#ABasiC program size
I've come to the startling conclusion that my C64 is bigger than my Amiga. A
few little test programs consisting of a variety of assignment statements,
gOSUBS, simple functions, etc. were written for the 64 and also entered into
the Amiga. The value of FRE(0)noprogram-FRE(0)program was compared for the
two machines. (a) there is an apparent overhead of about 1300 bytes in the
Amiga as soon as a single line is entered. (b)ignoring that hit, a typical
ratio of Amiga program length to C64 program length TO DO THE EXACT SAME
THING is two-to-one. (c)since I've also encountered "Program too long" on the
Amiga at a length of about 60k, I conclude that A PROGRAM LONGER THAN ABOUT
30k ON THE C64 IS TOO BIG FOR ABASIC on the Amiga. (d)a couple of horrendous
examples: clear the screen C64-9 bytes Amiga – 24 bytes (for the single word
"SCNCLR"). print "I'm ok" C64 -15 bytes Amiga – 40 bytes.
This seems typical of the current tendency to burnup memory as long as it's
there. They better get this fixed or I'm going to start doubting the wisdom
of my purchase. Dick Darling