Hola, I speak English like Tarzan, sorry to write in Spanish: (And an attempt in English with google translator :oops: )


Tengo un par de dudas:

1º Creo recordar que cuando declarábamos una matriz alfanumérica DIM a$(10) sin especificar el tamaño, automáticvamente se reservaba en memoria espacio suficiente para cadenas de 255 caracteres para cada uno de los elementos de la matriz. Eso era un gasto de memoria muy caro, sobre todo para los que no sabemos programar y desperdiciamos memoria en cada línea , por eso limitábamos el tamaño mediante DIM a$(10,20) (por ejemplo) para limitar el tamaño de cada elemento a 20 caracteres.

Usando el compilador la instrucción DIM a$ (10,20) no limita el tamaño de cada elemento ,sino que crea una matriz alfanumerica de 10x20.

La duda es si al declarar la matriz DIM a$(n) AS STRING se está reservando memoria para cadenas de 255 caracteres en los n elementos.

2º El juego que estaba haciendo empezó hacer cosas raras, hasta que me di cuenta que el problema debia ser la falta de memoria (al eliminar arrays de texto el juego volvia a funcionar), ¿como puedo saber cuanta memoria he gastado?, lei que lo que ocupaba el archivo TZX era mas o menos lo que ocupaba el programa, eso es asi?.

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I have a couple of questions:

1º I remember that when we declared an array alphanumeric DIM a $ (10) without specifying the size, automáticvamente reserved memory space for strings of 255 characters for each of the elements of the matrix. That was a very expensive cost of memory, especially for those who do not know programming and wasted memory on each line , so we just kept the size by DIM a $ (10.20) (for example) to limit the size of each item to 20 characters.

Using the compiler instruction DIM to $ (10,20) does not limit the size of each element, but creates an alphanumeric matrix of 10x20.

The question is whether to declare the array DIM a $ (n) AS STRING is allocate memory for strings of 255 characters in the n elements.

2º The game was getting started doing strange things, until I realized that the problem was to be the lack of memory (to delete arrays of text the game was returning to work), how I can know how much memory I have spent?, I read that occupied the TZX file more or less what was occupied by the program, it is so?.

For the 1.2.8 test I recompiled all the sources I have kicking around and discovered that a couple won't compile any more. Specifically these are ones containing ASM sections with comments, and they throw an "illegal preprocessor character" error. Curiously the line numbers of the errors don't seem to help much, they seem to point to lines which are blank or ones which don't actually have the character that the preprocessor is complaining about.

This isn't a regression in 1.2.8, by the way - I checked them with 1.2.7 as well and the same problem happens there. Guess I didn't recompile my entire collection of source for a while. :-)

I've included one of the files in full, because I didn't write them so I'm not sure how to cut them down. Apologies. If you need the other one as well then let me know.

I was thinking about any routines that get attr positions up, right, down and left for one character of x,y position.
-p-
qAr
-s-
And the same for a tile
-pq-
rABt
sCDu
-vw-
and poke those valours into printer buffer or into a variable address, etc.
I'm tired for repeat the same sentences IF ATTR in basic listing cause is a heavy job.
I have no time now, but if someone has free time for this and they want...
I think this can be a library called e.g. ATTTR.bas or ATTTR.asm
Thx.

Okay, this starts a new life cicle. Release 1.2.8x
At the moment it's just like 1.2.7 but with some code refactoring (no new features). Test is needed as it should behave exactly the same as previous versions (currently more than 40 tests proves so).

Download here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.boriel.com/wiki/en/index.php/ZX_BASIC:Archive#Latest_Development_Version">http://www.boriel.com/wiki/en/index.php ... nt_Version</a><!-- m -->

Hi Boriel,

I have found a bug with -o3 optimiser (-o2 works well)
In following code (not fully finished yet) in -o3 mode not all chess Figures are displayed. The figures are named in german as they are just placeholders for graphics that will be added later.

Oh, just noticed that also the binary operator shortcuts (|, &, ...) are not working too (yet).

Hi all!

Is it possible to return a string from a function? I tried this:

Hi Boriel. Maybe it is a bug... If I try to use -d option for displaying debug info, the compiler enters a infinite loop. Is it not supported anymore in build 2114?
Ah, the program is a simple PRINT "Hallo", nothing else.

Okay, finally version 1.2.7 is out (revision 2114).
It's a major refactorization of the zxbpp and zxbasmpp (the preprocessors).

Check the changelog if interested. Basically, main changes are:

• + DRAW is now much faster (and a bit more larger)
  
• + PLOT, DRAW and CIRCLE now supports change screen address (for double-buffering)
  
• + Added LBOUND() and UBOUND() functions
  
• ! Fixed a bug in IF/THEN/ELSEIF/ELSE construct (thanks to LTee)
  
• + Added a completely new preprocessor which now support true macros and
  better line counting handling. This has been a major change in the compiler.
  
• + Added string management library with
  UCase(), LCase(), Ucase2(), LCase2(), InStr() and StrPos()
  
• ! UDG where not being handled into the Heap, which might lead to program
  crash (fixed). This is done only if --sinclair or -Z flag is used.
  
• + Added suport for BIN, so BIN 01010101 is also accepted now.
  
• ! Fixed a bug with string parameters passed by value (again) not being correctly
  free upon return and crashing the program.
  
• + BEEP with constant duration and pitch (e.g. BEEP 1, 2) has been
  optimized for space (and also slightly faster)
  
• + Added Flight Simulator example

I wrote the following code to list out the numbers from 0 to 255:

A question today, rather than a bug. :-)

Is it possible to pass an array as a parameter to a function or a sub?

And if so, does the function/sub receive a copy of the array or a pointer to the original? i.e. if I made changes to the array within a function, would those changes be local to the function or would they also be visible from the calling method?