Compiler???
7 messages in this thread
Does any one know of a good compiler for amigaBASIC? I need one that will
cover all AmigaBASIC commands. Is there such an animal?
Thanks.
Randy, there are/were 2 good compilers for AmigaBasic out on the market.
The first is the AC/Basic compiler from Absoft. It's probably the most
compatible to AmigaBasic, but it doesn't add any extra commands or
features. Also the code it produces is large and slow. And I haven't heard
from Absoft in quite a long time, so I'm not sure if it's still available.
A much better AmigaBasic compiler is the Hisoft Basic compiler. It's
probably 95 percent compatible with all the AmigaBasic commands, and if the
program requires changes they are usually very minor. It also produces code
that is at least twice as fast and half the size of Absoft's. And it has
several features and new commands to make using Basic an acceptable way to
create small to medium size applications. The current version of Hisoft
Basic is 1.05 and can be ordered from your local dealer or most mail order
outfits. Hisoft is currently working on Version 2.0 so it will be
interesting to see what they add in the new version.
John (in beautiful downtown Walla Walla) – via Whap!
Thanks for the information on the AmigaBASIC compilers. I was hoping for
a shareware/PD solution but I guess there is none.
Thanks again!
Randy.
There is a PD AmigaBASIC compiler called Cursor, which can be found as
CSR.LZH in lib 10 of Amigatech. I haven't used it myself, so I dont know
how well it performs compared to commercial compilers, but it might be
worth a look
– Andrew
HiSOFT BASIC is not totally compatible with AmigaBASIC, but mostly. It
might take just a little conversion to make everything compile. Hisoft
makes good code that runs fast, too.
Betty
I have to agree that HiSoft code seems to run faster, and smaller too.
I dug up a program I was writing back in '88 in AmigaBASIC, and had
compiled in AC Basic (the one I bought at the time).
The program reads in my JRCOMM log and provides me with reports on the
data.
The AC Basic compiled size was about 7K. I borrowed HiSoft from a friend
for this test, it compile to 4K with no errors. However, I DID get an out
of string space when running the program, which didn't happen when running
the AC Basic version. And although I didn't actually time the runs, (they
were both lightning fast on my 33 Mhz '030) the Hisoft one did seem a
little faster.
However, now that I have a beginner's C course under my belt (compliments
of a twice a week, ten week summer course at the local community college)
I'm trying to give up basic. <g> So will prolly not buy another basic
compiler.
BTW, for anyone wanting to learn C who hasn't studied it on their own
yet… I don't recommend an accelerated course like I took. You can get
left behind REAL fast! 1st assignment was simply getting two numbers from
the user, performing addition, subtraction and multiplication on them and
displaying the results. Assignment two was to get 20 names, display them,
sort them (had to write a bubble sort) and redisplay. Assignment 5 was a
text editor! I passed with a B (didn't turn in the last assignment as it
wasn't working right) but I think only because for 3 years, I've been
trying to learn C.
You'll prolly get lots of different answers, but I prefer AC Basic from
Absoft.
It's Amigabasic compatible (I think there may be a keyword or two missing,
but can't remember what it is and have never run into it) and is also about
90%+ compatible with QuickBasic on the PC. AND Absoft also wrote the
Microsoft Basic Compiler for the MAC.
All in all, it's a very good compiler with a good manual. Highly
recommended.
FWIW, I've also heard good things about Hisoft Basic Compiler but ahve
never used it. It's supposed to be more QuickBASIC compatible, but I
understand it's less AmigaBASIC compatible.
There's also GFA Basic, TrueBasic, Blitz Basic, etc. but they give up
AmigaBASIC compatibility to get their whizbangs.