| ★ APPLICATIONS ★ PROGRAMMATION ★ ARNOR BCPL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE ★ |
ARNOR BCPL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE (Amstrad Action) | ARNOR BCPL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE (8000Plus) | Arnor BCPL (CPC Amstrad International) |
Arnor's Protext has many admirers, justifiably so since it is an excellent package. But the programmers among you may be interested to know that the package was programmed in a language known as BCPL. Arnor are now selling this programming language by itself. BCPL is different to BASIC in that it is a compiled language which encourages structured programming. Usually a BASIC program is interpreted line by line; as each line is executed so the interpreter converts the instructions into the machine code equivalent. It is not really possible to write structured programs in BASIC - a structured program like Pascal or BCPL allows you to build a program from a series of procedures. Simple tasks have procedures which can be regarded as commands. The very first procedures in a BCPL program is always START - from here other procedures are called, which in their turn call yet more procedures. The Amor version is based on the accepted definition of BCPL laid down by Martin Richards and Colin Whitby-Strevens in their book 'BCPL - The Language and its Compiler'. The manual cites this as being essential reading. In fact the manual does little to educate the potential user in the ways of BCPL, so the book is vital. There is a version of BCPL available from the Public Domain but it isn't anywhere near as complete as Amor's. The Arnor version comes with a good library of procedures to handle the essentials of programming, like getting information from the keyboard, to the printer or from the disc. These actions are likely to be machine specific -in fact the package caters for both Amstrad CPC and PCW machines separately. Documenting these libraries takes up most of the manual, and PCW owners get a free ROM for use with CPC's, which is no use at all. BCPL is an eggheads language, but users of Protext can see what can be accomplished. The Arnor version has two immediate advantages for those interested in this level of programming. The libraries and the quality of the compiler - it is very fast One of the problems with compiled languages is that you have to compile the program before you can test it. so the speed of the compiler can make all the difference. 8000PLUS |
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