foenixretro/f256-superbasic

SuperBASIC for the F256 computers

f256-superbasic's Issues

Reference Manual page 23, 24: not clear how multi-line inline assembler is 'scoped'

While reading through these pages I wonder how the end of the inline assemble is found. By the first regular basic command perhaps? Probably it is a good idea to state this explicitely.

New Screen Editor

Replace screen editor with multi line version.

Add DMA command

Space before colon

Add memory checking

1. Out of identifier space
2. Out of alloc() space (also used for arrays)
3. String temp allocate fails
4. Insert out of program memory

Image 6 bug

image 6 colour $FF,$0 to 0,0
HFlip / VFlip corrupts centre part - 6 only.

Image command requires Sprites On

new => syntax error

Cascading string parameters don't work.

100 name$ = "Hello"
110 printme(name$)
120 end
130 proc printme(name$)
135 print "[";name$;"]"
140 endproc

prints [] ; if you change 100/110 to name1$ it works fine.

Input without a variable should throw an error

When an input doesn't have a variable argument it basically functions as a print command. This can lead to confusing behaviour as it might not be immediately clear what is wrong. An explicit error would make it immediately clear something is wrong.

Unable to 'ctrl-c' the listing of a procedure

When listing a long procedure (like ml_routines() in Ernesto's sprite editor), it does not seem possible to break the listing with ctrl-c, like you can with 'regular' listing. It would be very handy if this is possible.

Add RTC access/update functions

Add CSV functions

Feature request: cursor off/on during storage operations

Since there is no "Loading..." or "Saving..." text and no READY prompt, it would be handy to simply turn the cursor OFF while loading or saving, then back on when complete.

In fairness, it does say "Complete", but cursor control could take care of the indeterminate time required to load/save.

Thanks

Mike / EMwhite

Extend rnd() functionality

print @variable does not work

Reported by Ernesto

Set to use LUT3 in edit mode in Kernal ; remove from Graphics code.

the MMU control byte should not be accessed ; compatibility with Jessie's kernel.

asl lsr ror rol don't work

Generate syntax errors ; asmtest does not work at present.

Write 'getting started'

Load etc. fixes

1. Load EOF is 0 / CS e.g. it's an error
2. LoadByte vs LoadChar
3. Validate FN for length, chars contained
4. Save
5. Verify (sort of)
6. Update documentation
7. Fix release system , make release 19

tokeniser accesses codePtr

Need a general check.

Add Random Number Generator

Reference Manual: more '\' characters that should be removed

page 29: %
100 print 42 % 5
page 30:
division:
100 print 22//7
110 print 22\7
&:
100 print count & 7

Inserting code while editing an existing line should not cut off the last characters that fall off the screen

When you edit an existing line of code and insert characters before the end, any character that is pushed off the screen is lost, which can lead to some really weird errors. These characters should be preserved. It would be the best if they would just flow onto the next line.

Math rounding error causing wild out of range results.

Consider the following example:

print 3.14592/2
1.57079

This is okay, though the actual value is 1.57296, some precision loss is to be expected.

And if we subtract these two formulas, the result is still as expected:

print 3.14592/2-3.14592/2
0.00000

But the problem arises if we would try to pass in the first number (already rounded) by the formula:

print 1.57079-3.14592/2
-0.00000

Uh oh. Negative zero? I get that it's an approximation of some negative number very close to zero (-0.00217), but this seems to lead to more significant problems that can crash your program.

Watch what happens if we multiply these formulas:

print (1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)
0.00000

In a weird way, this makes sense... but it's not actually any better.

