by FELDA.. » Tue, 26 Apr 1994 11:04:21
As long as you stay clear of machine specific peeks, pokes, and hardware
registers, etc. most GFA commands should translate smoothly over to the
PC. Don't forget that the PC versions were developed after the Atari
versions so compatibility was most likely retained.
If you are really concerned, try contacting GFA directly about code
portability.
Ari
1. GFA BASIC -> GFA BASIC for WINDOWS
> [...]
> As long as you stay clear of machine specific peeks, pokes, and
> hardware registers, etc. most GFA commands should translate smoothly
> over to the PC. Don't forget that the PC versions were developed after
> the Atari versions so compatibility was most likely retained.
True. This is of course assuming *.LST format files.
However, there are a few things to watch out for...
Atari-style comments using "!" at end of rows will not be recognized, e.g.
a=1 ! atari comment
will import on the Windows version as
' ==> a=1 ! atari comment
In other words, the entire row will be commented out. If your code has been
commented in this way, the easiest fix is to do a global search and replace, <
! > for < // >, note leading space so as not to strip logical variable tags.
Going the other way is no problem, since the Atari version recognizes // and /*
style comments on a row and changes it to !-style.
There are a few variations on "standard" commands which will surprise one and
not be recognized in the Windows version. From memory, I believe that function
calls without brackets is disallowed,
' ==> a=FN funky
(must be defined and used as FN funky() instead)
' ==> ABSOLUTE a,*b
(not possible at all)
and so on. In general, one must after import do a search for the ==> tags to
correct the more obvious problems, redo any system specific calls (which were
cleverly tucked away in one-off procedures/functions, right?), and then
seriously review the code with regard to variations on version limits to
variables and arrays, Intel-format number storage, what have you.
It is by no means as bad as going to another BASIC, but I would not want to
redo a larger program under stress...
(illegible signature) Bo Leuf
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