Atari BASIC Faster and Better.pdf

ATARI Information Series - Volume I

Carl M. Evans

ATARIBASIC

Faster and Better

Editor - Charles Trapp - Gunslinger

Production - Cindy Hall - Bouncer ..

Production Assistant - Debbie Cooke Runner

Everybody's Assistant - David Moore - Magic

Cover - D. J. Smith - Bass Guitar

This book is dedicated to Lewis Rosenfelder . . . in grateful

acknowledgment ofhis being that sp ecial kind ofpionee r, who,

being the first to go , carried the lantern high.

ISBN 0 936200 29 4

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rig hts reserve d. No pa rt o f t hi s book m ay be re produ ce d by any m e ans without the express written

permi ssio n o f t he pub li s he r. Exa mple programs a re for personal use only. E ve ry re a sonable effort has

bee n ma d e to ens ure accuracy throughout t hi s boo k, but ne ithe r the author nor the publi s her can assume

res pons ibili ty fo t' an y e rro rs or o mi ssion s . No li a bility is assume d for a ny dire ct, or indirect, damages

re s ul t in g fr om the u se of information conta in e d here in.

AT ARI is a registered t ra demark of ATARI In c. , a division of Wa l'l1 er Co mmuni cat ions Company.

Printed in the United States of Am eri ca

2 Notice

Final Thoughts

About the Author

Carl studied electronic engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, specializing in

electro-optical communications. He first became involved with computers in 1971.

Fortunately, for those ofus wishing to know the secrets of"Atari magic," Carl's involvement

appears deep and lasting. A champion has appeared, carrying a book of !,pells and

incantations ... Atari BASIC Faster and Better.

Carl is currently the manager of IJG's publications department. IJG publishes technical

books - in non-technical language - about home computers.

He also runs VERVAN Software; a software and documentation consulting firm that has

developed an extensive series of machine-language utilities for the Atari computer.

Carl has been writing on a professional basis since 1978, and is widely published in various

technical and home computer magazines. He's been writing a regular tutorial column; Tape

Topics , and a technical help column; Tangle Angles, for ANTIC magazine since_1982 .

David E. Moore - Wizard's Assistant

From the Author

As I write my final thoughts about this book I am in a strange frame of mind. I started

writing this book like I would have started any other project. I scoped the task and laid out a

Gantt chart for it. Now, this book has changed my life. I was a successful project engineer for

an aerospace company and had a good shot at climbing the corporate ladder. Now, I am the

publications managerfor a book publisher- namelyIJG. lowe the change in my career to this

book, and Harv Pennington. I have always loved to write, but I never thought I could make a

career of it. Harv showed me that I could. As publications manager for IJG, I can continue my

writing, and help other authors bring their hopes to fruition. I couldn' t be happier. Thanks,

Harv.

Carl M. Evans

August 1983

ATARI BASIC Faster & Better 3

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Contents

Preface .... .. .. . . . .... . . ...... ... ....... . .. .............................. 10

Introduction

What is Faster and Better? . .. . .. ... ...... ...... ..... .......... .......... 12

How to Use this Book

Chapter One

Subroutines, Handlers and Shells ............................ . ......... 16

Subroutines .. . ... .. . . .. .. .............................................. .. 16

Handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17

Shell Programs ............... .. .......................................... 18

Programming Conventions Used in This Book ................................ 18

Chapter Two

How to Program Efficiently in BASIC . ...................... . ............ 20

Fundamental Concepts ... .................................. .. . .... .... . ... 20

Good Habits to Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22

Making Backup Copies . .. . .......................................... . ... 22

Planning Video Layouts .......... ...... ............... ...... ........ . ... 22

Setting Up Error Traps . ................................................. 28

Minimizing Program Execution Time ..................................... . .. 29

Minimizing the Size of a Program ........................................... 30

Chapter Three

Using Machine Language in BASIC ..................................... 33

Writing USR Routines with an Assembler/Editor ..... .. . . .................... 34

How to Load and Execute USR Routines from Disk ... .. .. .. ....... . ..... .. .... 37

POKEing USR Routines into Memory . ................................... . .. 37

SFILL.DEM (DEMO) ........ ... ..... ........ ... ...... . ........... . . ... . 38

CONVERT.BAS (PROGRAM) .... . ..................................... 39

Object File into BASIC Data Statements .. ...... . . .......................... 40

Saving USR Routines to Disk .............. ... ............................. 41

SFILL.LST (SUBROUTINE) ... . .. .. . . .............. . ............. . .. . .. 41

Loading USR Routines into Strings .... ......... . .... .................... . .. 42

DATAPAKBAS (PROGRAM) ........................................... 42

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