IF LEN(string$)>255 THEN don’t be left stranded Last month, Steve Drain announced the release of version 1.50 beta of Basalt, his module that provides extra features to BBC BASIC V. This version provides support for long strings, which Steve refers to as ‘strands’. There is also a comprehensive StrongHelp manual, but as yet there isn’t an online HTML version available. Briefly explaining strands, Steve says:
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ArmSort version 4.08 released
Module now ARMv7 compatible. Sorted! ArmSort is a relocatable module from Martin Avison of Avisoft, designed to provide programmers using BBC BASIC on RISC OS computers and emulators with a very easy and fast way to sort arrays. The module can handle any number of single or multi-dimension arrays, in any combination of variable type, and with any key sequence. It features flexible parameters and comprehensive error checking, and – important for BASIC programmers – it’s fast, using the Flash and Shell sorting algorithms. The update to version 4.08 is…
Read MoreCharm 2.5.6 released
There’s a new version of Charm, Ee i ee I/O Peter Nowosad of Qubit Consultancy Ltd has announced the availability of version 2.5.6 of Charm, his high level programming language for RISC OS computers. Released under the terms of the GNU GPLv3 licence, Charm comes with a compiler that generates efficient code with a small memory footprint, and a desktop shell that supports easy editing, compiling, assembling or linking of multiple files. Charm is described as “a simple to learn yet powerful object oriented high level language.” The latest update…
Read MoreBasalt 1.42 beta released
Beta Basalt for a better BASIC. Steve Drain, developer of Basalt, has released a new version of the module. Short for BASIC Alternative keywords, Basalt is a module that adds many additional keywords and features to all versions of BBC BASIC V, the built in programming language included as part of the ROM (or ROM Image) in all versions RISC OS. Version 1.42 beta is intended as a stable – with a bracketed question mark in Steve’s announcement – version of the previous alpha version, with additional features:
Read MoreCharm 2.5.5 released
A sunbeam to warm you, a new keyword to charm you. Peter Nowosad of Qubit Consultancy Ltd has announced the availability of version 2.5.5 of Charm, his programming language for RISC OS computers. With a compiler that generates efficient code with a small memory footprint, and a desktop shell that supports easy editing, compiling, assembling or linking of multiple files, Charm is described as “a simple to learn yet powerful object oriented high level language.”
Read MoreAbsoluately new
Absoluately fabuluas. RiscLua is a dialect of Lua adapted for use on RISC OS computer systems, and its maintainer, Gavin Wraith, has reorganised the download page on the RiscLua website, and added a handy new application for developers using the language. The download page now has the distribution split into separate, smaller zip files containing RiscLua itself, example programs, utilities, the source code and the StrongHelp manual – and the new application, called Absolua.
Read MoreRiscLua: An alternative programming language for RISC OS systems
Gavin Wraith has been in touch with a little information about RiscLua, a version of the Lua programming language adapted for RISC OS computer systems, and further developed over the last ten years. It seems that RiscLua was updated to version 5.40 in November 2011, a piece of news that was overlooked on this site. Gavin explains further:
Read MoreBASIC libraries galore
Steve Drain has released a number of BASIC libraries, and a new version of the Basalt module. The Strings BASIC library provides routines for handling long strings, referenced by normal string variables. All the standard string keywords are emulated and work with any combination of normal string variables and expressions and long strings. Written to explore a new idea for providing long string support in Basalt, which is yet to be fully written, Steve is releasing the library because it may be of interest.
Read MoreYou have my number; call me
Call is a newly released (beta) module by Steve Drain, designed to send WIMP messages to an application – and therefore allowing the application to carry out specific functions – after a set period, or at regular intervals. The RISC OS timing system and call-back mechanism is normally used by way of two SWIs (software interrupts): OS_CallAfter and OS_CallEvery, which are used to set up an interval and point to an address in memory; if OS_CallAfter was used, then after the interval has passed, the code at the specified address…
Read MoreCharmed, I’m sure
Peter Nowasad of Qubit Consultancy Ltd has announced the availability of version 2.1 of Charm, described as a free, simple to learn yet powerful high level language with a compiler that generates efficient code with a small memory footprint. Aimed in particular at the RiscPC or an emulator such as RPCEmu, the software comes with a desktop shell that supports easy editing, compiling, assembling and linking of multiple files, and allows a number of configuration options for the utilities to be set through menus. The Charm source code itself is…
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