BASIC debugger

[morelenmir]

Was there ever a debugger for atari basic?

 

'The Monkey Wrench' has some useful features, but not the breakpoints and step through that would be most useful for basic programmes. At least not to my understanding of the cartridge,

[Rybags]

The nature of Atari Basic is such that it's not really easy on real machines. There's practically nothing the the way of vectors where you can customize or intercept execution like e.g. many C= Basic variants.

I suppose it's a mix of tight space vs what they got in there, and possibly they felt it was fairly complete anyway.

 

Later versions of Altirra have some Basic debugging features I believe. You could probably roll a few of your own too - the Atari Basic Source Book has documentation of the common entry points for routines Basic uses so you could set breakpoints for certain statements although of course many have shared code.

[+Larry]

The closest things to what you mention that I know of are 1)The MMG Basic Debugger and 2)Basic Building Blocks (which contained a "Basic Design Tool" that allowed controlled execution and examination of Basic code).

 

MMG also had the Basic Commander which was much like the Monkey Wrench. Beyond that, the TRACE utilities qualify to some degree, as well as the simple but effective PRINT and STOP commands. I've seen those used advantageously in split-screen environments to print variables, etc. that one wants to keep track of. Antic published a couple of TRACE programs including this one that I always liked:

 

http://www.atarimaga...aceutility.html

 

Not really the same thing, but Basic XL had an add-on called "FIND" which was very useful for making changes in long programs without leaving Basic.

 

-Larry

[morelenmir]

Many thanks guys! I will give those apps the once over.

 

Yep, I tend to use the Print, Stop and also Input commands as a sort of jury-rigged breakpoint. My interest in A8 is mainly nostalgic and I like typing in again those programmes that seemed impossibly long as a child or ones I could never get to work. Nonetheless, now and then I find myself wishing there were an IDE for BASIC - maybe even just a pc 'grammar checker' that I could try the code out in before importing it into Altirra.

 

Still. I guess the rough-and-ready nature of programming back then is where a good part of the charm comes from!

[Rybags]

Atari Basic does have the strength though in that you can halt a program and edit it and continue execution unimpeded. Some Basics will clear the variable space if you alter the program.

[8bit-guy]

Atari Basic does have the strength though in that you can halt a program and edit it and continue execution unimpeded. Some Basics will clear the variable space if you alter the program.

 

turbobasic?

[+MrFish]

The closest things to what you mention that I know of are 1)The MMG Basic Debugger and 2)Basic Building Blocks (which contained a "Basic Design Tool" that allowed controlled execution and examination of Basic code).

 

MMG also had the Basic Commander which was much like the Monkey Wrench. Beyond that, the TRACE utilities qualify to some degree, as well as the simple but effective PRINT and STOP commands. I've seen those used advantageously in split-screen environments to print variables, etc. that one wants to keep track of. Antic published a couple of TRACE programs including this one that I always liked:

 

Are either of these MMG utilities available anywhere?

 

I've checked the usual suspects -- and beyond -- and haven't come up with anything.