I'll cut to the chase and just show you the whole pattern:

print 1.57079-3.14592/2
-0.00000

print (1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)
0.00000

print (1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)
-0.00000

print (1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)
1073741824.00000

print (1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)*(1.57079-3.14592/2)
-1073741824.1342177280167721600209715200131072000016384000....... continues

Here's a simple test program to illustrate this in a more consumable format:

10    pi#=3.141592
20    for i=1 to 360
30      rad#=i*pi#/180
40      cosrad#=rad#-pi#/2
50      print "Degree: ";:print i,"Rad: ";:print rad#,"CosRad: ";:print cosrad#;
60      print "        >>>    ",cosrad#*cosrad#*cosrad#*cosrad#
70    next

Feature request: cursor off / on command

It would be very useful to be able to easily turn off and on the blinking cursor with a basic command like: cursor <on/off>.
This way programs can easily hide the cursor when in graphics mode for example and turn it on again when needed.

Implement INPUT

Add DIY colour schemes

tabstop width not uniform

Could be by design or historical but the first tab stop (control-i) is at position 9 while the remaining are 8 chars apart.

Thanks
(Mike / EMwhite)

Add random() with integer modulus or similar

Errors on procedure parameters should reference the caller not the target.

e.g. if the parameters are wrong the error is at the target ; but it there could be multiple calls hindering discovery of the error.

Write CSV functions

CSV Functions ?
-	ItemCount(String,Seperator)
-	ItemGet(String,Index,Seperator) (starts at 1)

text s$ dim 2 lists as text s$dim 2

Reference Manual: page 26: 10.6 Versions?

I'm not sure why paragraph 10.6 is called Versions. It doesn't seem to deal with versions, but memory use.

Add CALL functionality - better :)

SD Card access does not work

When using the latest released version of superbasic (Beta 1) on my Foenix 256 Jr. I am unable to list the directory of an SD card or save a basic program to an SD card. Because saving was not possible I also could not try to load a basic program. When issuing a dir command no error message is printed and no files are listed. A save command results in a storage error. The SD card LED on the board does not light up or blink.

I have tried several cards (16MB SD, 128MB SD, 512MD SD, 2GB SD, 4GB SDHC) which have been formatted on Linux and on Windows using FAT32. When formatting I have tried several different allocation unit sizes (512, 1024, 2048 and 4096 bytes) and I also have repartitioned the cards on Windows. I also had a look at https://github.com/ghackwrench/F256_Jr_Kernel_DOS for additional information but was not able to solve my problem.

Am I just unlucky with my selection of SD cards or is this is a known bug of this version?

As a side note: Listing a directory, save or load work for IEC bus devices (I have checked that with a real 1541 floppy drive and an sd2iec like device.

Add tile functionality

Add LET @ functionality

Numbers higher than $3FFFFFFF don't work correctly

Try following

n=$3FFFFFFF
print n

n=n+1
print n

Reference Manual page 23, 9.2 assemble example escape \$6000

The example of the assemble command contains an escape character that shouldn't not be there in the pdf:

100 assemble $6000, ....

Should be just $6000.

Add indenting to listing

Invalid sprite images should display nothing

Tokenise REM/' without " as a special case, also detokenise.

Description of call statement is missing in documentation and a question about the boot screen

While trying to familiarize myself with my F256 Jr. I stumbled over a few things which might be of interest.

1. I tried to call an assembly routine which had been written to memory through the assemble statement but was unable to find any info in the documentation about how to achieve this. Through a look into the source code of superbasic I found the implementation of the call statement which does exactly that. To me it seems that some information about the call statement should be added to the documentation.

2. On the boot screen displayed by my machine (a Revision B board using the latest release of superbasic and the kernel that comes with it) there are four characters which seem to have a different background colour:
   
   After noticing that these characters had the correct colour in the boot screen of your emulator I ruled out that this was done on purpose. Even though this does not influence the usability of superbasic in any way I began to wonder whether there is a problem in the initialization of the screen memory.

I also stumbled over a few other minor things (mostly in the documentation). If you are interested in info like that I can open additional issues.

SolarFox, Demo2 and Invaders fail with Out of Range errors

After updating to the 01/03/2023 Beta 1 version of Basic/Kernel, I notice that these two demo games don't work anymore. Both fail in a routine that updates or draws all sprites with an Out of Range error. Perhaps this is caused by the changes in the sprite handling code.

Line Editing unit test

Generate simple tokenisable edit sequences and compare results.