JonnyBritish

In my code I am tracking a sprites position as a variable called AY. I wanted to add 1 to the variable so used this TurboForth code which is perfectly valid but is 5 Forth words long AY @ 1+ AY ! Here is how it works AY @ - retrieve valiable AY and store on the stack 1+ - retrieve top most cell from stack and add 1 to the value and place back on the stack AY ! - retrieve the top most value on the stack and place back in variable AY However there is a better way which is only 3 Forth words long and that is 1 AY +! From the docs at http://www.turboforth.net/language_reference.html and specifically +! value address -- S Read the cell at address, adds value to it and stores the result at address. You can see it combines all the operations into a 3 word line. same for subtraction -! value address -- S Reads the cell at address. Subtracts value from the cell value, and stores the result at address.

It runs perfectly but at the end your stack still has values left over :-)

I am workong with TurboForth on a new game and want to design a sprite or actually 4 sprites. Are there any PC based sprite editors that do not require me to load Java? thanks

Count me in, need a good excuse to dive into Forth and this is it.

Just noticed I have this complete manual from Texas Instruments Is there already a scan of this out there?

be sure to check out es forth on Atarimania

While looking for VDP information i landed on a cool MS site that details different versions of VDP http://map.grauw.nl/

Only 13 dollars eBay Auction -- Item Number: 160721876611

Thanks Mark, your new JOYST routine works perfectly and I do not even have to load the assembler!

Wondering if Mark would consider a release of V1.2 now. If a bunch of people start hammering on it during their game development it would also function as a great test of the 1.2 release. Idea would be that by the TI Faire a bunch of games (hopefully) will have been tested on 1.2 and any bugs worked out. Just a thought

So in playing with TurboForth 1.1 under the awesome classic99 I tried this code after plugging in a PC Xbox controller : TEST BEGIN 0 JOYST . AGAIN ; TEST As this takes the joystick 0 value, puts it on the stack then prints to the screen i would expect to see nothing but zeros when i am not pushing the stick or pressing fire. What actually happens is that while mostly I see zeros...mostly..:-) I also see the value 28062 scroll by. Apart from this I can press all combinations and fire and see the correct values as pre this from the docs. actually just tried same code again and now i see 31's..weird! Scans the selected joystick. For joystick #1 use a unit# of 0. For joystick 2 use a unit# of 1. The returned value is a bit code which can be decoded as follows: 1=Fire 2=Left 4=Right 8=Down 16=Up Since each direction has its own bit, combinations are possible: for example, UP+LEFT+FIRE=19

Well assuming you do not win the lottery and buy your own private island in the bahamas we'll all be looking forward to the book update :-)

Well related to Forth (not TI99) but still interesting. This device uses Forth as a test language - http://thewikireader.com/ If you take the unit apart they even included a serial port and yes the unit will respond to a serial connection with a forth interpreter. Even more fun is that you can simply pull out the microsd card, add your forth programs as plain text files with a short menu file as well and run your forth apps on this device. Developer claims to have almost implemented a full ansi standard Forth with new words for various features of the unit. In addition the included sample apps contain a lot of example forth code such as screen drawing. One guy even wrote a forth simulator for it so you can develop code for it without having to pull the microsd card all the time. - http://createuniverses.googlecode.com/files/WikiReaderSim_v003.zip Also...in case this is not enough...what about running forth on a computer built out of TTL chips? - http://www.holmea.demon.co.uk/Mk1/Architecture.htm Hoping we will see more TurboForth apps over the next 8 months. We have a great tool but wow if it does not get used it will be such a waste. Hoping I will get to create Space Empires using TurboForth at least as a starting point.

Not on A8 but might be of interest, check out Inform

I have one and have a pc+mac+retro connected like A8, Ti99 and 7800 switching betwen inputs takes too long and colors do not seem bright...recommend you at least compare against a similar samsung. not saying its bad...as it has loads of inputs..there might just be better out there today

