Bill Pragnell wrote:
> "clipka" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> [snip basic info]
> 
> For BASIC fans, the Rolls-Royce of traditional BASIC:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_BASIC
> 
> This is the language in which I first learnt programming. Only available on
> 1980s-1990s Acorn computers in the UK (and parts of Europe), unfortunately, so
> not widely known. However, on those 8-bit and 32-bit platforms, it was a very
> complete inbuilt language, practically part of the OS. As well as named
> functions, procedures, debugging tools and a built-in assembler, it had very
> powerful graphics and sound abilities courtesy of its close alliance with the
> OS. There were even keywords for directly poking and peeking to memory
> (although that probably makes most people shudder these days!). It was often the
> easiest tool for writing multitasking desktop apps too... :)
> 
> 
> 
Thanks it sound to me like it was the way programming should have gone, 
I'll look it up.
A peek function would still be useful, but a poke function on a multi 
tasking system where
the operating system is in RAM ... well at best, you might reboot a lot.

BTW the PET instruction manual warned if you poked into the wrong area 
you might have to
reboot the computer. At that time, I had no idea what this meant and 
stayed away from poking
around until I realized all rebooting invoved was pressing the reset button.

David


David

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