigned
articles should be attributed to the
Editor. This newsletter is provided free
to our membership and on an exchange
basis to other user groups. Original
articles from our newsletter may be
reprinted In other newsletters provided
credit is given to both author and source.
Submissions to the newsletter may
be made via the Help Key II, at the
general meetings, or by mail to the club's
P.O. Box (both magnetic and paper copies,
please). For more information, leave
messages on the Help Key II or call the
club Hotline.
Executive (Corn milt tee
President Dennis John
(215) 759-8151
Vice-President Leon Bonam
(215) 266-1521
Secretary Brian Oplinger
Treasurer John Slaby
(215) 252-1991
Membership Jace Gill
(215) 395-1676
Librarian Chris C. Andrews
(215) 866-2*59
Newsletter Editor Chris Scullion
mtorary Staff
8-Bit Disks John Douglas
16-Bit Disks Chris C. Andrews
Paper Library Opei.
O ub b PJnorne Miuimlbers
Help Key II BBS (215) 759-2683
non-local (215) 821-9222
Club Hotline (Voice) (215) 759-3336
Allentown Bethlehem Easton's FIRST CLASS MAIL
Atari Computer Enthusiasts
P.O. Box 2830
Lehigh Valley, PA 18001
San Leandro Computer Club
Newsletter Exchange
P.O.Box 1506
San Leandro, CA 94577