Wow a discussion about Pascal...that takes me back. My first job was as a Turbo Pascal programmer in the oil industry. I was taken on and trained up to program PC's using Turbo Pascal 4 which had Unit support. The apps we wrote were used to analyse data coming in from surveyors in the field who were surveyng steelwork as offshore oil platforms were being built. It was amazing to write 100,000 line apps on an 8mhz PC and have it compile in seconds under Borland Turbo Pascal 4.0. with a 20MB Hard card in the machine. Before starting this job I was at college using USCD or perhaps Sheffield Pascal on a Prime 550 Mini computer and of course it was the usual line editor, then compile etc..nasty stuff. Turbo Pascal in comparison was amazing. Of course we knew about the C versus Pascal debate but we knew we were right! :-) Have to say though I might not have been such a fan if forced to use UCSD Pascal. In fact Anders Hejlsberg the original auther of Turbo Pascal ended up working on C# at Microsoft. Maybe explains why I found it easy to switch to C# - Here is a video showing Anders and what he is up to these day - http://msdn.microsof.../en-us/hh750727 My only regret from those days is that we did not get to play with Modula-2 and Oberon. There was a company called Top Speed who produced systems like Top Speed Modula-2 for example. I still remember spending lunch times reading the computer press and seeing the ads for TopSpeed products and drooling over the examples showing how TopSpeed compilers produced tighter code etc. In fact I just read that TopSpeed Modula 2 was created by an ex Borland team - http://www.bitwisema...ame-of-modula-2 (read the comments at the end!) Late last year I was reading about a programming competition and found out that in eastern europe Pascal is still very popular. No doubt someone some day will create a Turbo Pascal like language on cartridge form for the TI99 :-) Lastly...all this talk pf pascal reminds me...there is a retro computer store nearby that has many of these old PC based software products still sealed. Last time I was in they had a sealed Turbo Pascal 5.5 for 40 dollars...may have to stop by and see if they also have any Modula-2 products. While I never found PC based computers exciting in any way shape or form the compilers were very cool.

Add me to the list as well Bob...JonnyBritish

Will these these volumes appear in hardback?

Same here - xbox live is JonnyBritish

Impressive to say the least, would love to buy this on cart

sometime in the future i hope for an XM modded 7800+perfect video out to vga for example...The 7800 is a great platform with stunning games especially from home brewers but I can never get decent video out. I will certainly pony up for an FPGA 7800 if it includes at least XM+great video.

Funnily enough i came from a family that was not rich so of course not being able to afford a home computer I saw my opportunity for some form of programmable calculator but it was lame to say the least...i wish it had been an HP calculator running RPL oh well :-)

I will add my 10 cents for what its worth. All depends, do you want to learn on a retro system or get some experience on a modern platform then go back to retro..On PC you could do worse then learn C#.NET. In fact a new free video series has been published that assumes no knowledge and will take you through many of the basics. You can find the link here - http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C-Sharp-Fundamentals-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners/Series-Introduction-01 There is also a version for VB.NET. Also recently I discovered this platform - http://www.monkeycoder.co.nz - this is a game orientated BASIC language. It actually came from a UK company and was originally called Blitz Basic I think. They now also have monkeycoder that can target many platforms. Of course you could decide to learn purely on a retro platform. On Atari you have a choice of multiple BASICS / Forth / Action! which is a pascal like language and very structured. On the TI99 for example you could code in extended BASIC or now TurboForth. Of course you could go another way and look at languages like Ruby for example or even www.kidsruby.com which gives you instant feedback As you can see there are more options than you have time in the day so more insight into your end goals would help. If you want to develop the next great game on the Atari 2600 then you are talking either Batari Basic or 6502 assembler...the second one is not a good place to start. On Atari for example the Action! language is very very powerful and has been used to write a few commercial Atari games. As you get further in though in general you will find that all computer programming languages have similarities such as having to declare storage in memory, looping, getting keyboard input, making decisions and writing to screen. For that reason you could start with a good video series as i linked to above and then use those new skills to better understand coding on retro platforms. One thing is for certain, there is no shortage of amazing developers on Atariage and many are willing to answer questions as long as it is clear you have put in some effort. Last word....one thing about coding especially when you are new to it...be sure to break your project up into tiny chunks of code. This way you can get the satisfaction of knowing you have completed some code very quickly rather than having to code for hours / days etc before you get a result. Also be realistic, you will not code Super Mario Galaxy on day 1. If you were coding in Action! on atari 8bit you might start with simply displaying a dot on the screen and having it move under joystick control. Then perhaps as you move the dot you increment a number which displays on the screen. Now turn your dot into a graphic like a racing car and now you are starting to build up a game. Small steps is the way to go until you get more skilled up Good luck!

The loading delays did not bother me as was reviewing the manual while waiting. Either way its a great thinking game with you trying to out run / outgun your opponent.

Uranie kicked my ass. She cut behind me and I sailed right past. The end result was a boarding action and while i took out 25 of her crew my captain struck his colors.. i'll be back as this is not over - also fun to enter your orders then realise the AI has made a smarter over...you cant exactly turn on a dime here so if you make a mistake it can take a few turns to correct. great documentation as well