#Amiga LOGO
15 messages in this thread
We just received 2 copies of Amiga LOGO here at Amazing Computing. I have
not had a lot of time to play with it, though it looks interesting. I'm
not sure if they are shipping yet. Mike
As far as I have hear LOGO is shipping and is out there. I am not a LOGO user
but from what I have seen this is a VERY GOOD implementation. AND is has a CUTE
little turtle as its turtle. I know dont use the word in it's definition, but I
didn't think cursor was the right word.
Greg
Greg,
Is this a full LOGO? I am asking because most folks seem to equate LOGO with
the turtle only, and that's unfortunate.
-larry
Larry, good point. I want LISTs and more FIRSTs and BUTFIRSTs and … too..
–jp–
Yes this is a full LOGO and it is a commercial version written by the people
who developed the language.
Greg
Greg,
That is good news indeed! I am looking forward to seeing it.
-larry
Larry–
According to the lady at the PR agency here in Boston which handles C='s PR in
education these days, the Logo was written by Carl Sassenreuth (spelling?) and
was delayed because C= decided to abandon the original one (The Lisp Company
style) in favor of one that is more compatible with the version that runs on
Apples. (probably a good idea for marketing.) It multitasks, has windows,
etc. Haven't seen it yet, though it HAS been announced officially. I am sure
it will be a full version.
If COMAL comes along too, I will have lots of new toys. And CANDO looks
pretty useful.
She told me that Commodore is producing its OWN authoring system because it
thinks there is prestige in that in the education market. (Apple had its own
PILOT as I recall–a dog.) Who knows when it will be out.
There is now an advisory board of post-secondary level educators,
developers, and media specialists telling Commodore what directions will be
best to follow. They have met three times already. I have no idea what they
are saying, but it looks like C= is serious about the education market. She
sent me a video about Amiga in education that was pretty nicely done.
//
Jim,
Looking forwad to the LOGO release. I like to play with it, and more
importantly, it does fill a need in the educational market.
COMAL is on the way, at long last. I too beta tested the one from MyTech, and
haven't heard from them in ages. I just put it away and wrote it off as being
something we would never see. Now it looks like it will be a reality, and with
a compiler as well!
I hope they are serious about the educational market. More than anything else,
the student exposure will help the cause. If you can get graduates out with the
knowledge of what a powerful, multitasking machine will do for them, the
business market will take care of itself.
-larry
larry,
Here is some information I have garnered about AmigaLogo:
It was a long long wait, but AmigaCOMAL is now shipping. The
version shipping is considered final by the
authors/programmers in Denmark. The manual is 160 pages,
spiral bound. The main programmer was Svend Pedersen, who has
spent about 4 years working on this system! Freddy
Kristiansen gave a big assist (Freddy has written several
other COMAL systems, including the CP/M COMAL). Finally, the
founder of COMAL himself helped out! Yes, Borge Christensen
was part of the AmigaCOMAL project. The system programmers
are very responsive to "bug reports," fixing them very
quickly. Any bugs reported are forwarded to Denmark for
correction. All early AmigaCOMAL owners will get a free
Update Disk when it is released! Anyone familiar with COMAL
on any other computer, will feel right at home with
AmigaCOMAL. The system costs $99.95 plus $34.95 for a
compiler option (plus $4 shipping)… from COMAL Users Group
USA. Regards … Len Lindsay
The other good news is that this is in assembly and fast–Len says it is as
good as IBM COMAL. Nick Sullivan has it and likes it. Also, the price of IBM
COMAL has come down from $800 to $180. That means that COMAL is now a pretty
nice developers option for the sorts of things I might want to do. Goodbye
TRUE BASC, I hope!
// jim
Jim,
My copy of AmigaCOMAL arrived only a few minutes ago, and I am looking through
the literature before delving into the disks. I have both the interpreter and
the compiler – and Len's own personal manual!! He wanted Mike Todd to have a
look at it before he leaves, so he did rush a bit to get it here so quickly.
I have permission to copy much of the material he sent for our libraries here
on CIS, and he sent some of it on disk. As soon as I have time to sort it out,
I'll be uploading some things for our "Other Languages" library here in
AmigaTech. I do hope you will be doing the same, because you are far more
proficient in the use of COMAL than I am. I used it along with BASIC in
teaching, but was never an expert in the finer parts. You are.
First – Len tells me that the PC COMAL price is $165, including the compiler.
For schools, the first one costs $165, and other machines are $60 under a
licensing agreement. I am sure that there will be a similar licensing policy
for AmigaCOMAL but it is not yet worked out. The list price of the language
with interpreter is $99.95, and the compiler is $35.95.
To order AmigaCOMAL, you can call Len Lindsay at (608)-222-4432, or you can
order from
COMAL Users' Group, U.S.A.,Ltd.
<continued>
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5501 Groveland Terrace,
Madison, WI 53716.
I realize that you know most of this, but your message seemed to be an
excellent place to hang the information for our other forum members who might
be interested.
Since much of this information the information Len sent will be of lasting
interest to people wanting to learn about COMAL, I think the libraries will be
a better place for it, don't you?
Betty
I am happy that there will be some COMAL activity here. If I have anything of
interest I will surely upload it.
I am hardy an expert in COMAL, though I once did get a hefty consulting fee
for editing a commercial program designed to program eproms in hearing aids.
It is a tribute to the ease of COMAL that I was able to do what was asked of
me. Larry Phillips is actually a wiz at COMAL–he did some great math graphing
programs and a nice utility called Screen Wizard for the 64. So, we should be
able to help any newcomers who decide to try it out.
How does the manual look? I hope Len remembered that in the USA it is
conventional to put periods and commas inside quotation marks ALWAYS.
Jim,
We will certainly have to rely on Larry, then. I was working with COMAL as an
alternative to BASIC, but only for 7th and 8th grade students – nothing in the
least bit advanced. I just found that they made fewer errors and were less
sloppy with COMAL. Besides – they had such fun playing with the LOGO-like
graphics when I wasn't looking (they thought).
I have been looking through the manual and it is definitely NOT a tutorial. The
introduction states that it is designed for more advanced users, and I think it
is more a reference manual than anything else. It mostly contains a list of
the keywords with a brief description of each, and with two or three lines
showing how to use each one. THere is a great deal more about packages, since
these will be much easier to write with AmigaCOMAL. The system comes with
packages that contain the interface routines to :
Exec library
DOS library
Intuition library
Graphics library
Layers library
Diskfont library
Icon library
Potgo Library
The names in the routines are the same as those used to call the routines
<continued>
<continuation>
from C except that for COMAL they must have the prefix "pck", as in
pckopenlibrary or pcksendio.
I couldn't find anything in quotations, so cannot report on the grammatical
usage there! Len said that there would be a more complete manual that would
include some information for beginners, but that it is not yet ready to mail.
I hope you will look into it soon. I really want to use this package, and it
looks as though I will be needing some help and advice!
Betty
Larry,
The COOMAL we are getting is not the one from MyTech (now called Alder), but
from a company called ComWare. This is the Comal that is coming from Len
Lindsay, and the one being used by Brian Grainger, as well as others in Europe.
I think the AlderCOMAL is pretty close to release, as well.
Betty