After almost a year (okay, only two month 
), a new version of ZX BASIC is out.
ZX BASIC 1.4 (not 2.x) is a huge step forward in terms of compiler design.
What to expect from this version? Nothing.
What? Nothing. ZX BASIC 1.4 is a huge refactor but tries to maintain 100% backward compatibility with previous releases.
Well, there are something you might expect: Bugs.
Please, if you want to help, at this moment, the best way is to recompile your old programs with this new version and report errors.
Another method is to generate --asm files with both 1.3.x and 1.4.x and compare (diff) them, to look for differences.
Okay, yes, there are things that have already improved:
The question is: OK, now I'm open to new features... and architectures (MSX, I'm looking at you). It's time to discuss then :twisted:
Download, as always, at the Download page.
), a new version of ZX BASIC is out. ZX BASIC 1.4 (not 2.x) is a huge step forward in terms of compiler design.
What to expect from this version? Nothing.
What? Nothing. ZX BASIC 1.4 is a huge refactor but tries to maintain 100% backward compatibility with previous releases.
Well, there are something you might expect: Bugs.
Please, if you want to help, at this moment, the best way is to recompile your old programs with this new version and report errors.
Another method is to generate --asm files with both 1.3.x and 1.4.x and compare (diff) them, to look for differences.
Okay, yes, there are things that have already improved:
- ZX BASIC 1.4. corrects hidden bugs I've discovered on 1.3 (or which haven't happened because users don't use some BASIC features...)
These bugs are hard to fix in the old version and will be there forever... But are already fixed in 1.4
- ZX BASIC 1.4 already produces better code under some circumstances. Ej. @myArray(3, 4) only takes 2 asm instructions (hundreds of them before). Some POKE sentences also were not correctly optimized. They are now.
- ZX BASIC 1.4 allows now nested scopes / functions (that is, declare a function / sub inside of another as in Pascal / C++ and some extended C compilers).
The question is: OK, now I'm open to new features... and architectures (MSX, I'm looking at you). It's time to discuss then :twisted:
Download, as always, at the Download page.