POWERFUL Amsdoc is a powerful utility program to generate annotated expanded listings for purposes of explanation and clarification. It would be ideal for schools using Amstrads or home users developing complex programs in Basic. The Amsdoc utility takes your Basic program and analyses it in various ways. It then produces a new version of the listing which may be dumped to printer or screen. The program is designed to highlight key elements, such as the logical flow or subroutines and loops and the use of variables. Though there are many formats or annotation available within Amsdoc, all are essentially concerned with showing the program logic (or lack of it). For example, the Flow List option takes your raw program and produces a flowchart with each instruction in its logical order, ie, with Gotos and Gosubs paired with their respective destinations and the level of subroutine clearly marked. Variables are also listed with the lines in which they occur. There are also options to give you automatic simplification of variable names to save memory as well as dumping the reformatted listings to back up rather than printer, which, amongst other things, lets you print out several copies. Amsdoc is an incredibly powerful program. I haven't seen anything to compare with it on any other micro, but it is not flawless. The main problem is with the manual which, though detailed, (some of it is in the form of a disc file) offers little compromise to the more casually interested. Very experienced programmers should have little problem with it, but if, as the manufacturer says, the program is to have educational use they should avoid leaping into such phrases as "object program", "absolute break" and even "program output medium" where simpler forms are available. Nevertheless, for serious Basic programmers, highly recommended. PopularComputingWeekly860220 | 
